Jet Airways posts consolidated net loss of Rs 732 crore in Q3

The company had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 165.25 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal,

New Delhi: Financially-stressed Jet Airways on Thursday reported a standalone net loss of Rs 587.77 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, owing to higher fuel cost and rupee fall.

The company had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 165.25 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal, Jet Airways said in a statement.

However, on a consolidated basis, the airline posted a net loss of Rs 732 crore for the quarter, against a net profit of Rs 186 crore for the same period last year.

The carrier said revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at Rs 6,147.98 crore as against Rs 6,086.20 crore in the year-ago period.

In another development, the airline's board approved bank-led resolution plan (BLRP), entailing conversion of lenders' debt into equity, making them the largest shareholder in the airline.

Total expenses in the third quarter shot up to Rs 6,786.15 crore as compared to Rs 6,042.58 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, it added.

Aircraft fuel expenses stood at Rs 2,387.72 crore as compared to Rs 1,840.08 crore in the corresponding period last year, while aircraft and engines lease rentals were at Rs 730.35 crore as against Rs 583.67 crore.

"Jet Airways continues to make steady progress on its operational and financial turnaround and with todays approval of the Bank led Provisional Resolution Plan by the board, we remain confident of delivering a more strategic, efficient and financially viable airline," Jet Airways chief executive officer Vinay Dube said in the statement.

Despite improvement in RASK (revenue per available seat kilometre) which grew by 2.6 percent during the quarter over the period year-ago due to seasonal, demand-led strengthening of fares, higher costs due to the price of Brent crude, which saw an increase of 29 percent y-o-y and the rupee depreciation impacted the airlines overall business performance, it said.

The airline said the non-fuel expenses increased by 13.7 percent on Y-o-Y to Rs 3.43. Excluding forex impact, non-fuel fuel increased by 7.5 percent.

Domestic revenue stood at Rs 2,560.44 crore, down from Rs 2,749.05 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, while the same for international operations was also down to Rs 3,587.54 crore as against Rs 3,337.15 crore, the airline said.

Besides, the airline flew 6.9 percent less passengers at 7.17 million during the quarter over the previous year while revenues from codeshare and interline guests for the quarter rose by healthy 12.8 percent over Q3FY18 even as passengers on codeshare flights grew by a meagre 1.1 percent on a YoY basis.

The airline also said it will implement strategic changes in its current distribution process from next fiscal.