SpiceJet posts Rs 171 cr loss in Q3 on forex loss, ATF spike

Hit by forex losses and high fuel costs, budget carrier SpiceJet today reported Rs 171-crore loss for the quarter to December, as against a profit of Rs 102 crore in the year ago quarter.
The red ink came even as the Chennai-based carrier saw its revenue growing by 14 per cent to Rs 1,807 crore and a traffic growth of 10 per cent during the quarter. The airline booked Rs 63 crore in forex losses.
"Despite good growth, there were constraints on the industry's ability to increase yields sufficiently to neutralise the impact of cost increases, which were mostly led by a weaker rupee.

"The approximate impact of currency depreciation alone, despite a hedging programme that SpiceJet has in place, was around Rs 63 crore during the quarter," Media baron Kalanithi Maran-promoted SpiceJet said in a statement.
The company's finance cost also went up to Rs 30 crore from Rs 24.35 crore a year ago. It also spent 9 per cent more on ATF than in the same period last year, as the currency effect has been fully passed on to the local carriers by oil marketing companies.
This had the overall fuel costs rising to 52 per cent of the total revenue in the current quarter as compared to 45 per cent in the comparable quarter previous year.

Similarly, several other costs that are denominated in US dollars, such as lease rentals, maintenance, spares etc, went up sharply as a result of the adverse forex rate, the airline added.
Last week another listed airline Jet Airways had reported a loss of Rs 267.89 crore for the three months to December as the carrier was bogged down by rising expenses due to high fuel prices and the rupee's depreciation against a net profit of Rs 85 crore in the year-ago period.