It is flight to safety for airline companies

The third quarter numbers published by airlines have revived hopes that these companies aren't too far from a financial take-off.
From a loss of Rs 214.18 crore in December 2008, Jet Airways ended the December 2009 quarter with healthy profits of Rs 105.80 crore. SpiceJet posted profits of Rs 108.9 crore for the quarter, as against losses of Rs 17.96 crore in the same period last year.
However, Kingfisher Airlines continued to suffer losses this quarter also. It recorded losses of Rs 419.96 crore, not making much headway on reducing the red spots in its profit and loss account, when compared to last year.
Trimmed fleet sizes and rationalisation of costs have aided airline companies this quarter, even as discounted tariffs continued.
Available seats-per-passenger-km for Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines were down by 2.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively year-on-year. Revenue per passenger km were up by 17.4 per cent for Jet Airways, while Kingfisher Airlines' improved by 14.8 per cent.
In a bid to rationalise operations, most airlines have resorted to increasing flights on frequently travelled routes and pulled back from less popular destinations. Discounts offered by the airline operators to attract customers also played a vital role in boosting traffic by 13.8 percentage points for Jet Airways and 14.8 percentage points for Kingfisher Airlines. Nevertheless, the companies witnessed 4.64 per cent and 6.25 per cent dip in their sales incomes, respectively, during the quarter.
30/01/10 S. Hamsini Amritha/Business Line

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010