Sky-Oh-My: The Skyways Air Services IPO

The following article is for educational purposes ONLY. Each and every piece of information used henceforth in this article is sourced from the RHP.

Skyways Air Services Limited is going for an IPO of ₹583 Cr from Aug 24th to 27th, 2026. Skyways runs a freight forwarding business that delivers shipments majorly through air and water around the world.

India’s logistics sector was worth ~₹20.59 lakh Cr in 2021, and is estimated to be ~₹34.17 lakh Cr in FY26, growing at 10.7% a year. Air cargo is a fast-growing part of this market.

Indian airports handle 1.2 million tonnes of air freight in just ~4 months. India now has 165 airports, more than double since 2014.

Skyways Air Services Limited operates inside this growth. It is India’s top air freight forwarder by airway bill volume from 2022.

Founded in 1984 as a customs house agent, it has grown into a group of 29 subsidiaries and associates spread across 12 countries.

They’re now planning to go public with an IPO consisting of a Fresh Issue of ~₹399 Cr and an Offer for Sale of ~₹184 Cr, from 24th to 27th Aug, 2026.

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Skyways is a freight forwarder that books cargo space with airlines and shipping lines, on behalf of customers, prepares the paperwork, and manages cargo from pickup to delivery.

Its earnings come from the gap between what it charges customers and what it pays carriers, plus fees for services such as documentation, warehousing and customs clearance.

The company also works as a consolidator. It pools smaller shipments from many customers into larger loads. This helps it negotiate better freight rates from airlines than an individual shipper could get alone, and it keeps part of that rate difference as margin.

Revenue comes from six service lines, namely:

• air cargo

• ocean cargo

• express cargo and parcel delivery

• trucking

• value-added services and

• warehousing

Air cargo/freight is consistently the core of the business. Skyways holds performance-based agreements with major airlines including Emirates, Saudi Cargo, Air India Cargo, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways. These agreements secure steady capacity and better rates.

Skyways runs its operations through a network of 29 subsidiaries and associates in India and abroad, each handling a specific service line or region.

A technology subsidiary, sGate Tech Solutions, builds and runs the digital platforms that manage bookings, tracking and documentation across the group.

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• Revenue per customer rose from ₹17.40 lakh in FY24 to ₹29.60 lakh in FY26, a 70% jump. with the sharpest surge being in FY25.

• Cost of services per customer has stayed close to 90% of revenue, and gross profit per customer has moved in a narrow band from ₹2.05 lakh in FY24 to ₹3.22 lakh in FY26.

• Employee cost per customer rose from ₹0.89 lakh to ₹1.24 lakh as total headcount grew from 950 to 1,193 over the same period.

• EBITDA per customer more than doubled, from ₹0.65 lakh in FY24 to ₹1.32 lakh in FY26, meaning that the growing revenue base is also increasingly profitable.

• Total Cargo Handled: Air cargo volume grew 75% over two years, from 48,013 tonnes in FY24 to 83,924 tonnes in FY26. Ocean containers handled grew 74% in the same period, from 16,294 TEU to 28,275 TEU.

• Revenue per tonne of air cargo fell 8%, from ₹2.80 lakh in FY25 to ₹2.58 lakh in FY26, and revenue per TEU of ocean cargo fell 19%, from ₹1.84 lakh to ₹1.49 lakh. The RHP attributes this to falling freight rates across the industry rather than a change in the company’s own pricing.

• Pharmaceuticals share in the total cargo transported has risen considerably from 7% in FY24 to 23% in FY26. It’s actually the highest cargo load as percentage of revenue in FY26.

• EBITDA nearly tripled, from ₹48 Cr in FY24 to ₹126 Cr in FY26, on the back of higher volumes, while EBITDA Margins stayed roughly the same.

• Finance costs rose 156% over FY24 to FY26, from ₹19 Cr to ₹48 Cr. Skyways’ Working Capital gap jumped 31% in FY26 and borrowings covered ~86% of it.

• Profit After Tax grew 84%, from ₹34 Cr in FY24 to ₹64 Cr in FY26, a slower pace than EBITDA growth as finance costs rose in FY26.

• Skyways is the smallest company in the peer set by revenue, at ₹2,813 Cr.

• Skyways’ PAT Margin is almost at par with Shadowfax and beats Delhivery, Mahindra Logistics and TVS Supply Chain.

• Its EBITDA Margin is the lowest among the peer set though, and more experienced players like TVS take the cake with cutting costs efficiently.

• Carrier dependency: Skyways owns no aircraft, ships or trucks. Airline contracts run yearly and renew each June and July. Losing a major carrier or facing a sharp rate hike leaves the company with no owned capacity to fall back on.

• Supplier concentration: Top 5 suppliers made up 36.01% of cost of services in FY26, top 10 made up 49.00%. Given how few major air cargo carriers exist, replacing even one or two quickly would be hard.

Skyways runs an asset-light freight forwarding business built on relationships with airlines and shipping lines rather than owned aircraft or ships. But PAT and EBITDA Margins are slim, and catching up with its peers on those will be the challenge for Skyways.

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