Jet Airways, India's second-biggest carrier by market share after privately held IndiGo, said it has registered its third consecutive profitable quarter posting a $71-million Q3 profit for the period ending December 31, 2015.

The airline, 24 per cent owned by Abu Dhabi's national carrier Etihad, said its total revenues for third quarter of FY16 surged to $863 million over the same period last year, while the passenger revenue  was $733.7 million.

Commenting on the results, chairman Naresh Goyal said: "Jet Airways is rightly placed to participate in the fast growth in India’s aviation sector driven by the country’s strong economic fundamentals. As a network carrier we are committed to connect India to the world with our full service product, providing greater choice and world class travel experience to guests."

"The record profit and overall strong financial performance in this fiscal is a result of several initiatives undertaken for improving productivity and efficiency," he noted.

According to him, the growth in passengers flown and the increased aircraft utilisation led to increase in ASKM (available seat per km), which helped in improving both operating and financial performance in the third quarter.

Jet Airways group, stated Goyal, was able to generate higher passenger traffic compared to capacity deployment.

The domestic capacity grew by 14.6 per cent in the third quarter of FY16 while passenger traffic grew 15 per cent. In the international business, capacity grew by 2.6 per cent while growth in passenger traffic was 5.1 per cent.

An in-depth focus on cost reduction initiatives has resulted in the non-fuel cost per ASK being lowered by 4.6 per cent in Q3 while total cost per ASK was reduced by 15 per cent.

Jet Airways said it had further enhanced its synergies with partners, expanding its codeshare partnership with strategic partner Etihad Airways.

Overall codeshare traffic witnessed growth of 28 per cent from 416,816 passengers carried in Q3FY15 to 534,104 passengers in Q3FY16, with codeshare traffic with strategic alliance partner Etihad Airways and its partner airlines growing by 86 per cent.

Jet Airways continues to develop synergies with Etihad Airways and other Etihad Airways Partners. Together with Etihad Airways, the airline now has the largest market share in Indian international traffic.

James Hogan, the vice chairman for Jet Airways and president and chief executive of Etihad Airways, said: "We are very satisfied with the operating and financial performance of Jet Airways that has resulted in record profits. We remain committed to providing solid support and driving further synergies between the two partners."

Jet Airways CEO Cramer Ball said: "Our strong operational performance resulting in record profit demonstrates the progress we continue to make in our turnaround plan. The key achievements during Q3 have been lower cost per ASKM excluding fuel and higher aircraft utilization resulting in additional capacity equivalent of nine 737 aircraft without any addition to the fleet."

The airline, he stated, continued to focus its efforts on enhancing the customer experience through technology, and unveiled a new app designed exclusively for the Apple Watch.

"The app allows passengers to access real time information about their flight status, receive a flight status notification, get alerts for upcoming trips as well as updates on special deals and offers from Jet Airways," noted Cramer.  

"The competitive and structural challenges in the Indian aviation market continue to put pressure on our yields. In addressing these, we will focus on cost reduction and leveraging the commercial and operational synergies through our partnership with Etihad Airways," he added.-TradeArabia News Service