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| Jet posts Rs 225-crore net loss on low demand |
| BS Reporter / Mumbai Jul 25, 2009, 00:51 IST |
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Reported Rs 143-cr profit in Q1 of last year.
Jet Airways, the country’s largest private air-carrier, has posted a net loss of Rs 225.3 crore in the first quarter, compared to a profit of Rs 143.4 crore during the same period last year, following a drop in domestic load and lower yields. The economic downturn has adversely impacted the top line, which fell 16.24 per cent to Rs 2,428.4 crore during the June-ended quarter.
Though higher fuel costs, depreciation and interest have taken a toll, the company managed to cut expenditure by 7.8 per cent to Rs 2,163.8 crore. The interest cost has shot up 81 per cent to Rs 243.6 crore because of Rs 14,500 crore debt in the books.
For reducing the debt burden, the company plans to raise $400 million (approximately Rs 2,000 crore) through equity dilution, said an official. Jet Airways has a cash and cash equivalent of Rs 800-900 crore in the books.
The drop in passenger numbers, especially corporate traffic, and competition among airlines to reduce fares to attract passengers led to a decline in average yields.
To control costs, the airline has taken initiatives such as network restructuring, rationalising personnel costs, restructuring of aircraft leases, debt restructuring, cash conservation, maximising Jet Lite –Jet Airways’ synergies, intensifying alliances and deferment of aircraft deliveries, the company said in a statement.
It has extended the repayment period of the term loan of Rs 2,000 crore to five years from two years. The purchase of 13 aircraft has been deferred for the next one to two years.
The revenue from domestic services has fallen 31.4 per cent to Rs 1,022 crore. Moreover, the domestic contribution to operating revenues fell to 43 per cent from 52 per cent. So, the international operational revenue has become a major contributor to the top line, being 56.9 per cent of operating revenues, at Rs 1,349 crore.
During the quarter, the domestic seat occupancy had reduced to 67.3 per cent from 72.8 per cent, while the international load factor rose to 76.5 per cent from 64.7 per cent.
“All of our routes have achieved over 70 per cent load factors and the US and Asean routes are in the 80s. Gulf routes operate at a seat factor of the mid-70s,” the company said. This improvement in performance of international routes was enabled by capacity reduction, elimination of loss making routes, leasing out of aircraft and focusing on profit making routes, it added.
The domestic market, which had shown a decline of around 10 per cent for the year ended March 2009, is showing signs of slowdown in this declining trend. The month of June saw increase in passengers carried by around six per cent as compared to June last year. For the quarter as a whole, traffic fell by five per cent.
As a part of the expansion program on regional international routes, the company has launched the Mumbai-Jeddah service and is launching Mumbai-Riyadh, Mumbai-Bangkok, Hyderabad-Dubai, Mumbai-Dhaka & Cochin-Sharjah services shortly.
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