IndiGo Profits Hit by December Meltdown
Photo Credit: An IndiGo A320 Neo aircraft. IndiGo
Skift Take
For India’s largest airline, December wasn't so much about lost passengers as it was about the rising cost of running a complex operation at scale in a heavily regulated, rupee-dependent market.
IndiGo reported a sharp fall in quarterly profit after a chaotic first week of December that forced the carrier to cancel more than 2,500 flights and delay hundreds more.
CEO Pieter Elbers said demand through October and November was strong. On its busiest days over the festival season, it carried more than 380,000 people. For calendar year 2025, it served about 124 million customers, a 9% rise from the prior year. Revenue was up about 12%.
But the costs from the disruption combined with currency losses and new labor rules led to the decline in earnings: just INR 5.5 billion ($60 million) vs. INR 24 billion ($262 million) last year.
Explaining the Drop in ProfitSeveral one-off and non-operating items explain much of the drop:
Compensation and support costs tied to the December disruptions Penalty from the regulator A provision for new labor rules And
