Air India Express expects Rs 5,000 cr revenue in FY20, profit surges 283%

Air India Express, which is up for sale along with parent Air India, on Thursday said it expects to cross Rs 5,000 crore in operating revenue this fiscal aided by higher aircraft utilisation, better yields and lower fuel expenses.

The profit-making low-cost international arm of the national carrier, Air India Express is also scheduled to launch its flight services to Abu Dhabi and Doha from Tiruchirappalli, starting March 28 this year.

The airline's total revenue in the last fiscal was Rs 4,171.5 crore and it posted a net profit of Rs 168.5 crore.

"In this financial year, we will exceed the figure of Rs 5,000 crore in operating revenues, and this will be for the first time, since the airline's inception," Air India Express Chief Executive Officer K Shyam Sundar said in a release.

Stating that the Air India Express' revenue performance in the third quarter has also been "excellent" he said, the airline's operating revenue increased to Rs 4,235 crore at the end of December 2019.

Operating with a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, Air India Express currently operates 651 flights per week.

The airline also said it operating revenue increased 40 per cent to Rs 3,124.34 crore in the first half of the financial year, compared to the same period last year.

The Rs 3,124 crore operating revenue is also about 75 per cent of the total revenue earned by the carrier in FY2019, it said.

Air India Express net profit, as per the release, surged a massive 283 per cent to Rs 679.80 crore in the first half of the current fiscal against Rs 177.3 crore during the same period last year.

According to the airline, the Tiruchirappalli Abu Dhabi service will operate four times a week while the services on the Tiruchirappalli- Doha route will be operated thrice a week.

Moreover, Tiruchirappalli will for the very first time get connected to the national capital, Delhi by a direct daily flight via Madurai, the release said adding the daily non-stop services to Dubai, Sharjah and Singapore from Tiruchirappalli will continue, offering Tiruchirappalli passengers a total of 35 flights per week.

The four times weekly non-stop Madurai Delhi will be increased to a daily service. The services on Madurai- Singapore route will operate daily to standardised timings, the airline said.

Air India Express plans to increase the number of flights to 665 in the summer schedule as against 651 flights per week at present, according to the release.