Jet Airways posted its fourth straight quarterly loss on Friday, as the top Indian carrier continued to reel under higher fuel costs and lower fares but said its fund-raising plan was on track. Jet’s results mirror the sorry state of India’s airline companies, which face a severe cash-crunch and are under a massive debt pile of about $20 billion.
All but one of India’s six main airlines is loss-making, with state-run Air India on government life-support. A weak rupee that fell about 16 percent last year is also adding to their woes, stated Reuters.
Jet posted a loss of 1.01 billion rupees for the quarter that ended in December, compared with a profit of 1.18 billion rupees a year back. Revenue rose 13.4 percent to 39.39 billion rupees.
“The company continues to explore options to improve the operating results and cash flow through sale and lease back of aircraft, route rationalisation and cost control measures, Chairman Naresh Goyal said in a statement.
Jet’s auditors said in the company statement to the exchange that the company’s ability to generate cash to support obligations and its low-cost subsidiary, JetLite, will be crucial to its continuing operations.
Jet, with JetLite, enjoys about a quarter of India’s total civil aviation market. The company’s fund-raising plans were “well on track,” the company said in a statement.
“We are continuing to see a steady increase in our corporate and business class bookings over the last few weeks, given what has been happening in the industry and with competition,” Jet said.
“We are not seeing any major slowdown in our international bookings into and out of Europe and North America.”
In a move that could help airlines access fresh funding, India’s aviation ministry recommended the government allow foreign airlines to buy stakes of up to 49 percent in Indian carriers.
Foreign airlines are currently barred from buying into Indian carriers, though foreign investors can hold a cumulative 49 percent.
Jet Airways shares, valued at about 21 billion rupees, closed down 4.7 percent at 231.40 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
It was Jet’s biggest single-day fall since December 20, on a day when the broader market rose 0.57 percent.
Jet shares, which traded as high as 692 rupees a year ago, lost 78 percent of their value in 2011.