IndiGo share price : According to information received from sources in the aviation industry, there was a large-scale operational glitch in IndiGo in early December. Due to this, India’s passenger flight network was disrupted. It is estimated that the country’s largest airline has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,000 crore due to this. This estimated loss includes huge expenses like ticket refunds, passenger compensation decided by the regulator and goodwill gesture announced by the airline (assistance extended over and above the compensation decided by the government). Along with this, it also includes small but essential expenses like regulatory penalty, bank guarantee, hotel accommodation, ground transport and courier delivery of passenger luggage.
According to sources, a part of these expenses will be visible in the December quarter results to be announced by InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo’s parent company) on January 22, while the rest of the impact is expected in the March quarter. The biggest part of this expenditure is the additional compensation (goodwill gesture) given by the company in the name of ‘Gesture of Care’. Under this programme, passengers whose flights were canceled or delayed by more than three hours between December 3 and December 5 will receive vouchers worth Rs 10,000 each. The total cost of this goodwill gesture alone is estimated to be Rs 500-1000 crore. Additionally, compensation up to Rs 10,000 was provided to over 300,000 stranded passengers under Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) rules.
Shobhit Singhal, Research Analyst, Anand Rathi Institutional Equities It says that due to the irregularities in December, IndiGo may incur a loss of about Rs 1,913 crore. This includes loss in revenue due to 10% reduction in (flight) operations, loss due to flight cancellation from December 3 to 5, increase in staff expenses due to additional hiring to comply with FDTL rules, compensation paid to passengers and penalty imposed by DGCA. Due to this loss, there will be a negative impact of about 290 basis points on the company’s EBITDA margin in FY26 and about 6.2 percent negative impact on FY26 revenue.
More than 2,500 flights were canceled in the first week of the glitch, which began around December 2-3. Due to this, Indigo had refunded Rs 827 crore to the customers. During this time, the airline had arranged more than 9,500 hotel rooms and around 10,000 cabs and buses to help the affected passengers.
According to information received from sources, the company is still calculating the total impact of this disturbance. It is expected that this loss will be much more than Rs 2,000 crore, which in itself is a small estimate. An email sent to IndiGo seeking comment on this news has not yet received any response.
A look at Indigo’s stock
Shares of InterGlobe Aviation (parent company of IndiGo) closed at Rs 4790 today with a gain of Rs 151.50 or 3.07 percent. Today its daily high is Rs 4,941.50 and daily low is Rs 4,775.00. This stock has declined by 7.05 percent in 1 month. At the same time, this share has lost 16.42 percent in 1 year.