Jet Airways halves Q2 losses due to lower fuel prices & yield improvements in Q3

Highlights for quarter ended December 31, 2008 vs. December 31, 2007

Operational

. System-wide ASKMs of 8,114 million, up 23.2%
. System-wide RPKMs of 5,369 million, up 17.9%
. System wide seat factor of 66.2% vs 69.1%
. 2.56 million revenue passengers carried,down 13.1%

Financial

. Revenue of Rs. 30,631 million (US$ 628.8 million), up 21.7%
. Loss before tax Rs. 2,498 million (US$ 51.3 million) vs loss of Rs. 1,304 million (US$ 33.1 million)
. Loss after tax of Rs. 2,142 million (US$ 44.0 million) vs loss of Rs.911 million (US$ 23.1 million)
.Exchange rate used 1 USD = INR 48.71 for current year and 1 USD = INR 39.415 for previous year

Highlights for nine months ended December 31, 2008 vs.December 31,2007

Operational

. System-wide ASKMs of 24,684 million, up 47.3%
. System-wide RPKMs of 16,466 million, up 43.5%
. System wide seat factor of 66.6% vs 68.4%
. 8.54 million revenue passengers carried, up 3.5%

Financial

. Revenue of Rs. 92,207 million (US$ 1,883 million), up 36.5%
. EBITDAR of Rs. 753 million (US$ 15.5 million)
. Loss before tax Rs. 6,091 million (US$ 125.1 million) vs loss of Rs. 384 million (US$ 9.7 million)
. Loss after tax of Rs. 4,553 million (US$ 93.5 million) vs loss of Rs.319 million (US$ 8.1 million)

Exchange rate used 1 USD = INR 48.71 for current year and 1 USD = INR 39.415 for previous year

Domestic & International Operations

Domestic operations accounted for 45.7% of operating revenues (Rs. 13,821 million US $ 283.75 million) as compared to 63.5% (or Rs. 15,397 million, US $ 390.6) in the third quarter of the last year. The Company achieved a domestic seat factor of 62.4% in the quarter ended December 2008 versus 72.3% in the same period a year ago.

The revenues from our International operations now account for 54.3% of operating revenues (Rs. 16,407 million, US $ 336.83 million) as compared to 36.5% (Rs. 8,863 million, US $ 224.85 million) in the third quarter of last year. The Company achieved a seat factor in international operations of 67.8 % for the quarter (66.4% a year ago).

Outlook

The domestic industry capacity will be flat for the next few quarters and with the increase in traffic over the next few months, we believe that the industry seat factors will trend up. The incremental traffic, though, will be at lower yields. We have eliminated our highest loss making routes from the International network and have rightsized our capacities on the North America routes. We expect corporate traffic to be subdued in the current quarter because of the economic slowdown.

The global recession is set to impact travel with corporate earnings slowing down and companies postponing their growth plans.Despite a significant drop in crude oil prices, airlines across the world are experiencing turbulent times. In India, we have also been impacted by the recent terror incidents which will impact traffic flows into India for the next few months.