IndiGo Q3 profit falls 77% to ₹550 cr on Labour Code impact, December chaos

IndiGo said that the new labour laws resulted in an incremental cost of ₹969.3 crore, while the operational disruptions in December 2025 cost it ₹550 crore

InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of India's largest airline operator, IndiGo, on Thursday reported a 77.6 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit to ₹549.8 crore in the third quarter of the financial year 2025-26 (Q3FY26). During the same period last year, the airline had recorded a profit of ₹2,448.8 crore.

 

The stumble in profit was primarily driven by the implementation of new Labour Codes and cost incurred due to thousands of flight cancellations in December 2025, the company said in a BSE filing. It added that the new labour codes resulted in an incremental cost of ₹969.3 crore, while the December chaos added ₹550 crore in expenses.

 

 

"These disruptions led to a material reduction in passenger revenue during the affected period. To restore operations, the company rebooted its network and systems and repositioned crews, steps that later enabled it to operate more flights with improved stability," the company said about the operational disruptions caused by its lack of preparedness to implement the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules.

 

InterGlobe's revenue from operations for the quarter, however, increased by 6.15 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to ₹23,471.9 crore, from ₹22,110.7 crore. On a sequential basis, revenue rose 26.5 per cent from ₹18,555 crore.

 

"Despite these operational disruptions, IndiGo delivered a topline of around ₹24,500 crore in the December quarter, reflecting a growth of around 7 per cent with a reported profit of around ₹500 crore and an underlying profit excluding exceptional items and forex of ₹3,100 crore," said  Pieter Elbers, chief executive officer (CEO) of InterGlobe Aviation.

 

Last week, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) imposed a ₹22 crore penalty on the airline operator and also directed it to furnish a bank guarantee of ₹50 crore, the company said.

 

IndiGo cancelled 4,290 flights between December 1 and 9 after facing a shortage of pilots while implementing the new FDTL rules. However, on January 20, the airline told the DGCA that it would not cancel any flights after February 10 and begin implementing the full FDTL norms, having secured an adequate number of pilots.

 

In Q2FY26, the airline reported a net loss of ₹2,582.10 crore primarily due to currency movements.

 

Here's a look at IndiGo's Q3 earnings highlights:

• Capacity increased 11.2 per cent to 45.4 billion
• Passengers carried rose 2.8 per cent to 31.9 million
• Yield declined 1.8 per cent to ₹5.33
• Load factor fell 2.4 percentage points to 84.6 per cent
• Fuel cost per available seat kilometre (Cask) declined 2.8 per cent to ₹1.53

 

Shares of IndiGo closed at ₹4,913.8 apiece on the BSE on Thursday.