Air Deccan flies into black on firm margins

Mumbai: Improved margins during the busy winter season have helped low-cost carrier Air Deccan to come into the black for the first time, with a net profit of Rs 9.64 crore for the second quarter ended December 31’06.
The airline had notched up a loss of Rs 43 crore in the July-September’06 quarter. Net income from operations rose 32.39% on a sequential basis to Rs 474.89 crore.
The profit was aided by income of Rs 132 crore from the assignment of aircraft purchase rights to Investec bank of the UK. This is the second tranche of payment from the $100m raised by the airline in November last year.
The average yield per passenger stood at Rs 2,615 showing a YoY growth of 4% over Rs 2,512 in the same period of previous fiscal. Margins have grown to Rs 2,615 per passenger during the period compared to Rs 2,512 last year. The airline hopes to fly 8.1 million passengers this year.
26/01/07 Economic Times

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