IndiGo offers bonus to pilots in lieu of leave to counter staff shortage

Stock Market - IndiGo is asking its pilots to forfeit holidays as crew shortage poses a hurdle in the carrier’s expansion plan.

India’s largest airline is offering a bonus of up to Rs 3,30,000 and will increase the annual privilege leave as it prepares to deploy 50 more aircraft in the next seven months. “As you may be aware, the induction of new aircraft is now reaching one of the most rapid and aggressive phases of this year's plan. In order to maintain the momentum of our commercial plan, pilots will be given an option to offer their leave in lieu of compensation,” .

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Airlines on budget drive as rising fuel price, falling rupee start to pinch

It is going to get hard to differentiate between a full-service carrier and a budget airline as the aviation industry goes on an economy drive. Threatened by rising fuel price and a falling rupee, airline companies are planning drastic measures ranging from freezing increments to cutting down on flights and in-flight luxuries to save and earn that extra penny.

State-owned Air India, reeling from a Rs 500-billion debt after a failed privatisation attempt, is at the forefront of cutting out the frills. Overtime pay, staff conveyance, travel expenses, and building ...Read Full Story

Nifty outlook and top trading ideas by Tradebulls for today

Nifty outlook and top trading ideas by Sacchitanand Uttekar, AVP – Technical (Equity), Tradebulls:
Nifty Outlook: Nifty resumed its weakness after a brief pause in yesterday’s trading session as weakness intensified below the level of 10470.

Hence traders should retain shorts until 10580 is defended with an expectation of an immediate extension towards 10325.

Stock: INDIGO

Reco.: Buy
CMP: Rs 1160
Recurrence of multiple spike formations near the support 1100 & a rebound from the support zone displays early signs of distortion of the ongoing down move. Positive divergence on the daily RSI also compliments the setup & hence declines if any should be utilized to create fresh longs. Short term traders could accumulate the stock within the range of 1160-1130 & hold it for a rebound towards 1230 where its 200 DEMA is placed.

Stock: HPCL

Reco.: SELL
CMP: Rs 287
Most of the OMC’s continue to deteriorate due to the ongoing crude price effect. HPCL has been trending down for almost 10 months now & the fresh breackdown from the continuation pattern indicates aggregated weakness. Short positions could be continued with a stop above 298 with an initial target upto 272.

Airline stocks fall on weak InterGlobe Aviation results; IndiGo tanks 18%

Shares of airline companies - InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), Jet Airways and SpiceJet – have tanked up to 18% after the IndiGo reported weak set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2018 (Q4FY18)

IndiGo plunged 18% to Rs 1,111 on the BSE after the company reported a sharp 73% decline in net profit to Rs 1.17 billion for the March quarter (Q4FY18), due to higher fuel costs and adverse forex exchange positions. The country’s largest airline had profit of Rs 4.4 billion in year ago quarter.
With today’s fall, the market value of IndiGo has declined 26% in past four trading sessions after the resignation of its president Aditya Ghosh.

SpiceJet (down 9% at Rs 120) and Jet Airways (down 6% at Rs 556) were down more than 5% on the BSE in intra-day trade today. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.16% lower at 35,122 points at 09:55 am.

IndiGo’s revenue from operations during the quarter under review grew 19.6% at Rs 57.99 billion against Rs 48.48 billion during the same period last year.

Air India privatisation: Will IndiGo exit force govt to ease bidding terms?

Following IndiGo’s decision of not bidding for state-run Air India, the government might be pressured to tweak some of the key areas in the preliminary information memorandum that, according to many carriers, make it difficult to bid for the national carrier.

There is no doubt, say experts, that IndiGo was the only domestic airline with the cash reserves (over Rs 120 billion) and management wherewithal to turn around Air India. It was also the only carrier that met the net worth criterion of Rs 50 billion on its own. Now, IndiGo’s withdrawal from the race is surely a major setback for the government, and it also raises the red flag for other potential bidders.

The other two aviation companies that have reportedly shown interest in Air India are Tata-SIA and Jet Airways with KLM, though the latter does not have a great financial health. The names of Air Asia, SpiceGet, Go Air and Qatar Airlines, and even the Adanis, have been doing the rounds, but many of them have denied or not commented on the issue.

According to an aviation analyst, “the IndiGo decision is good in one way, as it will make the government rethink – you cannot push so many clauses down a buyer; they will rethink (their interest in bidding).” Global consultants to airlines say that most carriers are looking for more clarifications on some key issues before they would take a decision.