Air Deccan flies into profit zone

Deccan Aviation, which runs budget airline Air Deccan, has posted a net profit of Rs 9.64 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2006, against a net loss of Rs 33.35 crore for the half-year ended December 31, 2006.

There are no prior-period comparisons as the company was listed in June 2006.

The improved performance was partly on account of other income of Rs 161.93 crore, which included Rs 132.69 crore that accrued as the second tranche of payment on aircraft sale.

The company provided Business Standard with annual comparisons for income from operations, which showed 179.38 per cent growth to Rs 636.82 crore from Rs 228 crore in the corresponding year-ago quarter.

Average yield per passenger grew by 4 per cent to Rs 2,615 in the quarter, against Rs 2,512 for the corresponding year-ago quarter, while the number of passengers flown grew by 97 per cent to 1,645,362 in the reporting quarter.

Seat capacity alone went up by 99 per cent in the period under review.

Capt G R Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan, told Business Standard: "This shows the strength of middle class India."

The Air Deccan share price went up by 2.65 per cent to close at Rs 151.05 on the BSE today.