GoAir confident of earning profits this fiscal also, says CE

Wadia group-promoted budget carrier GoAir on Sunday said it expects to sustain profitability in 2013-14 because of strong growth in the April-June period and good performance expected in the current quarter.

“We delivered a profit last financial year. The first quarter (of 2013-14 fiscal) was the best in terms of profitability for GoAir. Certainly the second quarter was a challenging one. We are confident to deliver good result for the entire financial year,” GoAir chief executive Girgio De Roni said here.

He was speaking at a function which was part of the 109th birth anniversary celebrations of JRD Tata, jointly organised by Air India and JRD Tata Memorial Trust.

The Mumbai-based carrier, with market share of around 8 per cent, reported profit of Rs 104.34 crore in FY’13, compared with the Rs 133.72-crore loss in the previous year.

“The profit was, however, on the back of changes in accounting policies with respect to aircraft lease rentals. We see challenges ahead. And we have to deploy all our efforts to deliver good result,” De Roni said.

GoAir had seen a growth of 25 per cent in passenger traffic by November this year by improving its seat capacity.

De Roni said he did not expect the airlines to cut fares at this stage due to cost-structure. De Roni said the airline was gearing up to fly international. “We will deploy up to 10 per cent of our capacity on the international routes,” he added.

The airline, which currently has 17 aircraft in its fleet, will induct three more planes by July next year, he said, adding, “At that time, we will not come under 5/20 rule.”

The current rules allow only those airlines fly international which have completed five years of domestic operations and have 20 aircraft in the fleet.