Jet Airways posts $43 million net loss for third quarter

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Jet Airways, India's No.2 carrier by domestic market share, reported its fourth straight quarterly loss as airlines in Asia's third-biggest economy battle high fuel costs and taxes and stiff competition limits fare increases.

Jet, which last year sold a 24 percent stake to Abu Dhabi's Etihad in the first deal in the sector after the government eased restrictions, reported a net loss of 2.68 billion rupees for the third quarter to end-December. It had reported a profit of 850 million rupees in the year-ago quarter.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy, had forecast a third-quarter loss of between $60 million and $80 million for Jet, which had reported a record $143 million loss for the second quarter.

 

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)