ATW Daily News

SpiceJet narrows loss as loads soar

Tuesday November 10, 2009

SpiceJet lost INR1.01 billion ($21.5 million) in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, a 49% improvement from the INR1.98 billion lost in the year-ago period. Operating revenue rose 31% as passenger numbers soared 98%. Capacity measured in ASKs climbed 44%, load factor was up 19 points and unit cost fell 26% year-over-year. "Traditionally, this is the weakest quarter for the industry," CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said. "However, we continue to improve our load factor and today one out of every eight flyers chooses SpiceJet. SpiceJet also carries most passengers per departure than any other full-service or low-fare carrier in India. The yield began firming up during the third fiscal quarter and demand remains robust. We expect this trend to continue through the next quarter." The Delhi-based LCC said passenger numbers across India rose 25% in the quarter on a capacity lift of just 5%.

SpiceJet operates 19 737-800/-900ERs on 129 daily flights to 18 domestic destinations. The winter schedule launched two weeks ago features the following new routes: Weekly flights from DEL to Kochi, Srinagar, Chennai and Ahmedabad; daily Bangalore-Goa; six-times-weekly Mubmai-Goa; weekly Bangalore-Jaipur and Srinagar-Jammu.

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