New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, on Wednesday posted its highest ever fourth-quarter profit after tax of Rs 3,067.5 crore, mainly helped by strong air travel demand.

The company's profit after tax in the three months ended March 2025 jumped 62 per cent from Rs 1,894.8 crore in the year-ago period. Its board has recommended a dividend of Rs 10 per equity share.

In the fourth quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal, IndiGo's capacity increased by 21 per cent to 42.1 billion while the number of passengers carried rose 19.6 per cent to 31.9 million, according to a release.

Total income rose to Rs 23,097.5 crore in the fourth quarter of the 2024-25 financial year from Rs 18,505.1 crore in the same period a year ago.

"Driven by strong demand for air travel and execution of our strategy, for the financial year ended March 2025, IndiGo reported a healthy net profit of Rs 72,584 million. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, IndiGo reported a net profit of Rs 88,676 million, maintaining similar strong performance to the last year.

"For the quarter ended March 2025, IndiGo reported a net profit of Rs 30,675 million, the highest fourth quarter ever," the release said.

In the March quarter, IndiGo's passenger ticket revenues climbed 25.4 per cent to Rs 195,673 million and ancillary revenues increased 25.2 per cent to Rs 21,525 million compared to the same period a year ago.

At a briefing about the results, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said the airline carried 118 million passengers in 2024-25.

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, IndiGo said, the capacity in terms of ASKs (Available Seat Kilometres) is expected to increase by mid-teens as compared to the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.

According to Elbers, the number of grounded aircraft is currently in the 40s, declining from the 50s in the fourth quarter and 60s in the third quarter.

The planes are on the ground mainly due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines powering them.

On queries related to Pakistan airspace closure, Elbers said that 34 flights with longer flying time of 20 minutes and that there is some financial impact.

"We have two international stations being cancelled... we wish it was not there but IndiGo can live with it," he said as he referred to the suspension of flights to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

The daily flights to the two destinations from Delhi were suspended due to the aircraft's operational range constraint.

"When the airspace restrictions are lifted, we will re-introduce our flights to Tashkent and Almaty," Elbers said.

To queries about the loss due to recent flight disruptions, the IndiGo CEO said that for about a week, around 170 flights were cancelled but it is difficult to mention the exact loss.

"The traffic is returning... we are confident that we will see a recovery from June," he added.

The airline has a fleet of over 400 planes and operates more than 2,200 daily flights connecting domestic and international destinations.

"We expect A321 XLRs to come in the current financial year, perhaps even before the end of this calendar year but that is work in progress. XLRs will come with two cabin configuration...," Elbers said.

He declined to comment on a question about reports that rival Air India has asked the government to review IndiGo's partnership with Turkish Airlines and said, "we move on serving our customers".

"IndiGo had a total cash balance of Rs 481,705 million comprising Rs 331,531 million of free cash and Rs 150,174 million of restricted cash," the release said.

Shares of the company rose marginally to close at Rs 5,448 apiece on the BSE. PTI RAM MR