Jet Airways sells 3 A330 planes, posts modest profit of ~85 crore

Jet Airways posted a muted profit growth in the second quarter of the current financial year on account of provisioning for potential loss on sale of its three Airbus A330 aircraft.

While revenue grew 3.2 per cent to ~5682 crore and the airline's fuel cost dipped, consolidated profit grew 2.4 per cent to ~85 crore on a year-on-year basis. In Q2FY16, the airline had made consolidated profit of ~83 crore.

Sources said Jet Airways has entered into a sale agreement to sell three of its A330-200 planes, currently on lease with Turkish Airlines, to a lessor. The airline said it had made a provision of ~129 crore for potential loss from the sale, it said.

The Jet Airways board approved the airline’s Q2 result on Friday. Interestingly, both representatives of Etihad Airways — its Chief Executive Officer James Hogan (also the vice-chairman of Jet) and Chief Financial Officer James Rigney did not attend the meeting. “They were travelling in Europe and hence could not attend,” an airline executive said. Etihad has 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways.

An airline spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email query.

The airline said it was improving its fleet utilisation and network, and had lowered net debt by ~252 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year.

In a statement, Naresh Goyal, chairman, Jet Airways, said, “Improvements in operational performance have helped Jet Airways participate in the strong growth being witnessed in the Indian aviation market.”

“Our continued collaboration has supported ongoing improvement in Jet Airways performance, despite the ongoing pressure on yields. We have made robust progress in our common aim to leverage mutual synergies to enhance the value for our guests and the business,” Hogan said.