SpiceJet has reported a profit of INR 175 crore for the three months ended June 30, 2017 as against INR 149 crore in the same quarter last year, making it the 10th successive profitable quarter for the airline. The profits grew by 18 per cent during this period. Operating revenues were INR 1869 crore for the said quarter as against INR 1521 crore for the same quarter last year. On an EBITDA basis, SpiceJet reported a profit of INR 248 crore as against INR 215 crore in the same quarter last year. The company witnessed a nine per cent increase in its passenger yields while its average load factor was 94.07 per cent. SpiceJet has recorded more than 90 per cent load factor for 27 successive months.
SpiceJet, which placed its biggest order yet for up to 205 Boeing aircraft valued at up to US$ 22 billion earlier this year, also placed an additional order for 20 737 MAX 10 planes worth US$ 4.7 billion and 20 conversions from the previous order at the Paris Air Show in June 2017. The airline has also placed an order to buy up to 50 Q400 turboprop planes with Bombardier to consolidate its footprint in the regional markets.
“From being on the brink of a near shutdown to being lauded for creating thousands of jobs in the world’s largest economy within a span of mere 10 quarters, exemplifies SpiceJet’s amazing turnaround. We had an eventful quarter as we took off under the UDAN scheme and launched operations on two routes,” said Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet.
SpiceJet has launched its flights on the UDAN routes of Mumbai-Porbandar-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kandla-Mumbai, while flights on the Hyderabad-Pondicherry-Hyderabad route are scheduled to take off from August 16, 2017. This quarter, the airline increased its regional capacity by 20 per cent with the addition of three Q400 to its fleet.
The last quarter also saw the airline launch its new retail venture, SpiceStyle. This is said to provide a fresh impetus to its ancillary revenues which has grown to 17 per cent from six per cent in the last two years. SpiceJet plans also plans to add around six Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft during Q3 and Q4 and expand its Bombardier fleet by adding two more Q400s. During the current quarter, SpiceJet will start operations in the remaining sectors under the UDAN scheme, namely Kanpur, Adampur and Jaisalmer.
