SpiceJet, the Ajay Singh-owned budget airline, will be declaring its December 2016 quarter (Q3) results next week. Jet Airways and Interglobe Aviation, owner of IndiGo, have already announced their Q3 financial performance, reporting a fall in net profit due to weak pricing and high fuel costs.
"Spicejet Ltd has informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on February 14, 2017, inter alia, to consider and approve, the un-audited financial results of the Company for the third quarter ended December 31, 2016," the company had said earlier this month.
Read: SpiceJet cabin crew and ground staff get new uniform courtesy Nimish Shah; 5 best airline uniforms
For Q3, Interglobe Aviation posted net profit of Rs 487 crore, down 25 percent from Rs 650 crore in the corresponding period last financial year while Jet Airways saw its net profit fall 69 percent to Rs 142 crore in comparison to Rs 467 crore for the third quarter in 2015-16. The companies had attributed lower ticket prices and rising fuel (ATF) costs to the fall in net profit.
The share price of SpiceJet closed 0.23 percent higher at Rs 64.05 on Friday (February 10, 2017) on the BSE. Jet Airways shares ended 0.19 percent lower at Rs 373 apiece while Interglobe closed 0.89 percent lower at Rs 838.
For the second quarter ended September 2016, SpiceJet had reported 103 percent spurt in net profit to Rs 58.9 crore from Rs 29 crore in the corresponding period last year, on the back of lower fuel costs and higher operating income. It was also the seventh straight quarter when the airline earned net profit after years of losses.
Its income from operations rose 35 percent to Rs 1,400.39 crore from Rs 1,040.13 crore in the year-ago period.
Recently, SpiceJet was in the news for its mega order to buy 205 aircraft from Boeing for $22 billion.
"SpiceJet's new order underscores its drive to compete more effectively in India's cut-throat low cost travel market. The deal for up to 205 737MAXs will certainly put it on par with Indigo for domestic dominance and the added range of the 737MAX fleet will allow SpiceJet to open up routes deeper into Asia and even parts of Europe/CIS states," Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, told the International Business Times, India.
The current fleet size of SpiceJet is 40 aircraft as against 126 of IndiGo and 114 of Jet Airways.
Other players in the Indian civil aviation market include unlisted entities such as state-owned Air India, AirAsia India, Vistara and GoAir.
IndiGo has the largest market share in terms of passenger volumes in the domestic air traffic business.
