Covid crisis drives IndiGo to worse-than-expected loss

IndiGo, one of Asia’s biggest budget airlines, reported a wider-than-anticipated loss as passenger traffic shrank with the coronavirus tearing through India. The carrier, operated by InterGlobe Aviation, posted a loss of 11.5b rupees ($157m) in the three months through March, its Q4. That compared with a loss of 8.7b rupees a year ago. The average forecast from analysts was for a loss of 4.5b rupees. “This has been a very difficult year with our revenues slumping hard due to Covid, showing some signs of recovery during the period December to February and then slumping again with the second wave of the Covid,” Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta said. “While we have seen a sharp decline in revenues in March through May, we are encouraged by the modest revenue improvements starting last week of May and continuing through June.” While the pandemic has pushed many airlines around the world to the brink and beyond, the intensity of the outbreak in India has made it extra hard for operators there. The country’s carriers will need about $5b to survive, but they only have access to about $1.1b through share offerings and other means, according to CAPA Centre for Aviation. IndiGo and Air India will account for the bulk of the $8b in losses by 2022, CAPA said. IndiGo said traffic dropped 29% in the first three months of 2021 from a year earlier. It filled 70.2% of its seats in the quarter, compared with 82.9% a year earlier.<br/>