BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s IndiGo airline operator Interglobe Aviation reported a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on the back of steady domestic air travel demand and said it will introduce a business class on some flights this year.
The airline, which is the world’s third largest by market value, said the flights that will have the business class will be operational by the end of the year.
Low-cost carrier IndiGo operates just the economy class on its flights, with a handful of extra leg-room seats.
The new cabin class would be available on its busiest routes and top business routes, IndiGo said, adding it would disclose further details in August.
IndiGo has India’s largest airline fleet of 367 aircraft and commands a market share of 60.3%.
It expects first-quarter capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, to grow 10%-12% from a year earlier.
IndiGo had placed its first-ever wide-body aircraft order for 30 Airbus A350-900 jets in April as the airline bolsters its international travel business.
It deployed 27% of its capacity on international routes in fiscal 2024 and is targeting a 30% share in the next few years.
The airline’s January-March quarter standalone profit doubled year-on-year to 18.94 billion rupees ($227.6 million), above an average analyst estimate of 17.17 billion rupees, per LSEG data.
($1 = 83.2050 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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