Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Sep 29, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Sep 29, 2005 |
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Airlines AI net rises to Rs 96 cr, to pay dividend for first time in 10 years Our Bureau
Mumbai , Sept. 28 AIR INDIA has reported a net profit of Rs 96.36 crore for 2004-05 as against Rs 92.33 crore in 2003-04. The airline has declared a dividend of 10 per cent to the Government, the first after a gap of 10 years. The Air India board approved the 2004-05 results at its meeting held in Mumbai on Wednesday. The equity capital of the airline stands at Rs 153.84 crore. An airline official attributed the improved performance to the increase in capacity and the number of passengers carried. However, the rising cost of fuel had adversely affected the profitability of the airline to the extent of approximately Rs 643 crore. High fuel costs: Fuel costs, which constituted a bulk of total costs, increased from Rs 1,334 crore (21.5 per cent) in 2003-04 to Rs 2,182 crore (28.8 per cent) in 2004-05.But for this increase, the net profit for 2004-05 would have been in the region of Rs 450 crore after adjusting for fuel surcharge. The airline, in an effort to minimise the impact of rising fuel prices, is planning to hedge some of its international fuel uplifts shortly. Total revenue increased by 22.2 per cent to Rs 7,630 crore (Rs 6,246 crore) and total expenses by 21.3 per cent to Rs 7,565 crore (Rs 6,238 crore). Aircraft lease charges also went up from Rs 270 crore to Rs 393 crore due to increased leasing operations. Of its total fleet of 42 aircraft, 24 are on lease. During the year, the airline recorded a 25.5 per cent increase in ASKMs (available seat kilometres) and a 24.3 per cent increase in ATKMs (available tonne kilometres). Flying hours increased by 20.7 per cent. New flights, higher frequency: During 2004-05, the airline launched flights to Los Angeles via Frankfurt. Besides, six terminator flights to London were introduced effective November 29, 2004. In 2005-06, the airline stepped up the frequency of its flights to Los Angeles from five to seven, and doubled the frequency of the Shanghai via Delhi service from two to four. New routes were introduced with a thrice-weekly Kolkata-Dhaka-London terminator, terminator flights to Toronto via Birmingham and four flights a week to Seoul. In addition, Air India doubled its services to Hong Kong from five to 12, five of which are via Bangkok. With the introduction of new routes and launch of additional frequencies to existing destinations, the number of passengers carried increased by 16.7 per cent — 4.4 million in 2004-05 as against 3.7 million last year. With a planned growth of nearly 20 per cent for 2005-06, Air India plans to lease more aircraft and is hoping to have a fleet of 50 by the winter of 2006-07. Meanwhile, the acquisition plans for 68 new generation aircraft at a cost of $8.2 billion is awaiting PIB approval.
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