Jet Airways reports Q1 loss of Rs222 crore

Jet Airways has announced an Rs222.15 crore ($46.1 million) loss for the first quarter-ended 30 June. This reverses a year-ago profit of Rs143 crore ($29.67 million) for the same period.

The airline reported "operationally the performance as stabilized" and that effort to reduce capacity and costs "have started to show results."

Revenue fell 16.2%, to Rs2,428 crore ($503.83 million), as passenger numbers declined 18% to 2.6 million. However, it was a one-time charge of Rs916 crore ($190 million) related to a change in the company's depreciation policy that has produced the final result.

Though RPKs during the quarter were down 10.7%, against an 18% cut in capacity to 6.69 billion ASKs, load factor rose 6 points to 73.4%.

The carrier said domestic demand, which dropped approximately 10% during the fiscal year ended 31 March, "is showing signs of slowdown in this declining trend."

June passenger numbers rose 6% year-over-year.