Dear Shareholders,
It is a genuine privilege for me to share my thoughts with you, for the
first time in this annual report. Ever since my start at IndiGo in September 2022, I have
been equally excited and proud to be a part of this wonderful company.
Aviation has had a hold on me ever since I joined the industry over 30
years ago, back in 1992. At IndiGo the entrepreneurial spirit, the energy and passion
displayed by our employees, combined with the rich diversity of India have been a true
pleasure for me that I intend to enjoy for long.
The financial year 2023 was a year of first recovery and
thereafter growth. the first half of the year, the path to recovery became clearly visible
when the impact of Covid-19 subsided and travel restrictions were lifted. As a result,
travel rebounded at an extraordinary speed and scale. In the second half of 2022, a lot of
exciting things have been launched and implemented at IndiGo, which we will share
throughout this annual report.
Consequently, and proudly, IndiGo became the first Indian airline to
surpass pre-covid levels of capacity, taking us into the highest passenger number ever -
of 86 million for the Financial Year 2023. The relentless efforts of our professional and
resilient employees enabled us to emerge stronger after this period of crisis.
As a result of the improved external environment and a wide range of
internal initiatives that were taken as part of the new IndiGo strategy,
IndiGo's financial performance considerably improved in FY 2023.
Our revenues more than doubled as compared to last year and we also
As a result of the improved external environment and as part of the new
IndiGo strategy, IndiGo's financial performance considerably improved in FY 2023
reported the highest ever annual revenues of 558.8 billion rupees. With
that, the year had two very distinct halves.
The first two quarters we still suffered losses, yet we were
recovering. The third and fourth quarter were profitable, an important milestone after
some 10 quarters of losses due to Covid-19.
Giving wings to the nation
Right from IndiGo's start, it has been our mission to connect the
vast and diverse India, supporting social cohesion, mobility and economic progress.
IndiGo's journey started almost 17 years ago with one aircraft and a flight to Imphal
via Guwahati.
At the end of FY 2023, we operated more than 1,800 daily flights,
covering 104 destinations, with our fleet of than 300+ planes. With our vast network we
are literally giving wings to the nation, enabling air travel to all large, medium, and
smaller cities across India.
Our many first-time flyers are a true testimony to this, just as the
businesses that can flourish as a result of all connections.
Over the past few months, we have built upon the existing beliefs of
the organization to come up with a purpose. Building upon our strong cultural foundation,
we have formulated it as such: ‘Giving wings to the nation, by connecting people and
aspirations'. This something we have lived by since our inception and which we
continue to fuel going forward.
Fulfilling our purpose has provided us with a place of reckoning in the
global aviation industry. With our 1,800+ flights we are in FY 2023 the 7th largest in the
world by daily departures. We were number one in India by OTP (On Time Performance) in the
last two quarters of this financial year, and we have one of the highest OTP in the world.
We have the largest fleet to be delivered of almost 500 aircraft between FY 2024 and the
end of the decade. We also have the youngest fleet in the world with an average age of
around 3.5 years. We are India's most preferred airline and fully intend to maintain
this position. With more and more international mobility in and out of India, we aim to
extend our scope. And so, our vision is this: To be India's preferred airline for
connectivity in and with India, by doing so being one of the leading airlines in the
world. This is also briefly captured as ‘India by IndiGo'.
Soaring towards new heights and across new frontiers
In FY 2023 we formulated, communicated and started to execute our new
strategy of Towards new heights & across new frontiers. This will be for the years to
come, the next chapter of the inspiring
IndiGo story. We have identified three pillars for our (growth)
strategy - Reassure, Develop and Create - which we will focus on in parallel. The wide
range of initiatives that were collectively set in motion across our Company under these
three pillars have already started to yield results in all areas as became visible in both
the financial results as well as important KPI's such as NPS and OTP.
Reassure
This first pillar of the strategy is reassuring - and improving where
needed - the very basis of our Company. The focus on our three customer promises -
affordable fares, on time performance and courteous and hassle-free service - have been at
the basis of our success. Over the past year we have added a fourth promise: unparalleled
network. Naturally, above all, safety is and will remain our number one priority.
Indeed, the very consistent delivery of our customer promises has
enabled us to grow. In FY 2023, we welcomed around 86 million customers on board, which is
a 72% jump as compared to the previous year and a 14 percent jump as compared to the
previous pre-covid record year FY 2020.
Our vision is to be India's preferred airline for connectivity in
and with India, by doing so being one of the leading airlines in the world. This is also
briefly captured as ‘India by IndiGo'
We also improved our operational performance, which has been one of our
core strengths. Thanks to great efforts made by our staff, we were able to get back into
the number one OTP position in November and have held onto it for most of the remainder of
the financial year.
Additionally, we have had one of the lowest cancellation rates globally
in this year. In November, our new hangar at Bengaluru airport opened to support our
continuously growing fleet. To mark our sixteenth anniversary in August 2022, we
introduced a new revolutionary Three Point Disembarkation process which enables our
customers to exit the aircraft faster than ever before. Being the first airline in the
world to use this process, we have exhibited it at the cover page of this annual report.
The reliability of operations in combination with the service from the
heart of our crew has led to higher customer satisfaction (NPS = Net Promotor Score). To
improve our courteous and hassle-free service we have been simplifying our processes. In
this financial year, our customer complaints remained at an all-time low.
At the end of FY 2023, we had presence in 104 destinations as we added
5 domestic and 2 international destinations, such as Ras Al Khaimah, Itanagar, Mopa-Goa,
Nashik and
Dharamshala. With our 1,800 flights a day we are able to offer almost
500 direct city pairs each day. Domestic connectivity remains a crucial part of our
strategy going forward and we will keep on adding more and more domestic destinations to
our network – further giving wings to the nation.
Develop
On our second pillar, by the end of the decade we will double in size.
Herewith we will have to further develop and align people, processes and technology in
line with this growing size and scale of our Company. Digitization plays a pivotal role in
this. The actions we take in this second pillar will create the stability, structures and
processes to help us steer the company on the path to our aspirations. In FY 2023, we have
already been taking steps: we have upgraded the back-end of our website, developed an
in-house ‘Partnership Booking Engine', introduced RIFD technology that reduces
the inspection time for life vests and introduced the e-logbook for pilots. We are
investing in an HR management system, a new CRM and core digital platforms to enhance
scalability and customer experience.
Next to this, we are also developing our people. Considering the large
extent of hiring, creating the right skills and competencies will remain of great
importance. We are proud to have ifly, one of the largest aviation training academies in
the world, where the IndiGo spirit is created for over 1,850 people a day. Over the years
a strong IndiGo culture has been build and nurtured. Made in IndiGo is one of the programs
that makes me very proud to be part of this company as we give room for the talent that is
inside our home-grown 6E employees. We have seen an uptick in our recent employee promotor
scores (eNPS) and are continuing to build on initiatives that strengthen our employee
engagement and talent management.
At IndiGo, we value diversity, equity and inclusion, and are focused on
creating a safe and conducive space for all employees. With 15% women in the cockpit, we
are proud to have the highest number of women pilots in the world, for which we were
felicitated by the Indian Women Pilots' Association. In 2022, we joined International
Air Transport Association (IATA) 25 by 2025 initiative that focuses on increasing female
leadership to 25% to become one of the change agents in the aviation industry in order to
make it truly diverse and inclusive along with other airlines and industry partners.
Further, we are determined to push our 45% overall female share even further up through
several programmes and initiatives such as "Take-Off 2.0" - a programme which
provides opportunities to women who have been on a career break. These programmes and
initiatives underpin IndiGo's commitment to being an equal opportunity employer.
Create
The third pillar in our strategy will create our future towards the
next phase of our growth combining our strong Indian foundation with international
aspirations. Apart from an unparalleled domestic network, we continue to strengthen our
international network by introducing new destinations and frequencies. At the end of the
financial year, we had presence in 26 international destinations, and surely this number
will go up in the years to come. As a share of the capacity the international capacity
(Available Seat Kilometre - ASK) will reach towards 30% in the next two years. Towards
this goal, early June 2023 we have announced 6 new international destinations namely
Nairobi, Jakarta, Baku, Tashkent, Tbilisi and Almaty. We are taking steps to prepare our
sales and distribution for further international presence. These are exciting steps as we
are connecting the world to India, one dot at a time. In addition to our own network, we
are enhancing our connectivity with our strategic partners. With our codeshare agreement
with
Turkish Airlines we are strengthening our international connectivity
from India by providing services to 33 additional European destinations and 4 additional
destinations in the US. Next, we damp leased B777 from Turkish Airlines. This enabled us
to operate a widebody to Istanbul, the perfect entry point to Europe. A second B777 -
proudly in our own livery- arrived in the current financial year.
Apart from this, we are leveraging our existing platform for growth.
With India emerging as a major electronics manufacturing hub, the country's air cargo
network will become a critical enabler of its success. We have supplemented our business
with two narrow body freighters to support India's cargo growth and an additional one
is planned to arrive later this year.
At the same time, we are taking steps to complement our business with a
customer loyalty program, and strengthen our co-brand card programme, to enable us to
provide a differentiated customer experience, and create further stickiness to our brand.
In sum, all three pillars - Reassure, Develop and Create - are starting
to bear fruit.
Our ESG initiatives - IndiGo Green
At IndiGo, we strive to deliver our customer promise in the most
sustainable way possible. With our investments in the new generation aircraft, we have
been able to reduce CO2 footprint by around 20% in FY 2023 as compared to 7 years ago.
Today, around 80% of our fleet is new generation and due to that, we are one of the lowest
CO2 emitting airlines in the world.
Apart from this, sustainability is integrated at the operational level
and we are making a series of investments towards more responsible flying including single
engine taxiing, optimal climb and descent paths, introduction of electric ground vehicles,
combo units, electronic flight bags and water conservation techniques on-board.
Reaching out to people not only with planes but also with our hearts
Being a responsible airline, we believe that CSR is an important aspect
of our growth going forward. Our CSR arm, IndiGoReach, contributes towards the goal of
sustainable development for communities. It has four focus areas which cover children and
education, women empowerment, environment, and heritage. With different programmes being
implemented across 18 Indian states we have been able to reach over 1 lakh
(100,000) beneficiaries.Itisimmensely gratifying to have been awarded
with the prestigious "Best CSR Award for Women Empowerment" by FICCI.
IndiGo remains committed to supporting humanitarian causes in India and
across the world. Recently, we supported the Indian government in "Operation
Kaveri", in bringing over hundreds of Indian citizens back to their homeland from the
crisis hit Sudan. Earlier in the year, with Turkey being hit by devastating earthquakes,
we provided cargo movement on our flights to Istanbul.
Recognitions from around the world
As India's most preferred airline, we were recognized by several
reputed organizations from around the world. These awards are a testament of our
commitment to operational excellence, and I am proud to name a few of them:
- We were awarded with "World's Youngest Aircraft Fleet"
in the 100+ aircraft category by ch-aviation.
- We were ranked as the 5th most punctual mega airline in the world by
the
Official Aviation Guide (OAG).
- We were awarded as the "Best Low-Cost Airlines in India and
South Asia" by SkyTrax.
Power of We
All this has been made possible by the "Power of We" –
the teamwork displayed by our employees across departments and locations. Our core
strength lies in our highly skilled, motivated, and engaged employees, who enable us to
deliver the courteous and hassle-free service to the 3 lakh (300,000) passengers flying
with us each day (milestone reached on May 21, 2023). I would like to extend my thanks to
all IndiGo employees for demonstrating our true culture and spirit.
Way forward
Moving to the next fiscal year, we are very much energized by the
growth path ahead of us, climbing towards new heights and across new frontiers. The demand
for air travel remains robust, and the overall operating environment remains conducive.
The vision of the government on India's growth and progress, and aviation as one of
the catalysts for this, is benefitting the nation as well as the hospitality and aviation
sector. The investments we are making in people and infrastructure will ensure that IndiGo
remains well-positioned for a strong future growth.
In June 2023 we have set a truly momentous step in the journey of
IndiGo as we placed a firm orderfor Airbus 500 of the A320 Family. This 500 aircraft order
is not only IndiGo's largest order, but also the largest-ever single aircraft
purchase by any airline with Airbus. With this order of 500 aircraft to be delivered
between 2030 and 2035, IndiGo's order book now has almost a 1,000 aircraft yet to be
delivered well into the next decade, allowing us to become a global aviation player.
Just as the efforts of our resilient and dedicated employees enabled us
to emerge stronger after a period of crisis, the same will take us to the next phase of
growth that has already started for both Indian aviation as well as IndiGo. With India
being the fastest growing aviation market globally, and receiving strong support from the
government to improve infrastructure and connectivity, the coming years we will be able to
further give wings to the nation, by connecting people and aspirations. By the time you
have read this annual report, a lot of exciting things will have happened at IndiGo
already. I would kindly encourage you to stay tuned on our website and our social channels
for more invigorating news as we go in this financial year. In FY 2024,
Just as the efforts of our resilient and dedicated employees enabled us
to emerge stronger after a period of crisis, the same will take us to the next phase of
growth that has already started for both Indian aviation as well as IndiGo
we will reach new heights as we gear up to become a 100 million
passenger airline. By the end of this decade, we are looking to double in size and scale.
In other words, something that took us 16 years will now be achieved in less than half of
that timeframe.
I will conclude by expressing my deepest gratitude to all our
customers, stakeholders and partners for their unwavering faith in us. For our 6E stars,
all the colleagues at the various disciplines and geographical locations, I would like to
take a deep bow for your unwavering support, dedication and relentless efforts for our
customers and the company itself.
We look forward to continuing our growth path, by working as one team
and focusing on what we do best. This way we will ensure that IndiGo remains structurally
the strongest player in the Indian aviation market, thereby maximizing value for our
shareholders and the communities we serve. India by IndiGo!
| Regards, |
| Pieter Elbers |
| CEO |