Dear Shareholders,
In my letter to you last year, I had stated that we in Jet Airways were
optimistic that there would be a significant improvement in the
performance of the Company in 2010-11 and that the Management was
implementing several marketing and operational measures to achieve
this. I am glad to inform you that our efforts have been reasonably
successful. The Company''s performance during the year under review, in
terms of operational and financial parameters, has shown a marked
improvement over the previous year.
Despite the sharp increase in the price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)
particularly during the fourth quarter of the financial year, the
Company was successful in reporting a record profit before tax of
Rs.466 million as against a pre-tax loss of Rs.4,676 million in the
previous year. The Company achieved a seat factor of 78.6% on its
system-wide operations and carried 14.7 million passengers on its
services, which was 22% higher than in 2009-10. The Company achieved an
EBITDAR of Rs.24.8 billion, 19% higher than the previous year.
According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the
Indian domestic traffic for the year continued to show an impressive
growth rate of 21%, thereby expanding the available air traffic market
base of the country. As in the previous year, the growth, however, has
occurred largely in the lower end of the price range. As a result, the
Company and industry have not been able to derive significant benefit
in financial terms. However, a marginal increase in the average yields
on the Indian domestic routes has led to a decrease in the break-even
load / seat factors from 80% in 2009-10 to 78.6% in 2010-11.
The Jet Group continues to maintain its leadership position in the
Indian aviation industry, with an estimated market share of 25.4%
during the year ended 31st March, 2011 (as per DGCA data).
Additionally, the specific initiatives undertaken by the Company,
coupled with improvements in infrastructural facilities and measures
implemented by the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the area of air
traffic control procedures, has enabled us to record a better on-time
performance in our domestic operations at 88.4% vs. 76.6% in the
previous year.
Our international business continues to be robust. In 2010-11, revenues
from international operations accounted for 57.2% of the Company''s
total revenues. We have continued to achieve high seat factors on our
international routes. The new routes that we introduced over the last
couple of years - between Mumbai and Johannesburg and between Delhi and
Milan have started gaining momentum and achieving load factors of
around 70%. We have also added some new short-haul flights between
India and the Gulf and Middle East, which have boosted our network
traffic flows.
The year under review also saw the fruition of several of the
Government''s infrastructure facilities in support of the aviation
industry – the best example being the opening of the new terminal - T3,
in New Delhi. Green field airports in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and New
Delhi and the on-going upgradation of terminals in Mumbai has been a
turning point in the history of India''s civil aviation industry as for
the first time, the country truly has been able to offer facilities
comparable to the best in the world to passengers travelling to, from
or transiting through, India.
The availability of the modern upgraded facilities has enabled us to
consciously promote the development and use of New Delhi and Mumbai
airports as transit hubs connecting the western markets of Europe, UK
and North America with points in SAARC region and East Asia. Mumbai and
New Delhi are fast turning into efficient hubs for our domestic traffic
as well. India now successfully competes as a transit hub with Dubai,
Doha, Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which are used by well-known
international airlines.
The Company has relentlessly continued its efforts to reduce costs and
achieve greater efficiencies. As a result, we were able to reduce the
cost per Available Seat Kilometers (excluding fuel) by 11.8%. This
factors in the full year impact of the cost reduction and route
rationalization measures implemented during the previous year. The
Management of the Company is fully cognizant of the importance and
essentiality of sustaining these efforts going forward, not merely
because of the competitive pressures, but also to counter the
inflationary trends and the continued volatility in fuel prices. While
the industry has been trying to pass on the impact of the fuel price
increases to customers by increasing fuel surcharges, we have to remain
conscious of the resultant impact on market growth and price
elasticity.
Notwithstanding the impressive performance of the Indian domestic
market and its impressive expansion during the year under review,
internationally, the scenario of the aviation industry continues to be
somewhat grim. This is because of the rapid increase and volatility in
fuel prices in the first quarter of 2011 coupled with political
upheavals in certain countries in the Gulf and Middle East, which are
important oil producing countries. Exacerbating the problem is the
extremely slow recovery in the United States and European economies.
At the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA) held in Singapore last month, IATA further
downgraded the airline industry profit forecast for 2011 to USD 4
billion. This is a 54% reduction compared to the forecast in March 2011
and a 78% drop compared to the industry profit recorded in 2010. IATA
has attributed this reduction to the impact of natural disasters
(namely the Japan earthquake and tsunami), the unrest in the Middle
East and North Africa region and the sharp increase in oil prices.
Since the Indian economy is expected to continue to achieve a high GDP
growth of 8% to 9%, there is no reason to expect a slowdown in the
growth of the Indian aviation market. We have therefore planned to
induct six additional narrow body aircraft for deployment on the
domestic and regional routes. In a few months from now, we will also
get back four of our B777-300ER aircraft on expiry of the dry lease
agreements with Turkish Airlines. The Company has decided to lease out
two of these aircraft to Thai International Airways. Following this, a
total of five of the Companys B777-300 ERs will be on lease to Thai
International Airways. We have decided to operate the remaining two
B777-300ER aircraft returned by Turkish Airlines ourselves, thereby
upgrading our services to Hong Kong and the US.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my concerns regarding
the heavy taxes that the Indian authorities continue to levy on ATF and
the new / additional airport levies that have been introduced. The
authorities need to recognize that neither these additional costs can
be passed on to the passengers as it will only dampen or stifle demand,
nor can the airlines themselves absorb any of these costs due to their
fragile financial conditions.
To conclude, I would like to thank the 19 million passengers who flew
with us and the shareholders who have continued to repose their faith
in us. I am grateful to the aircraft lessors and the banks that have
financed our aircraft and assisted us re-structure some of our aircraft
leases and loans which have enabled us to reduce our costs. I also wish
to thank every member of the management and staff of Jet Airways and
Jet Lite for their loyalty, dedication and hard work in overcoming the
adverse conditions that the Company is passing through.
Naresh Goyal
Chairman
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