Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) Private carrier Jet Airways todayreported a 91 per cent plunge in standalone net profit at Rs49.63 crore for the three months to September on account of adeep decline in other income.
The Naresh Goyal-owned private carrier had posted a netprofit of Rs 549.02 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Total sales also declined to Rs 5,758.18 crore in thequarter under review, from Rs 5,772.79 crore in the previousfiscal, Jet Airways said in a regulatory filing today.
Other income, which is generally the non-aeronauticalrevenue, came down by 59 per cent to Rs 131.57 crore in thereporting quarter, from Rs 319.58 crore in the year-agoperiod, according to the filing.
Jet Airways attributed the fall in other income to nilsales from share of profit and no income from the sale andleaseback of aircraft in the reporting quarter.
Income on this account stood at Rs 190.22 crore in thequarter, the airline said.
Later, in a release, the airline said the group reporteda net profit of Rs 71 crore for the second quarter of thisfiscal.
"The weak demand in the Gulf continues while low fares aswell as yields in the domestic market have limited the abilityto offset the increase in fuel prices," Jet Airways ChiefExecutive Officer Vinay Dube was quoted as saying in therelease.
Jet Airways continues to grow its domestic presence whilekeeping a tight control on costs, as reflected in reduction innon-fuel unit cost or CASK (Cost per Available SeatKilometre), he said.
The carrier had last month in a presentation toldinvestors about its plans for strategic growth where the keyfocus would be on cost minimisation.
As per the presentation, the carrier will look toreduce maintenance expenses from January 2019 as well as bringdown cost of sales and distribution and also focus onenhancing ancillary revenue by around Rs 250 crore.
Passenger revenue went up to Rs 5,147 crore while theAvailable Seat Kilometres (ASK) rose by 7.7 per cent to 14billion during the reporting quarter.
Jet Airways also carried 7.7 per cent more passengers at7.29 million in the September quarter over the same quarter of2016-17, the release said.
The airline also saw its revenue from codesharepartners increasing by 8 per cent over the year-ago quarterwhile it managed to shave off total debt in the books by Rs194 crore.
Jet also derived significant operational and businessadvantages via synergies with its strategic partner, EtihadAirways, as well as other codeshare partnerships, Dube said.
Significantly, the Mumbai-based carrier had last monthannounced a new enhanced cooperation agreement, whichprimarily deepens the already existing codeshare partnershipsigned in 2014. It is expected to further boost connectivitybetween India and Europe. PTI IASARD.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.