Jet expects MiddleEast biz to remain under pressure in Q4

Naresh Goyal-owned Jet Airways India Ltd expects its business in the Middle-East and Gulf markets, where it deploys about 15% of its total capacity, to remain under pressure during the March quarter, a top executive of the airline said.

The Gulf market remains depressed and continues to be under pressure, Jet Airways chief financial officer Amit Agarwal said on the company’s post-earnings call to analysts on Thursday.

However, the airline is seeing the benefits of its European partnership with Air FranceKLM, which was announced in November 2017.

The agreement connects 44 destinations in India with 106 destinations in Europe.

“We are pleased with European operations which are starting to see better quality of passengers and the benefit of the network is kick starting,” Raj Sivakumar, the airline’s vicepresident (revenue management and routes) said.

The domestic operations of the airline may face pressure during the January-March quarter, traditionally a weak quarter for Indian airlines.

“We will stay competitive in our domestic operations,” Sivakumar said, adding the airline’s performance during the quarter could also depend on the competition in the domestic sector.

Jet Airways had on February 14 reported stand-alone revenue of ₹6,349.34 crore during the October-December 2017 quarter as well as a net profit of ₹165.25 crore, a 45% drop on an annual basis.