The Hindu Business Line : Jet Airways Q4 net up 60 pc

JET Airways has reported a 60 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 133 crore for the fourth quarter of 2004-05 against Rs 82.87 crore in the year-ago period.

Higher departures, an improved seat factor and the rise in revenue passengers helped the company improve its financial performance.

For the year ended March 2005, the company posted a 140 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 392 crore from Rs 163.11 crore posted in the previous year.

Presenting annual results for the first time since listing in March this year, the airline reported revenues of Rs 4,420 crore, a 24 per cent increase year-on-year. The profit before tax at Rs 582 crore grew by 227 per cent during the year under review. It has recommended a dividend of Rs 3 per share. Post-IPO, the debt-to-equity ratio of the company stood at 1.45 times as on March 31, 2005.

The airline recorded 96,417 departures and an average seat factor of 71.3 per cent in the financial year 2005, up from 63.9 per cent in financial year 2004. It carried 8.14 million revenue passengers against 6.91 million in the previous fiscal, an 18 per cent increase.

Better cost control measures had helped the airline achieve a break-even seat factor of 61.6 per cent , Mr Saroj K. Datta, Executive Director of the airline, said at a news conference today.

The airline, which will commence its long-haul operations with flights to London from May 23, accounts for 43 per cent of the Indian market. It will also launch services to Kuala Lumpur from Chennai today and services from Mumbai to Newark (New York) via Brussels on June 23. Last month, it commenced flights between Singapore and Mumbai. The airline also operates to Kathmandu and Colombo in the SAARC region.

While international operations generated more revenues, Mr Datta said it would not be possible to forecast the exact numbers, since the future expansion of international services would depend on receiving Government approval for the same.

However, he added that on an average, the Mumbai-Singapore service should generate annual revenues of $22 million; the Chennai-Kuala Lumpur service $18 million; the Mumbai-London service $75 million; and the India-US service $100-110 millon.

The airline has taken on lease three Airbus A340-300E aircraft to commence operations to the US. It has also added two Boeing 737-800 aircraft for its operations to South-East Asia. Further, it will take on lease another six Boeing 737-800 for its domestic operations, which will continue to be its core business.

It had effected two fare revisions in June and October 2004, following a 30.70 per cent increase in fuel prices to Rs 26.72/litre.

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