Air India Express reports net profit of Rs 169 crore in FY19

Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India, on Tuesday said it earned a net profit of Rs 169 crore in 2018-19.

Revenues grew by 16.07 per cent, going up from Rs 3,620 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 4,202 crores in 2018-19. The number of passengers carried by airline increased by 12 per cent to reach 43.6 lakh from the 38.9 lakh passengers carried in 2017-18.

"The net profit earned in the last fiscal is particularly significant as the aviation sector had to face many challenges, including high input costs," said its Chief Executive Officer K Shyam Sundar.

"The unit cost incurred on fuel alone increased by about 35 per cent during this period. The impact of this on profitability was huge as more than 40 per cent of the airline's operating cost was incurred on fuel," he said.

"Despite this, we were able to drive-in profit by greater utilisation of our assets and resources, like aircraft, manpower and materials. Through concerted cost measures, the airline was able to contain the unit cost incurred on expenses other than fuel to be at the same level as in FY 18," said Sundar in a statement.

The airline's international carriage alone grew by about 10.5 per cent during this period. Average daily aircraft utilisation rose to 13.3 hours from 12.7 hours in the previous year, which in turn led to an increase in capacity offered by the airline.

The fiscal also saw Air India Express inducting two more aircraft on dry lease, which joined the fleet in September and October 2018 respectively. With the induction of these two aircraft, Air India Express expanded its network to three new Indian cities -- Bengaluru, Kannur, and Surat.

With a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, Air India Express now operates from 13 international and 20 Indian destinations.