New Delhi: Jet Airways (India) Ltd, part-owned by Abu Dhabi's Etihad, said on Tuesday it would be taking ‘tough’ measures to reshape the airline and return to profitability, after reporting a record quarterly loss.
Airlines in India have been weighed down by one of the most expensive jet fuel prices in the region, while slower economic expansion has curbed the growth in passengers. Jet, the No. 2 Indian carrier by domestic market share, said on Tuesday that standalone net loss was 21.54 billion rupees for its fiscal fourth-quarter to end-March, compared with a loss of 4.96 billion rupees a year earlier, as costs jumped and also due to an impairment charge. The latest quarterly loss was Jet's fifth in a row. Jet said it had approved details of a three-year business plan on Tuesday as it strives to return to profitability. The carrier, in which Etihad bought a 24 per cent stake last year, is writing down ‘overvalued’ non-cash assets to clean up its balance sheet, it said.
After a cost study by external advisors, the carrier has set up a task force to implement a ‘major restructuring’ of its business, it said, without giving details. The airline said it would reconfigure its Boeing fleet and optimise seat count on wide-body planes, without elaborating. "We need to take stringent measures," Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal said in a statement. "There can be no short-term solutions. The changes required will take time to implement."
Read news in full 27/05/14 Reuters/Deccan Chronicle
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