IndiGo profit beats forecast as fuel cost drops, demand jumps

IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, reported a bigger-than-expected net profit for the first quarter through June as travel demand grew and fuel costs declined. Net income was 30.87b rupees ($374m), compared with a 10.7 billion rupees loss in the same period a year earlier, parent InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. said in a stock exchange filing Wednesday. Analysts had forecast net income of 17.6b rupees, on average. IndiGo’s market share in India has grown to about 63%, in part as it takes space left by insolvent Go Airlines India Ltd., which stopped flying in May. It carried 23.4 million passengers in the three months through June, up 12% from the quarter before, according to the aviation regulator. Revenue rose 30% to 166.83b rupees from a year earlier. Total costs stood at 140.7b rupees, while fuel costs declined 13%. The carrier had a fleet of 316 aircraft as of June 30, it said in the filing. <br/>