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IndiGo is experiencing a slowdown in future bookings due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19. However, for 2022, the low-cost carrier is bullish that it is “well-positioned to leverage all the growth opportunities,” said CEO Ronojoy Dutta.
For 2022, the company’s primary focus is to keep its costs low and grow rapidly in both domestic and international markets.
“Omicron is, of course, a major uncertainty for the travel industry. While the impact of Omicron has been modest so far, our future bookings are experiencing a slowdown and we cannot predict with certainty when the trend will reverse again,” Dutta said.
Also see: IndiGo’s stock trades in red
Focus on profitability
However, he added, IndiGo continues to work towards a return to profitability and to strengthen its balance sheet.
“With a modern fleet, dedicated employees and a stronger economic environment, we are well-positioned to leverage all growth opportunities around us. Our primary focus is to keep our costs low and to grow rapidly in both domestic and international markets,” he said.
The airline posted a net loss of ₹1,436 crore in July-September compared to ₹1,199 crore. Loss in the previous quarter was ₹3,175 crore. However, it also managed to conserve cash in hand. It even added newer aircraft to its fleet.
The low-cost carrier holds close to 54 per cent of the market share in the Indian aviation industry. In 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, IndiGo maintained its market share.
Also see: Airlines announce year-end offers, IndiGo latest to join the bandwagon
Speaking about the industry outlook for 2022, Dutta said that Indian aviation is slowly seeing the re-emergence of rapid growth. Families in India are dispersed all over the country and the globe, and Indian businesses are transacting business all over the world. This, according to him, is a positive trend.
Domestic demand grows
Domestic travel demand has also seen an upswing owing to the fact that Indians are now more interested in exploring Indian cities. This is propelled by a strong vaccination drive coupled with trust in air travel as the safest mode of travel.
Dutta added that there is a strong inbound traffic demand, whether for medical tourism or for education tourism. “So, there is a lot of interest in coming to India. Hence, we look forward to decent demand and healthy growth of the aviation industry in 2022.”
According to DGCA data for November, passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2021 stood at 726.11 lakh against 556.84 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year, an annual growth of 30.4 per cent and monthly growth of 65.5 per cent.
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