Jet posts record quarterly loss, names new CEO

Jet Airways, part-owned by Abu Dhabi's Etihad, reported its biggest-ever quarterly loss as costs jumped and it took a charge on its investment in a subsidiary.

The No. 2 Indian carrier by domestic market share, which last year sold a 24 percent stake to Etihad, said on Tuesday that standalone net loss was Rs 2,153.57 crore (Rs 21.54 billion for its fiscal fourth-quarter to end-March, compared with a loss of Rs 495.53 (Rs 4.96 billion) a year earlier.

The latest quarterly loss was Jet's fifth in a row.

Jet, which has been without a full-time chief executive since January, named Cramer Ball as its new CEO, pending regulatory approvals. Ball previously worked as the CEO of Air Seychelles, according to Jet.

Airlines in India have been weighed down by one of the most expensive jet fuel prices in the region, while slower economic expansion has curbed the growth in passengers.

Competition is set to increase in the six-player market as two new airlines, separate joint ventures of AirAsia Bhd and Singapore Airlines, are gearing up to start operations this year. All Indian airlines except the market leader IndiGo have been losing money.

Jet, which has not reported an annual profit since 2007, said consolidated net loss for the fiscal year to March was Rs 413 crore (Rs 4.13 billion), a more than five-fold jump from 7.8 billion rupees net loss reported for the previous fiscal year.

For the fourth quarter, Jet's total expenses jumped about 29 percent from a year earlier to 59.32 billion rupees on a standalone basis, while total income grew 16 percent to 45.66 billion rupees.

Jet said it took a charge of Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) on its investment in unit Jetlite (India) Ltd, which is also losing money and had a negative net worth as of end-March.

Shares in Jet fell 3.3 percent ahead of the results in a Mumbai market that closed 0.6 percent lower.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy)