SpiceJet gets profit in Q3

Chennai, Jan 21: Budget airline SpiceJet Monday reported a net profit of Rs.102 crore for the third quarter of the current fiscal from a loss of Rs.39 crore in the like period of 2011-12.

"To announce a profit of Rs.102 crore in the current challenging environment is a huge achievement and clearly demonstrates that the strategic changes that SpiceJet have made in the last two years has created a platform for future success of the company," said Neil Mills, chief executive, SpiceJet.

According to the company, better fleet optimisation, altered route mix and higher yields helped achieve this result.

Even, the company’s fuel cost as a proportion fell to 45 percent of the total revenue in the quarter under review from 50 percent in the comparable quarter for the previous fiscal.

The company further reported an increase of 37 percent in its revenue for the third quarter at Rs.1,603 crore from Rs.1,173 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12.

The average passenger yields in the quarter rose 29 percent, with the airline’s domestic market share in December 2012 grew to 19.20 percent from 16.80 percent in December 2011.

The low cost carrier (LCC) had the third largest domestic market share of 19.5 percent in November, 2012 after IndiGo and Air India. It is aggressively trying to expand its domestic and international network with a fleet size of about 51 aircraft which includes 15 Q400 NextGen turboprop of Bombardier and Boeing 787-800 aircraft.

Last November, the government allocated new flying rights to domestic passenger carriers, which included SpiceJet. The LCC got approvals for new flight services to Lucknow-Al Najaf; Varanasi-Al Najaf; Delhi-Macau and Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City.

The carrier also expanded its international network By adding new flights between Kochi-Male, Kochi-Dubai and Dubai-Ahmedabad.

However, the company said, the Indian airline industry continues to bear the brunt of extremely high incidence of taxation and that a weighted average tax rate of 24 percent on jet fuel across various domestic stations is amongst the highest in the world.

The company scrip at the BSE jumped 5.46 percent or 2.40 points at Rs.46.35 per share from its previous close of Rs.43.95 per share in afternoon trade.