Shares in India’s Jet Airways Limited, partly owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, plunged more than 10 per cent at one point on Wednesday after the airline posted a record quarterly loss.
India’s second-largest airline had on Tuesday reported a net loss of 21.54 billion rupees ($366.50 million) in the fourth quarter that ended in March compared with a loss of 4.96 billion rupees a year earlier.
India’s financial year runs from April to March.
The consolidated net loss for the fiscal year ending March was 41.30 billion rupees, a five-fold jump from the 7.80 billion rupees net loss reported for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Jet attributed the losses to higher costs, idle aircraft and impairment of goodwill among other reasons. This is the seventh consecutive year that Jet has reported a loss. Expensive imported aviation fuel, high taxes and slowing economic growth have impacted the aviation sector in recent years with most Indian airlines operating in the red.
Jet Airways said on Tuesday it would be taking tough decisions including a major cost restructuring programme to reshape the airline and return to profitability over the next three years.
At noon, Jet Airways shares had partly recovered and were trading at 251.15 rupees, 6.34 per cent down from Tuesday’s close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
