India's IndiGo says fare increases inevitable as fuel costs rise (updated)

Interglobe Aviation

29/10/2026 10:42

December-quarter capacity growth seen in low single digits
Third quarter PRASK expected to grow more than 25% year on year, company says
Quarterly loss narrows to 20.55 billion rupees from 26.14 billion rupees a year earlier
Recasts paragraph 1, adds management commentary
By Saikeerthi .
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Indian airline IndiGo said on Thursday that fare increases were inevitable as fuel prices rise and that it would adjust capacity to manage costs.
The company forecast low single-digit year-on-year capacity growth for the December quarter.
Airlines are facing higher oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict, with aviation turbine fuel accounting for a significant share of operating expenses. 
"I've been in this industry for 47 years. I've seen what I thought were high fuel costs. I've never seen anything like this," said Willie Walsh, who took over as the company's CEO in August, during a post-earnings media call. 
Expenses jumped 19.2% to 263.57 billion rupees during the quarter, while revenue rose 26% to 233.64 billion rupees. Aircraft fuel accounted for 37.8% of total expenses.
IndiGo said it would take a disciplined approach to network planning, assessing capacity on a flight-by-flight basis while adjusting deployment in response to demand, fuel costs and geopolitical developments. Capacity restraint would focus more on international routes, with domestic demand remaining strong during the festive travel season, it said.
Domestic travel demand typically moderates in the second quarter, which falls between the peak summer season and the onset of festive travel.
"Based on the trends observed in October, we expect passenger revenue per available seat kilometer (PRASK) to grow by more than 25% year-on-year," the company said on its third-quarter outlook, citing festive demand. 
The metric measures how passenger revenue for every available seat kilometer. 
IndiGo posted its third straight quarterly loss of 20.55 billion rupees in the quarter ended September 30, compared with a loss of 26.14 billion rupees a year earlier. 
Yield rose to 6.30 rupees compared with 4.69 rupees in the year-ago quarter, indicating that the airline earned more revenue per passenger kilometer flown. Load factor, a measure of how full its aircraft are, fell to 80.3% from 82.5% in the year-ago period.
The combination of higher yields and a lower load factor indicates that IndiGo was able to charge more even as it flew with more empty seats than a year earlier.

 
($1 = 95.3025 Indian rupees)
     

 (Reporting by Saikeerthi in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Tasim Zahid)
 ((Saikeerthi@thomsonreuters.com;))