Jet Airways has posted 69.52 per cent y-o-y decrease in its standalone net profit at INR 142.38 crore during the October-December quarter as revenues remained stagnant and fuel and other expenses increased.
The revenues of the airline increased just 0.63 per cent y-o-y to INR 5478.07 crore due to demonetisation which resulted in decline in foreign travel, leading to a marginal decline in international revenue at INR 3066.32 crore.
Fuel cost which constitutes almost half of an airline’s operating cost increased by 15.67 per cent y-o-y to INR 1,428.59 crore. The airline hadn’t increased its fleet size during the quarter as a result of which aircraft rentals and maintenance cost hasn’t increased significantly.
The other expenses during the quarter increased by 11.78 per cent y-o-y to INR 1,353.74 crore due to foreign currency fluctuation. As a consequence the operating profit or EBITDAR decreased by 41 per cent y-o-y to INR 724.17 crore as opposed to INR 1,227.39 crore in the year ago period.
“In spite of the continuing downward pressure on yields caused by aggressive capacity addition in the industry as well as weaker international aviation markets, we have achieved positive results through our relentless effort to reduce net debt by almost 0.5 billion dollars in the past two years,”said Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways.
The overall codeshare traffic grew at seven per cent in the quarter. At a group level Jet Airways reported 1.4 per cent y-o-y total revenue of INR 5,784 crore for the quarter compared to INR 5,702 crore. The airline reduced its net debt by INR 1,001 crore during this quarter and INR 1,435 crore during the first nine months of the year.
“We are impressed to note and happy to support the continued trend of progressive developments at Jet Airways, despite the highly competitive and challenging aviation business environment in India as well as in the Gulf, which is another of Jet Airways’ core markets,” said James Hogan, president and CEO, Etihad Aviation Group.
