SpiceJet records highest ever quarterly profit at Rs 2.4 billion in Q3

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday reported a 32 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 2.4 billion for the three months ended December 2017, aided by higher passenger revenue, making it the 12th successive profitable quarter for the airline.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 1.81 billion in the same period a year ago.

"12 successive profitable quarters, record aircraft orders, industry's best load factor, high on-time performance and constantly exploring new growth avenues SpiceJet remains firmly on track on its long-term growth strategy," SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh said.

The total income from operations of the company stood at Rs 20.8 billion for the December quarter of 2017, while in a year-ago period, it stood at Rs 16.4 billion, a company release said.

"The strong quarterly results were aided by a higher passenger load factor and a healthy increase in passenger yields despite a substantial rise of 17 per cent in crude oil prices, a one-time expense of Rs 250 million and an inflationary increase of 3 per cent in other costs," the release added.

The company witnessed a 14 per cent increase in its passenger yields (revenue per available seat kilometer) while its average domestic load factor was 95 per cent.

The shares of the company were trading at Rs 138.30, up 6.92 per cent on the BSE.