Mumbai, May 31: Kalanithi Maran-led no-frills carrier SpiceJet today reported over four-fold rise in net loss at Rs 249 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, due to higher fuel costs which offset a 46 per cent jump in sales.
The Chennai-based carrier had reported a loss of Rs 59 crore in the year-ago period, the third largest airline by market share said in a filing to exchanges.
While net sales soared 46 per cent to over Rs 1,100 crore in the reporting period against Rs 760 crore a year ago, its average passenger yields in the quarter rose 18 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago.
SpiceJet saw its passenger traffic growing by a healthy 24 per cent, outperforming the industry growth of around 16 per cent.
The airline attributed this to the lower-than-needed increase in fares. SpiceJet Chief Executive Neil Mills said, “the past 12 months were exceptional and the domestic aviation industry witnessed unprecedented levels of financial stress.”
“The company is confident of the future, particularly as it will launch numerous international routes soon and on the cost side, direct import of ATF is just about to commence, which will help to reduce our effective fuel cost.”
However, he said there was some easing in costs in recent months as crude price fell about 15 per cent this year.
Mills expressed confidence that fuel cost will come down once the company starts importing jet fuel directly, for which it already had received government approval.
Load factor rose to 81 per cent from 74.4 per cent during the same period last year, helping it ramp up market share to 17.1 per cent in the year, up from 13.6 per cent in March 2011.
For the full year, the company's net loss stood at Rs 605 crore against a net profit of Rs 101 crore in FY11. Income rose to Rs 3,998 crore in FY12 from Rs 2,938 crore. SpiceJet scrip closed 5.3 per cent lower at Rs 31 on the BSE.
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