IndiGo becomes world's third-largest airline by market cap, as shares gain over 4% to hit 52-week high

The rally in the aviation stock was witnessed after the airline announced a 20-25% increase in airfares, particularly on prominent routes.

With today's 4% rise, IndiGo has now become the world’s third-largest airline in terms of market capitalisation. The market capitalisation of IndiGo Airlines stood at nearly ₹1.47 lakh crore. Delta Air and Ryanair Holdings are other two airlines that ranked ahead of Indigo with a market capitalisation of $30.4 billion and $26.5 billion, respectively.

IndiGo shares have seen an upward movement amid Vistara’s decision to scale back its operations due to pilot pressure and performance issues. The airline said that it was reducing 25-30 flights per day, approximately 10% of its total capacity.

The IndiGo fare adjustment could be attributed to the cancellation of Vistara flights, leading to higher demand for IndiGo flights.

IndiGo shares opened higher at ₹3,679 apiece on the NSE on Wednesday and rallied further as much as 4.73% to hit a record high of ₹3,812 in intraday trade. However, the stock pared some gains to close at ₹3,806 apiece, up 4.73% on NSE.

Shares of Interglobe Aviation Ltd have gained nearly 9% in the past week and over 22% in the last one month. The stock has surged over 27% year-to-date (YTD) and nearly 100% in the last one year.

Interglobe Aviation operates India’s largest airline, IndiGo. In 2006, IndiGo marked the commencement of its operations. By 2022, according to the company, it achieved a significant milestone, becoming the first Indian airline to surpass a fleet size of 300 aircraft. As of February 29, 2024, IndiGo said its fleet size stood at 366 aircraft.

The largest airline in India by market share serves 88 domestic and 33 international destinations.