Jet can't count on discounts for fresh air, cheap tickets are stifling it

Blame the woes on everything from lax hedging policies to India's exorbitant fuel taxes and overambitious fleet expansion

Go to any Indian airport, and it’ll appear that nearly all of the country’s billion-plus people have decided to fly. Yet talk to shareholders of India’s largest aviation businesses, and they’ll tell you how miserable they are.

Oxygen masks have been down since last month’s 97 percent drop in quarterly profit for InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which operates IndiGo, the budget carrier with almost two-fifths of India’s domestic market.

Rising fuel costs make for an even shorter runway at Jet Airways India Ltd., which is burdened with $1.2 billion in net debt in contrast to IndiGo’s $1.6 billion of net cash.