Jet Airways posted a loss of Rs 101.22 crore in the third quarter ending December 31, 2011, as higher fuel prices, lower fares and rupee depreciation continued to hurt the company. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 118.23 crore. Total income increased to Rs 3,939.16 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 3,473.38 crore recorded during the same quarter of last year.
Despite Q3 being traditionally the strongest quarter, high fuel prices and the rupee depreciating to record lows against the dollar have impacted the operating results.
Mr Nikos Kardassis, Chief Executive Officer, Jet Airways (I) Ltd said, “High fuel prices together with depreciating Indian rupee versus US dollar have pulled down the operating results to an extent. We continue to remain competitive through innovative marketing initiatives, increase in ancillary revenues enduring focus on cost cutting measures through contract renegotiation and process improvements across all segments of the business.”
Domestic traffic for Jet airways grew by 16.4 per cent for the quarter against the same period last year. Seat factors were 75.2 per cent in Q3 FY12 versus 76.9 per cent in Q3 FY11.
The Indian domestic market will continue to grow at a rate of 12 to 15 per cent in the short to medium term, the company said in a statement. “The capacity induction in the market has slowed down thereby giving considerable scope for airlines to push for higher yields and we saw some semblance of this from November 2011. ATF Prices and rupee depreciation vis-a- vis US dollar continues to be a cause of concern for the short term. Passenger bookings in the fourth quarter show encouraging trends, however, it will reflect some seasonality,” Jet Airways said.
The airline company hopes to complete the transition from Jetlite to Jet Konnect during this quarter. Jet Airways said that its fund raising initiatives are “well on track” and it expects to complete sale and lease back of some its aircraft in the fiscal fourth quarter ending in March.
The shares of Jet Airways dropped 4.49 per cent to close at Rs. 231.65 on Friday on the Bombay Stock Exchange.