IndiGo CEO Sees 'Limited' Financial Impact From Pakistan Airspace Closure

IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers downplayed the financial fallout from Pakistan's airspace closure, describing the effects on the airline’s operations as "limited", with less than 2% of daily flights impacted.

"A total of 34 flights have been affected due to longer flying times of 20–30 mins out of a total of over 2,200 daily departures due to Pakistan airspace closure," Elbers told reporters during a post-earnings call on Wednesday. Besides, flights to Almaty and Tashkent have been cancelled till June 14 due to stretched routes. But these are only two out of 41 international routes.

"So, while there is some financial impact due to this, currently we see it is limited in the grand scheme of our operations," he said.

The airline, however, is exploring opportunities to replace flights to other parts of the world to avoid Pakistani airspace in case of longer disruptions.

The country's largest airline is hoping bookings will rebound in June after demand for some destinations took a sharp hit as airports were temporarily shut amid border tensions.

Civil flight operations from 32 airports were suspended for a week in May across the northwest region in view of the military standoff between India and Pakistan. The services at these airports, which include Jammu, Srinagar and Amritsar, however, have now been fully reinstated.

Passenger traffic in April started "quite strong", but May was "clearly a dampener" due to an increase in cancellations and impact on bookings, said Elbers. "But we see slowly traffic returning to normal levels with operations now fully restored, so we expect to see a recovery from June."

IndiGo served 11 of the 32 airports that were closed. As a result, 170 flights a day had to be cancelled, accounting for 7.7% of the total flights operated.

IndiGo on Wednesday reported a 62% jump in its fourth-quarter profit to Rs 3,067 crore — its first quarterly profit rise this fiscal — aided by a domestic travel surge during Mahakumbh 2025.

The airline's yield, which is the average money earned from a passenger for every kilometre travelled, rose 2.4% to Rs 5.32 per kilometre in the quarter. IndiGo's load factor, or the utilised passenger-carrying capacity, improved to 87.4% from 86.4%. IndiGo, which has more than 400 aircraft under its wings, expects first-quarter capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, to grow in the mid-teens percentage range from a year earlier.

In April, IndiGo's market share stood at 64.1%, a 10 basis points increase over the previous month, buoyed by steady demand recovery. This indicates a sequential recovery from January, when its share was 65%.

IndiGo is readying contingent plans in case of changes in the lease arrangement with Turkish Airlines as the government reviews aviation ties with Turkiye following their support of Pakistan during Operation Sindoor.

The current arrangement is ending this month, and the airlines cannot go ahead with a renewal unless the Centre greenlights it. But so far, the carrier’s codeshare partnership with Turkish Airlines as well as the operation of damp-leased wide-body jets between the two countries are fully compliant with all Indian rules and regulations, said Elbers.

"The operation to Istanbul is taking place in the context of the Air Service Agreement between India and Turkiye, and IndiGo is fully compliant with all regulatory frameworks which are there," he said. "As a good airline, we make sure that we have fallback plans in case of changes. And I think we have demonstrated that over the last years, be it domestic or international… We’ll deal with it, and we adjust our network accordingly."

The renewal of the leases is up to the government to decide, but the airline has "thousands of Indian customers" already booked, mostly beyond Istanbul and flying to other parts of the world, according to the CEO.

The government is unlikely to renew IndiGo's damp-lease agreement with Turkish Airlines considering the current diplomatic situation. The India–Turkiye agreement permits carriers from both countries to operate up to 56 weekly flights—14 each way by Indian and Turkish airlines.