IndiGo announces special bonus for staff
As per the airline’s latest annual report for 2022-2023, the total staff strength of IndiGo was 32,407 employees.
In a sign of positive sentiment for the Indian aviation industry, India’s largest airline IndiGo has announced a one-time special bonus for its employees.
The company said that it will process a one-time special bonus amounting to around 1.5 months of basic salary, as per a communication sent to IndiGo staff. This amount will be disbursed to employees, along with the salary for May as an ex-gratia sum.
One-time special bonus
“Collectively, we have gone through a turbulent time, first there was covid19 and then the recovery thereafter. Both times has their own set of challenges for everyone. The losses incurred during covid had a very significant impact and washed away profits of the years before,” the company said in its communication to its staff. Mint has reviewed a copy of the mail.
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As per the airline’s latest annual report for 2022-2023, the total staff strength of IndiGo was 32,407 employees.
“We started our path to recovery in the second half of the year 2022 and since then we demonstrated solid and strong performance,” the airline said in the mail, adding that it became a net worth positive company with its October-December 2023 results and the recent wide-body aircraft order is further support for a robust future.
Adding fleet
On 25 April, IndiGo placed a firm order of 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft that will help the low-cost airline offer non-stop flights to Europe, UK, US, and Australia from India. While the airline and the aircraft manufacturer did not share the cost of the acquisition, it is estimated at over $9 billion, based on 2018 list prices. The European aircraft manufacturer has stopped publishing list prices of aircraft since 2019.
In addition to the firm or confirmed order of 30 A350-900 order, IndiGo has also secured purchase rights for an additional 70 Airbus A350 family aircraft. Currently, the airline operates low-frill flights with all-economy seats through a fleet of Airbus 320 aircraft, which can seat between 180 and 220 passengers. With this order, IndiGo will join the wide-body segment, which so far has only Air India and Vistara—both Tata Group companies.
Also Read | IndiGo says delivery of Airbus A350-900 aircraft to start in 2027
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs IndiGo, clocked a profit after tax of ₹2,998.1 crore in the December quarter as air travel soared, against a net profit of ₹1,422.6 crore a year earlier. This was the fifth straight quarter of profitability for IndiGo since October-December 2022. Total income during the period rose 30.2% from a year earlier to ₹20,062.3 crore.
The airline added 24 aircraft during the December quarter, taking the total fleet size to 358 as of December. The company is yet to announce earnings for the January-March quarter. For April-March 2024-25, the company’s management plans to induct at least an aircraft every week despite the supply chain issues in the availability of engines from US-based manufacturer Pratt & Whitney. Currently, the airline has nearly 1,000 aircraft in its delivery pipeline.