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NEW DELHI: Budget airline IndiGo posted slower first-quarter revenue growth on Wednesday, weighed down by subdued demand following border tensions between India and Pakistan and a fatal Air India crash during the quarter.

India’s largest carrier by market share reported a 4.7% rise in revenue to 204.96 billion rupees ($2.34 billion) in the April-June quarter, a sharp slowdown from the 17.3% growth logged a year ago.

“The June quarter was shaped by significant external challenges that created headwinds for the entire aviation sector,” Chief Executive Pieter Elbers said in a statement.

An April attack on civilians in Indian Kashmir, followed by border clashes between India and Pakistan led to “hundreds and hundreds of cancelations,” Elbers said in a post-earnings media call.

India has blamed Islamabad for the attack, which the latter has denied.

Shortly after, an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad and killed 260 people in June, spurring flying anxiety among many travelers.

“All in all, that has led ... to (have) some impact on the market,” Elbers said, but added that so far, the second quarter appears to be stabilizing.

Despite the recent slowdown, IndiGo has benefited from rising incomes, sustained post-pandemic domestic travel demand, along with continued fleet and network expansion.

Still, the company posted a lower quarterly profit, bogged down by ballooning foreign exchange losses.

Its yield — the average money earned from a passenger for every kilometer traveled — fell 5%.

The airline’s first-quarter capacity — measured in available seat kilometers — grew 16.4% on-year.

The firm had projected a “mid-teens percentage range” growth in May.

ROME: Italy on Wednesday summoned Russia’s ambassador after Moscow included Italian President Sergio Mattarella on a list of Western officials critical of the Kremlin.

Relations between Rome and Moscow — already strained by the Kremlin’s Ukraine invasion — have dipped further in recent days, with Italy canceling a concert last week of a pro-Kremlin maestro.

Italy’s foreign ministry said it considered “the inclusion of the head of state in this list a provocation against the republic and the Italian people.”

Moscow included Mattarella on its foreign ministry list of Western officials whom it accuses of using “the language of hatred” against Russia.

Other European leaders, such as Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz, are also on the list.

As president, Mattarella occupies a largely ceremonial role.

But Moscow has said it included him on its list for having compared Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine to Nazi Germany.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a staunch advocate of Kyiv, with Italy hosting a conference on Ukraine’s recovery earlier this month.

In a statement Wednesday, she expressed solidarity for Mattarella and said his inclusion on the list was “nothing more than yet another propaganda operation aimed at diverting attention from Moscow’s serious responsibilities.”

Italy has taken in thousands of Ukrainian refugees since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of the country.