Tag: IndiGo

IndiGo to fly more international routes, aims to double size by 2030: CEO Pieter Elbers

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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IndiGo aims to double in size by 2030 with new domestic and international routes as well as destinations, its chief Pieter Elbers said as the airline pursues soaring global ambitions to match India’s economic growth potential.

The country’s largest airline with a domestic market share of little over 60% is also betting big on A321 XLR aircraft that are expected to be part of its fleet “somewhere in 2025”, to further expand its overseas presence.

Seeking to consolidate as well as expand its position on the global scale, Elbers told PTI in an interview that the next big jump for IndiGo will be to double its size by the end of the decade.

For the next financial year starting April 2024, the IndiGo chief said the capacity guidance in terms of seat capacity is “early double digits” and one plane is coming in every week.

Amid supply chain as well as Pratt & Whitney engine woes, Elbers also emphasised that the airline is taking a lot of mitigating measures that are bearing fruits and that the Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situation is “stable”.

In February, the airline said the number of AOGs was in the mid-70s. Currently, the 17-year-old carrier operates in 88 domestic and 33 international destinations. It has a fleet of more than 360 planes.

“An airline with double of today’s size, global reach and footprint by the year 2030. That is the ambitious target…,” Elbers said and added that more codeshare partnerships can be expected.

At present, IndiGo has codeshares with Turkish Airways, British Airways, Qatar Airways, American Airlines, KLM-AirFrance, Qantas, Jetstar, and Virgin Atlantic.

Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to various destinations.

“Clearly, going forward, we will be seeing a number of new international destinations. We will have some domestic but more international… I would say. Especially, the opportunity to have more international routes, not per se destinations only,” he said and cited the example of services to Singapore that have been increased.

About a year ago, he said that IndiGo was flying to Singapore from three destinations and today, it operates to that country from seven destinations in India. “I think we have a good opportunity to not only add destinations but even more… adding more routes to our network”.

A mixture of new domestic and international routes will be a key element in the airline’s pursuit to double its size by 2030, for which the “groundwork” has been done.

In December 2023, IndiGo announced carrying 100 million passengers in a calendar year, becoming the first airline to achieve the milestone.

“We should compare IndiGo to the global aviation landscape. India (set to become the third largest economy in the world), should and will have airlines matching the ambition of the country itself. So, 100 million was our target to be part of the top ten airlines in the world and today, we are the seventh largest in terms of daily departures…,” Elbers said.

According to Elbers, IndiGo is determined to play a very strong role in India having a strong aviation ecosystem.

“If home is the world’s most populous nation and home is soon going to be the third largest economy in the world, India should have an aviation ecosystem that is matching the size, potential and ambition of the country. IndiGo is determined to play a very strong role in that,” he noted.

After being hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the carrier has got its financials back on track and has remained profitable in the last five quarters, also turning networth positive in the 2023 December quarter.

“Where do we stand today? We have actually created the groundwork for what may be called the next big mission of IndiGo. That is to double in size towards the end of the decade. You can only have that ambition if your foundations are correct.

“The foundations are important from a financial perspective, customer perspective, network perspective as also the big fleet order which we made in June last year. That gives us long-term visibility well into the next decade,” the IndiGo chief said.

To a query on whether the airline will be going for wide-body planes and also introducing new classes, Elbers said, “we keep all options open and we evaluate, we take decisions for IndiGo that are matching the needs of the market and IndiGo at the appropriate time”.

Further, he highlighted that A321 XLR aircraft, that are expected to come into its fleet “somewhere in 2025”, will help the airline in further expanding its range.

“XLRs will bring us to parts of Europe, Asia and places like Athens, Seoul, Rome… that will be a wonderful expansion of IndiGo,” he added.

The airline has more than 900 planes on order.

At the end of December 2023, the carrier had a fleet of 358 aircraft, including 31 A320 ceos (11 damp lease), 184 A320 neos, 94 A321 neos, 44 ATRs, 3 A321 freighters and 2 B777s.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IndiGo shares gain 6% to hit all-time high

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shares of Interglobe Aviation Ltd, the parent company of IndiGo, surged 6% to hit an all-time high of ₹3,484 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, March 26.

During the company’s conference call with analysts on March 22, it announced that its net worth turned positive on December 31, 2023, while showcasing profitable growth for the past five quarters, with free cash increasing by a strong 133% during the period.

It gave a growth guidance of double digits in capacity and passengers, along with adding one aircraft per week to its fleet for FY25, thereby underlining its continued focus on profitable growth for enhancing stakeholder value.

Morgan Stanley has set a target price of ₹4,145 per share on the IndiGo stock, indicating an upside of over 26% from the previous close. The global firm maintained its ‘overweight’ rating on the stock.

Shares of Indigo were trading 5.6% higher at ₹3,469.65 apiece, on the BSE at 2:01 pm.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IndiGo aims to add more than one aircraft per week, 6,000 employees in FY25

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The shares of domestic carrier IndiGo’s parent firm Interglobe Aviation will be in focus on March 22 as the firm in an presentation for analyst meet has revealed that it aims to add more than one aircraft per week and nearly 6,000 employees in the 2024-25 fiscal.

With a continued focus on profitable growth to enhance stakeholder value, the airline said in the next financial year, it expects capacity as well as passenger growth in early double digits. It has given guidance of adding 10 destinations in FY25 and an increase of 5,500 to 6,000 employees during the period.

In its presentation, IndiGo also noted that it achieved the guidance it set for the 2023-24 fiscal, which includes more than mid-teens growth in capacity leading to a fleet of 350 planes, 100 million passengers, and addition of 10-15 destinations taking the total to 115. In fact, IndiGo boasts of becoming the first Indian airline to have a fleet of more than 300 aircraft (as of 2022) and 366 as of February 2024.

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In 2023, it placed an order for 500 aircraft – the largest ever single aircraft order with Airbus by any airline, it claimed. It is poised to become 600+ aircraft carrier by 2030, the airline said.

The airline also said that it has unparalleled connectivity across 88 domestic destinations and has added 10 destinations and 40 plus routes in FY24. It also connects 33 international destinations, added seven to the list this fiscal and plies to 19 routes.

However, the firm missed its guidance on the hiring front. It saw an increase of about 4,500 employees during the year as against the target of 5,000.

Also Read: Fewer flyers took domestic flights in Feb, IndiGo continues to fly most passengers

Reflecting on the employee base, the airline pointed out that almost half of its workforce (44.2%) is female. It has the highest number of women pilots globally, IndiGo said. “In FY24, we on-boarded 130+ employees with disabilities, the number of PwD hiring increased by over 2x as compared to FY23. IndiGo was awarded by ‘Employer of Diversity Award’ for fostering inclusion at workplace,” it added.

IndiGo shares ended 0.37% lower at ₹3,278 on BSE.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Mumbai International Airport set for 8% increase in summer flight movements

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Adani Group-operated Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai will have an 8% increase in weekly flight movements in the summer schedule of 2024.

The airport will see 951 daily movements in comparison to 882 in the summer schedule of 2023. There will be over 6,657 weekly movements which translates to an 8% increase in weekly flight operations. The summer schedule will be effective from March 31, 2024, till October 26, 2024.

In a statement, the airport said, “With travel gaining momentum in India, CSMIA is poised to serve passengers with improved connectivity and an enhanced flight schedule this summer, adding convenience and comfort to travellers. There will be an increase in services to international destinations like Paris, Doha, and Hanoi and to the newly introduced route – Tashkent.”

India’s largest airline in terms of market share and fleet size, IndiGo will have 1,255 weekly departures, while Air India will have 539 weekly departures, and Vistara will have 519 weekly departures respectively. Flights to Delhi, Srinagar, Ayodhya and Kolkata will see a big increase in weekly flights. There will be 27 additional weekly flights to Delhi, 28 to Srinagar, 14 to Ayodhya and 9 to Kolkata.

CSMIA takes cognisance of the needs of passengers and the rising demand for air travel. Travellers will experience 682 domestic and 269 international movements to international destinations including the newly introduced routes.

Vistara will have 5 weekly flights to Paris and daily flights to Hanoi, 4 weekly flights to Doha by Akasa Air to Doha and Uzbekistan Airways will operate two weekly flights to Tashkent.

At the beginning of February, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had imposed a cap on slots. MOCA said, “While Mumbai Airport is running at its full capacity, it was found that the persistent congestion was caused due to excessive slot distribution with limited time margins on behalf of the airport operator. Witnessed non-adherence of the slots on behalf of the airlines and Non-scheduled operations during peak hours.”

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) issued directives to the airport operator which restricted air traffic movements between 0800 hours – 1100 hours, 1700 – 2000 hours and 2115 hours -2315 hours. General aviation aircraft operations from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM have been restricted.

In a statement on February 28, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said, “The air traffic situation at the Mumbai post above initiatives is being monitored and has shown improvement from 19th Feb’24 onwards. MoCA is closely monitoring the air traffic situation at Mumbai and is committed to reducing the inconvenience caused to the travelling passengers.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Analyst says this aviation stock can fly nearly 30% higher — Do you own it?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shares of domestic carrier IndiGo’s parent firm Interglobe Aviation were in focus on March 19 as brokerage firm Kotak Institutional Equities raised its target price on the stock.

The brokerage, which has maintained its buy stance on IndiGo shares, has raised its target price by over 13% to ₹4,200. This means it expects the stock to surge 29% from the last closing price on March 18.

Kotak Institutional Equities’ commentary comes as it sees supply for the airline industry growing at or below 12% till FY30 and expects IndiGo to add capacity at a similar or faster rate than the rest of the market over this period.

The brokerage noted that the current demand is not yet fully addressed. The brokerage also believes pricing would likely remain healthy over time and less prone to irrationality.

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Separately, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has decided to not extend the June 1 deadline for revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms that are aimed at mitigating pilot fatigue.

In a note, brokerage firm Morgan Stanley said it expects IndiGo to share details on the impact of the same and that the domestic airline may need additional 10-15% pilots. It also said that with a given tight capacity, some airlines may not be able to get all pilots.

This comes after the regulator issued a revised “flight duty time limitation” on January 8 curtailing night-time flying as well as enhanced weekly rest. The FIA includes Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo. Airlines, however, contended that such training would take 8-10 months.

Also Read: Fewer flyers took domestic flights in Feb, IndiGo continues to fly most passengers

The new flight duty rules rewrite the definition of the night period, extending it by an hour from 12 am-5 am to 12 am-6 am, and limiting the duty period to 10 hours. It also caps the number of landings a pilot can do to two.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has maintained its 6% FY25 capacity growth target for airlines.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

InterGlobe Group, SpiceJet purchased electoral bonds, shows Election Commission data

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The electoral bonds data made public by the Election Commission of India after the apex court’s order has revealed two Indian airlines in total purchased bonds worth ₹56.65 crore. While bonds purchased by IndiGo and it’s sister companies and allegedly it’s promoter sums up to ₹56 crore, SpiceJet purchased bonds worth ₹65 lakh.

IndiGo was founded by Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal in 2006 and is currently India’s largest airline in terms of market share and fleet size with over 300 aircraft.

Interglobe Enterprises as per the website is a ‘conglomerate’ with business in aviation, hospitality and logistics.

As per the data, InterGlobe Air Transport Ltd  purchased 11 electoral bonds on  May 10, 2019. The value of each bond was ₹1 crore each, taking the total to ₹11 crore. IndiGo airlines over the years has taken the full advantage of the vacuum in the market as many big airlines shut in India over the years.

Moreover IndiGo in December 2019 became the first Indian airline to operate 1,500 daily flights.

On December 31, 2019, it became India’s first airline to have a fleet of more than 250 aircraft.

InterGlobe Real Estate Ventures which is part of the Interglobe ‘conglomerate’ purchased 20 electoral bonds on May 10, 2019.

Each bond value was ₹1 crore each, taking the total to ₹20 crore.

As per secondary research sources, directors of InterGlobe Real Estate Ventures Private Limited include Rohini Bhatia who is the wife of promoter Rahul Bhatia. Rohini Bhatia is the chairperson of the CSR committee of the company. She is also the chairperson of InterGlobe Foundation, the philanthropic arm of InterGlobe Group.

Interglobe Aviation under which the low cost carrier IndiGo operates, purchased 5 bonds worth ₹1 crore each on October 23, 2023. Total bonds worth ₹5 crore were purchased by the entity. IndiGo currently has a fleet size of 350 aircraft, and operates over 2000 daily flights and flies to 87 domestic and 33 international destinations.

The data also revealed that an individual named Rahul Bhatia purchased electoral bonds worth ₹20 crore. 29 electoral bonds were purchased on April 7, 2021, of which the value of 19 bonds was ₹1 crore each and value of 10 bonds was ₹10 lakh each, taking the total to ₹20 crore. If the said Rahul Bhatia is the promoter of IndiGo, then one can clearly see that, the total electoral bonds purchased by the promoter, IndiGo and it’s sister companies sums up to ₹56 crore.

On the other hand, Ajay Singh led SpiceJet Airlines also purchased electoral bonds in three different tranches. Till a few years back the airline used to be the top 3 airlines in India and now has fallen to the 5th rank in terms of market share.

The ECI data revealed that SpiceJet in total purchased 20  bonds in 2021 worth ₹65 lakh.

In the first tranche, 7 bonds were purchased on January 8, 2021, 2 bonds were worth ₹10 lakh each and 5 bonds were worth ₹1 lakh each, taking the total to ₹25 lakh.

On April 9, 2021, 6 bonds were purchased by the budget carrier. Five bonds worth ₹1 lakh and one bond worth ₹10 lakh were purchased, taking the total to ₹25 lakh. The last set of bonds were bought on July 9, 2021, 2 bonds worth ₹10 lakh each and 5 bonds worth ₹1 lakh each. In total SpiceJet purchased bonds worth ₹65 lakh.

CNBC-TV18 has written to IndiGo and SpiceJet seeking comments. Comments are awaited.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Fewer flyers took domestic flights in Feb, IndiGo continues to fly most passengers

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The domestic airline traffic rose more than 4% annually in February, however, fewer people decided to travel via flights last month compared to January 2024 as the traffic dropped 3.7% on a month-on-month basis, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed on March 15.

DGCA data also showed that domestic airlines flew 257.78 lakh air passengers between January – February 2024 as against 246.11 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year.

IndiGo continued to be air passengers’ top choice in February even as its market share declined marginally to 60.1% from 60.2% in January. IndiGo lost market share after its On-Time Performance dropped to 43.7% on January 17, the lowest in the industry after the airline, and its operations were hit for two weeks due to fog-related disruptions in northern India.

Vistara’s market share in February remained unchanged at 9.9% and the airline flew 12.55 lakh passengers in the month. Air India’s market share rose in February to 12.8% from 12.2% last month. The market share of AIX Connect, which is also part of the Tata group-owned airlines, remained unchanged at 6.1%, as the carrier served 7.68 lakh passengers in February. Overall Tata Group’s airline market share now stands at 28.8%

SpiceJet’s market share, however, marginally slipped to 5.2% from 5.6% in January. Akasa Air’s market share stood at 4.5%.

These numbers are from the month in which Vinay Dube, the founder and CEO of Akasa Air, stepped in to address rumours about a shortage of pilots. Numerous posts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) claimed that Akasa Air’s flights were cancelled on February 11 and 12 due to a shortage of pilots.

Meanwhile, SpiceJet earlier this week announced that it has finalised lease agreements for 10 aircraft to augment capacity to prepare for the upcoming summer schedule.

It must be noted that aviation consultancy firm CAPA Advisory had in November 2023 given guidance that close to 200 aircraft from India’s operational fleet were expected to be grounded by the end of the 2023-24 fiscal.

In terms of punctuality, AIX Connect was the most punctual airline operating in India in February and overtook Akasa Air, as per the aviation regulator’s data. AIX Connect turned in an on-time performance of 73.5% at the four metro airports – New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Akasa Air and IndiGo were second and third, followed by Vistara. Airlines’ on-time performance rose in February after heavy fog forced flight delays throughout December and January.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Newsbreak confirmed, Rakesh Gangwal sells 5.8% in IndiGo for ₹6,785 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The block deal data released by BSE confirms CNBC-TV18‘s newsbreak. As per the disclosure, this latest sale was executed at an average price of ₹3,015.52 per share, surpassing the floor price of ₹2,925 by 3%. The transaction, valued at ₹6,785 crore, was facilitated through a series of block deals

Of a total of 2.25 crore shares sold by Rakesh Gangwal, 21 lakh shares have been bought by Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) PTE. However, details regarding the purchasers of the remaining shares remain undisclosed.

Initially, the plan for this tranche was to sell a 3.3% stake, but this figure was eventually elevated to 5.8%. Following this stake sale, Gangwal’s holding in this airline company will reduce to 19.2% from the 25% that he held as of December 2023.

This move is part of a broader strategy by Gangwal, who has been reducing his stake in the company through a series of sales that began in September 2022. To date, he has sold approximately 18% of his stake across four transactions, each at higher prices

Gangwal’s journey of divestment started with a 2.7% stake sale at ₹1,850 per share and was followed by subsequent sales at increasingly higher prices. In February 2023, he pared 3.7% at ₹1,887 per share and in August 2023, sold a 5.8% stake at a price of ₹2,400 per share.

This series of stake sales follows Gangwal’s departure from the board of InterGlobe Aviation in February 2022, when he announced plans to gradually reduce his family’s stake in the company.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation have seen a surge of 7% from intra-day lows to settle 3.6% higher at ₹3,218.55 apiece at the close of the March 11 session. And, it’s now 2% away from the record level of ₹3,300 per share hit in February this year.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IndiGo Block Deal: 6.7% equity worth ₹7,825 crore changes hands

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As many as 2.6 crore shares or 6.7% equity of InterGlobe Aviation worth Rs ₹7,825 crore changed hands in block deals on Monday, March 11.

The official buyers and sellers in the transaction are not known yet.

Earlier sources had told CNBC-TV18 that Rakesh Gangwal, the promoter of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo Airlines, was to sell up 5.8% stake in the airline.

The size of the stake sale had been raised from 3.3% to 5.8% and the total size of the block deals was likely to be Rs 6,581 crore, sources had said.  The floor price was set at ₹2,925 per share, with a 5.8% discount to CMP, the sources said.

As of December 2023, Gangwal held 25.2% stake in InterGlobe Aviation. The sources said that after the stake sale, his holding would reduce to 19.4%.  There would be a 150-day lock-in period for further stake sale in the aviation company.

Gangwal had relinquished his position on Interglobe Aviation’s board in February 2022 and had unveiled plans to gradually reduce his family’s stake.

Previously, in February, the Gangwal family had divested a 4% stake in Interglobe Aviation for ₹2,900 crore. Subsequently, in September, they sold a 2.8 percent stake valued at ₹2,000 crore.

The most recent block deal occurred in August 2023, marking the largest one yet, with the Gangwals offloading shares worth $450 million.

Shares of InterGlobe Aviation were 0.33% lower at ₹3,092.6 apiece at 9.20 am on March 11.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow