Jet Airways group has reported a nearly flat profit at £8.5 million in the second quarter that ended September 2016 amid pressure on domestic ticket prices and lean travel season. The full service carrier had a profit of £8.3 million in the year-ago period at the group level. Total revenues rose a little over three per cent to £568.2 million in the latest September quarter, when it stood at £550.4 million in the same period last year.
Announcing the latest quarterly results, Jet Airways said it raked in £8.5 million profit "despite a traditionally lean quarter and domestic yields being under pressure." Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said improvements in operational performance have helped the airline participate in the strong growth being witnessed in Indian aviation market. Domestic ticket prices have also come under pressure amid local deploying increased capacity and aggressive pricing ways to attract more passengers. The domestic aviation sector has been growing over 20 per cent for almost two years now. In the 2016 September quarter, the airline carried over 6 per cent higher number of passengers at 6.77 million. The same stood at 6.37 million in the year-ago period.
"Overall traffic from codeshare partners increased by 15 per cent to 1.17 million passengers carried from 1.02 million passengers in Q2 FY16," the release said. Gulf carrier Etihad Airways owns 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways. "Passengers and revenues delivered by Etihad Airways and Etihad Airways Partners rose by 32 per cent and 25 per cent respectively by Q2 FY17," the release said. Jet Airways Vice Chairman and Etihad Aviation Group's President and CEO James Hogan said its continued collaboration has supported ongoing improvement and in Jet Airways performance "despite the ongoing pressure on yields". On a standalone basis, Jet Airways saw its net profit jump to £10.81 million in the 2016 September quarter compared to £8.76 million in the same period a year ago. Standalone total income from operations increased to £542.04 from £525.80 in the year-ago period.
