New Delhi: Budget carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday reported a net loss of Rs 235 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2020-21 against a loss of Rs 807.1 crore in the same quarter of the previous year as the business continues to be severely impacted by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline reported a net loss of Rs 998.3 crore in FY 2021.
"While there have been significant losses suffered on the passenger side of the business the dedicated cargo operations continue to provide a much-required lifeline to our overall operations. On a segment basis, the revenue from cargo operations increased by 518% aggregating to Rs 1,117.5 crore for FY2021 with Rs 134.2 crore for the previous year," SpiceJet said in a statement.
Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, "The intensity with which the second wave of Covid-19 struck and the unimaginable devastation it has caused, both for the already battered industry and generally, it will take time to heal. To ensure our long term growth and sustainable operation we have decided to raise funds up to Rs 2,500 crore. These funds will be used to significantly strengthen our balance sheet."
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"With vaccination touching record numbers and travel demand slowly picking up we hope that the worst is behind us but we have to remain extremely cautious about the future. While there is still much work and recovery to be done, we have managed to reduce our net loss in Q4 through re-structuring of our contracts which will have a significant positive impact in the long term," he added.
Recently, shareholders of InterGlobe Aviation, parent company of IndiGo, approved a proposal to raise up to Rs 3,000 crore through the Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) route. Low-cost carrier GoAir is also planning to raise Rs 3,600 crores.
SpiceJet said that with the second wave of the pandemic and the emergence of various mutant variants, the company continues to see a significant negative impact on air travel.
Aviation consultancy and research firm CAPA had expected that Indian airlines will incur a consolidated loss of USD 4.1 billion this fiscal, similar to what they are estimated to have incurred in 2020-21, taking the total losses of two years to around USD 8 billion as result of the pandemic so far.
