Soaring fuel costs and falling passenger traffic have sent the financial numbers of Jet Airways into a tailspin. India's largest private carrier has posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 653.87 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2008. Sales for the fiscal stood at Rs 10,921.27 crore. These figures, however, cannot be compared with the previous year, since the full year results also included those of JetLite (earlier Air Sahara, which Jet acquired in April 2007) for the first time.Crude oil prices are currently reigning at $139 a barrel. Aviation turbine fuel, meanwhile, has risen from Rs 52 a litre in April 2007 to Rs 72 as in June this year. For the fourth quarter ended March 2008, Jet incurred a loss of Rs 221.18 crore as compared with a net profit of Rs 88 crore for the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal as fuel prices touched a record high. Sales for the period increased 37 per cent to Rs 2,727 crore as compared to Rs 1,989 crore. The airline, which has aggressive international route expansion plan in the pipeline, is expected to post huge losses in the current fiscal too. The first quarter (April-June) of 2008-09 is likely to be worse as crude oil prices had gone through the roof recently. The Jet Airways stock saw a marginal increase (0.54 per cent) on Tuesday to end at Rs 521.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company listed rising fuel prices and slowdown in demand in the domestic market as key factors for the fourth quarter losses. There were instances of aircraft remaining grounded and not being fully utilised during the quarter. Such instances alone may have dented the airline by as much as Rs 24 crore. Also, at the company level, the average staff numbers increased from 10,590 to 12,777 on account of the expansion in level of international operations. New hires among pilots, engineers and cabin crew constituted the bulk part of this increase.Rs 221.18 cr Loss in fourth quarter ended March 2008Rs 88 cr Profit in fourth quarter ended March 2007•The airline is likely to post huge losses in the current fiscal as it has aggressive international route expansion plan in the pipeline•The first quarter of 2008-09 is likely to be worse as crude oil prices have gone through the roof
