TLI Staff
New Delhi: Undeterred by its recent quarterly losses, low-cost carrier IndiGo remains bullish on air traffic growth in the country.
The airline has placed a firm order to purchase 300 Airbus320 neo family aircraft making it one of the largest aircraft orders for the European plane maker. The latest order comprises a mix of A320neo, A321neo and A321XLR aircraft and takes the airline’s total number of A320neo family aircraft orders to 730.
The fresh order has been placed amid two co-founders of IndiGo fighting over control issues and related party transactions. The feud has now gone to an arbitration panel in London. The tussle has not stopped here as one of the co-promoters Rahul Bhatia has filed a petition in a US court against the friend-turned-foe Rakesh Gangwal.
Meanwhile, IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta termed the new order an important milestone.
“India is expected to continue with its strong aviation growth and we are well on our way to build the world’s best air transportation system, to serve more customers and to deliver on our promise of providing low fares and a courteous, hassle free experience to them,” Dutta said in a press statement.
Due to higher maintenance cost, intense competition and external factors, IndiGo reported a net loss of Rs 1,062 crore in the September quarter as against a net loss of Rs 651.5 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The outlook for the current quarter is not bright either as air travel demand remains tepid in the domestic market.
“Looking forward to the next quarter, the revenues during the festive season have been somewhat subdued. At this time we are expecting a flattish year over year unit revenue performance,” the airline CEO Dutta had said on October 24 financial results conference call.
IndiGo is among the fastest growing carriers in the world. Since its first A320neo aircraft was delivered in March 2016, its fleet of A320neo family aircraft has grown into the world’s largest with 97 A320neo aircraft, operating alongside 128 A320ceos.
As on September 30, the airline had a fleet of 245 aircraft which included 21 ATRs apart from the Airbus family jets.