KOCHI: Air India Express, low-cost international subsidiary of Air India, has turned profitable for the first time since it started operations in 2005.

“As per the account placed and approved by airline’s Board of Directors (on 31st August, 2016), the airline has made net profit of Rs 361.68 crore in the fiscal year 2015-16 against the loss of Rs 61 crore registered in the year 2014-15,” an Air India Express release said.

Along with other factors, higher passenger load factor and better utilisation of its assets helped the airline achieve the positive financial result as the its fleet size remained at the same level of 17 aircraft as was the case in the previous fiscal, it said. “The year witnessed passenger load factor of 82.3 per cent against 81.4 per cent the previous year while the average daily aircraft utilization rose to 11.3 hours from 10.8 hours. The year, the Airline carried 2.80 million passengers as against 2.62 million in the previous year,” it said. Prudent commercial and management interventions brought about an increase of 11.3 per cent in revenues. The airline has achieved total revenue of Rs 2917.96 crore in the last fiscal against Rs 2622 crore earned in the year 2014-15. Focused efforts made towards ancillary revenue generation have also contributed to the enhanced revenues. “This turnaround is the outcome of the sustained efforts made by every member of Team Air India Express,” said CEO of Air India Express, K Shyam Sundar. Thanking the increased passenger confidence in the airline’s services, he said it augurs well for the fleet expansion plans being implemented by the Airline. “The plan will see the induction of six aircraft in the current fiscal, three of which have already joined the fleet in the 1st Quarter. The induction of three more aircraft by the end of third quarter will take the Airline’s fleet strength to 23 aircraft,” he noted. “Consequently the capacity offered and the Operating Revenues are expected to go up further by about 25 per cent in the fiscal 2016-17,” the release said. This year witnessed the launch of the Airline’s operations from New Delhi to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and strengthening of its presence in North Indian markets and additional flight operations from its core markets in South India.—PTI