SpiceJet Q1 profit jumps to Rs 149 crore

No-frills airline SpiceJet's net profit more than doubled to Rs 149.03 crore in the three months to June, helped by higher income and increased passenger numbers.
This is the "sixth consecutive profitable quarter" after challenges faced by the company in December 2014 and the change in management as well as control," SpiceJet said in a filing to BSE today.
The carrier had a net profit of Rs 72.97 crore in the April-June quarter of 2015.
Total income from operations rose to Rs 1,521.53 crore in the first quarter of current fiscal from Rs 1,113 crore in the year-ago period, the filing said.

In the three months ended June 2016, the carrier saw passenger load factor of 92.5 per cent.
"Operating performance showed improvement with industry leading on-time performance and low cancellations rate for SpiceJet flights," the filing said.

However, SpiceJet said profits for the quarter were adversely impacted by rupee depreciation, inflation and the presence of more expensive wet lease aircraft. Still, profits outperformed capacity and revenue growth rates, it added.
SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said the results further demonstrate the impact of efforts that are being put into strengthening the airline.
"We remain focused on growing responsibly in a growing but a challenging market," he noted.

At present, the airline operates 298 daily flights to 41 destinations including six international ones. It has a fleet of 28 Boeing 737NG and 14 Bombardier Q-400s.
Shares of SpiceJet soared nearly 16 per cent to close at Rs 65.30 on BSE today.