Jet Airways back in black, posts Q1 net at Rs 226 cr

Jet Airways today reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 226.4 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, helped by higher revenues and increase in passenger traffic.

The leading carrier had posted a loss of Rs 258 crore in the same period a year-ago.

In the first quarter of the current financial year, the airline saw its revenues jump to Rs 5,658 crore compared with Rs 5,097 crore in the year-ago period.

The improved performance provides further evidence of the growing momentum of the three-year turnaround, Jet Airways said in a statement.

Passenger revenues climbed 10.4 per cent to Rs 4,707 crore in the latest June quarter.

"The combined passenger load factor in Q1 of FY16 increased by 2.2 percentage points to 82.4 per cent, compared to 80.2 per cent in Q1 of FY15.

"This improvement is largely attributable to the optimised network which ensures tighter domestic and international network integration," it said.

The airline carried 6.29 million passengers in the quarter as against 5.19 million a year ago.

"Our performance in the first quarter of this financial year demonstrates once again that the measures we are taking to bring the business back to profitability are having the desired result," Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said.

Synergies with partner carriers, the implementation of a consistent, full service, single-brand strategy across the entire domestic airline operation, among others, also contributed to the airline's better performance.

Despite increasingly competitive domestic landscape driven by aggressive new market entrants, the carrier's market share in India increased to 21.9 per cent in the June quarter, Jet Airways CEO Cramer Ball said.

"This means that one in every five domestic passengers flew on Jet Airways, he noted.

According to the statement the domestic capacity grew 13.3 per cent and passenger traffic rose 25.4 per cent in the three months ended June.

International passenger traffic went up 12.4 per cent during the June quarter.

"The quarter witnessed a significant 51 per cent growth in overall code share traffic while at the same time the code share traffic by strategic partner Etihad Airways and its partner airlines grew by 181 per cent," the statement said.

According to Ball, competitive and structural challenges in the Indian aviation market continue to put pressure on its yields and costs.

"By virtue of Jet Airways’ equity relationship with Etihad Airways and its partner airlines, significant savings and synergies are achieved through joint maintenance and ground handling facilities, cabin crew training and common procurement of aircraft, fuel, and insurance," he said.

Shares of Jet Airways today settled at Rs 400.20, up 7.94 per cent on BSE.