India’s SpiceJet posts $26.6mn quarterly loss as conflict with Pakistan impacts air travel

Indian budget airline SpiceJet (SPJT.BO), opens new tab posted its second consecutive loss in the June quarter, as leisure travel demand on some routes slumped during the worst India-Pakistan fighting in decades.

The troubled airline reported a loss of 2.35 billion Indian rupees ($26.6 million) in the April-June period, compared to a profit of 1.5 billion Indian rupees a year before.

Ties between Pakistan and India worsened after an April attack in Occupied Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, prompting airport closures in northwest India and a shutdown of Pakistani airspace to Indian carriers. Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Quarterly revenue fell about 35% to 11.06 billion Indian rupees.

SpiceJet also said a delay in returning its grounded aircraft to service added to its woes.

The carrier has signed multiple settlement agreements in recent years to resolve disputes with lessors and others but has still struggled to expand capacity.

Closure of airspace to Indian airlines: PAA reports Rs4.1bn revenue loss, NA told

As of March-end, it had only 25 operational aircraft, fewer than half of its 61-jet fleet.

The limited scale has allowed Akasa, one of India’s youngest airlines, to overtake SpiceJet as the country’s No. 3 carrier by market share, with 5.5% versus SpiceJet’s 2% in the world’s third-largest aviation market.

SpiceJet’s net worth improved to positive 4.46 billion Indian rupees in the first-quarter, compared to negative 23.98 billion Indian rupees in the year-ago period, it said.

($1 = 88.2591 Indian rupees)