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SpiceJet grows passenger traffic, revenues; but rupee depreciation impacts margins

Chennai, 07th November, 2013: SpiceJet continued to grow passenger traffic by 9% and revenues by 6% during the quarter ended September 30 2013. However, the civil aviation sector in India continues to struggle under the burden of several adversities, mainly the Indian Rupee that saw unprecedented weakness during the quarter. The approximate impact of currency depreciation alone, despite a hedging program, was around Rs 42 crore during the quarter ended Sept 30, 2013.

Aircraft maintenance costs were significantly impacted due to increase in periodic engine maintenance. These costs aggregated to Rs 78 crores additionally due to bunching up of engines sent for shop visits. ATF prices continued to rule firm and were 2% more expensive per liter than comparable numbers for the same period last year; fuel constituted 56% of the total revenue in the current quarter as compared to 54% in the comparable quarter for the previous year.

SpiceJet added two more international destinations, Muscat and Bangkok, during the quarter. While these initiatives add to the pressure on margins due to the start-up costs involved in setting up a new station, the contributions from overseas flying will help in reducing costs through a better utilization of the fleet and in leveraging SpiceJet’s strong presence in Tier I and Tier II towns by connecting them to the new global destinations.

The pricing environment continued to be weak, resulting in a decline in the average passenger yields in current quarter by 7% to Rs.3,711 as against Rs 4001 last year. Despite addition of capacity, the airline operated with better efficiencies; load factor increased during the quarter to 71.8% from 66.3% during the same period last year.

SpiceJet posted a loss of Rs.559 crores for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 compared with a loss of Rs.164 crores for the comparable period last fiscal year.

Highlights for the quarter ended September 30, 2013 vs. September 30, 2012
Operational
  • 9% growth in number of passengers.
  • 17% growth of Available Seat Kilometers.
  • 5% growth in number of departures.
Financial
  • 6% increase in Revenue from Operations.
  • 7% decrease in passenger yields to Rs.3,711 from Rs.4,001
  • Net loss of Rs.559 crores for the quarter compared to a net loss of Rs.164 crores

In order to improve its competitive position, the management is putting in place a strategic plan to refine the network, enhance revenues, rationalize costs and further improve reliability to deliver better value to customers. SpiceJet continues to focus on overall end-to-end service delivery, designing enhancements to the product and eliminating unnecessary “pain points” to make customer experience more pleasant, consistent and hassle-free.

About SpiceJet:
SpiceJet is India’s preferred airline, with 17.4% of market share in Indian domestic market, delivering the lowest air fares with the highest consumer value. The airline currently operates more than 360 daily flights to over 45 Indian cities and 10 international destinations.

The city of Agartala, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bagdogra, Belgaum, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Dharamshala, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jammu, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Pondicherry, Port Blair, Pune, Rajahmundry, Srinagar, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupati, Trichy, Tuticorin, Udaipur, Varanasi, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and ten international destinations namely Dubai, Colombo, Kabul, Kathmandu, Riyadh, Guangzhou, Male, Muscat, Sharjah and Bangkok are connected using our new generation fleet of 41 Boeing 737-800/ 900ER aircrafts which are of the highest standard in safety and operating efficiency along with our newly acquired 15 Bombardier Q400 aircraft for enhancing connectivity to Tier II and Tier III cities.
SpiceJet is the winner of:
  • Voted as India’s Favourite Domestic Airline for the year 2012 by Outlook Traveller
  • Voted amongst the Top 5 Best Budget Airline in Asia by Smart Travel Asia (2010, 2011 & 2012)
  • India’s International Low Cost Carrier of the Year 2012 by Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI)
  • India’s Most Outstanding Airline LCC-Domestic Award, by Travel and Hospitality ( Feb 2012)
  • Awarded for Best Website at ‘World Low Cost Airlines Asia Pacific Conference’ (2010, 2011 & 2012)
  • Voted as India’s Best Low Cost Airline by Outlook Traveller (2008, 2010 & 2011)
  • CIO 100 Award in IT efforts for customer satisfaction and business growth category (2007, 2008 ,2009, 2011 & 2012)
  • India’s best low-fare airline in a survey conducted by MaRs on behalf of Hindustan Times (Dec 2009)
  • World Travel Market Award for multi-channel approach in distribution (November 2009, London)
  • National Award (ICWAI) for excellence in Cost Management (March 2009)

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