Full fare carrier Jet Airways reported a 53 per cent decline in first quarter standalone profit to ₹103 crore, against ₹221 crore in the previous year period, owing to increased competitive pressure.
Revenue declined 2 per cent to ₹5,112 crore compared with ₹5,220 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
The airline said the 53 per cent decline in profit was due to the inclusion of an exceptional item on account of contribution receivable from lessors.
“Due to the intense competitive environment, industry yields were under pressure in Q1 and the trend is expected to continue in Q2,” said Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways.
“Jet Airways has strengthened its core operations and achieved better capacity utilisation and greater efficiency. We have been able to report lower non-fuel cost in spite of inflationary increases and weakening of the Indian rupee against the US dollar by almost 6 per cent,” he added.
The airline’s strategic partnership with Etihad Airways yielded better results, though. In Q1, code-share traffic delivered by Etihad and its partner airlines to Jet grew 41 per cent, the company said.
Jet was also able to reduce its debt by ₹358 crore during the quarter. Cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) excluding fuel dropped 1.2 per cent to ₹3.20 in the quarter compared to ₹3.24 in Q1 FY16.
“We will continue to strengthen the partnership between Jet Airways and Etihad Airways by driving further synergies, along with other Etihad Airways Partner airlines. Together, we are the largest combined scheduled operator of flights to and from India with a 20 per cent market share. Our robust partnership continues to go from strength to strength,” said James Hogan, Vice-Chairman, Jet Airways, and President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group.
Overall code-share traffic for the first quarter grew 13 per cent to 551,859 passengers.