India's Jet Airways slid further into the red in its fiscal second quarter as it felt the effects of a strike by its pilots, which led to the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights in September.
The carrier reported a net loss of 4.07 billion rupees ($87 million) for the three months to 30 September, up from a net loss of 3.85 billion rupees a year before, says the carrier.
Revenues fell by 27% to 23.81 billion rupees. A five-day strike by its pilots in September resulted in the cancellation of 1,300 domestic flights and 200 international flights, and a loss of 800 million rupees in revenues.
That overwhelmed a 30% fall in total expenditure to 25.17 billion rupees, as the airline benefited from a 50% drop in its fuel bill due to lower oil prices.
"Operationally, the performance has stabilised and the impact of initiatives like rationalisation of capacity and our cost reduction program have started to show results," says the airline.
Looking ahead, Jet Airways says that domestic air traffic has started to revive and this will help improve yields. "Over the last few weeks, airlines have started raising fares and these increases have not shown any negative impact on traffic," it adds.
In the international market, the carrier says that it achieved a "seat factor of close to 80%" and is close to breaking even despite the market conditions. "We do expect yield improvements with the peak season as well as premium demand revival in the next few quarters whilst our focus will continue to be on maximising revenues through higher seat factor levels," says Jet.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
