Jet Mulls Extending Lease of Six Aircraft with Etihad

New Delhi: Jet Airways on Monday said it is looking at the option to extend the leasing pact for six planes that have been leased out to strategic partner Etihad.

The existing lease for six aircraft would expire by end of this year.

"We have the option of extending it... Currently, it (leasing agreement for six aircraft with Etihad) is ending by end of this year. We are looking at options with Etihad," Jet Airways vice president (fleet and management control) Krishnan Balakrishnan said during post-earnings analysts call.

The six aircraft are among the 10 that have been leased out by Jet Airways to other carriers -- Etihad and Turkish Airlines.

Six Boeing 777-300 ERs and one A330-200 have been leased out by Jet Airways to Etihad. The lease for the A300-200 would be ending by June next year.

At present, Jet group has a fleet size of 116 and out of them, 24 are owned by it while the remaining 92 are on operating lease. Three planes leased out to Turkish Airlines is for a long term till 2020.

Gulf carrier Etihad has 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways and both airlines have code share in place for various sectors.

"We are continuously adding and also expanding the scope of our code share partnerships," Jet Airways vice president (Network Planning) Abhijit Dasgupta said.

According to him, code share and interline revenues accounts for about 13-14 per cent of Jet Airways' total revenues.

"We expect the proportion to continue to grow... but the amount at which it will grow depends on individual partnerships... We have stepped up cooperation with Etihad and its partners and in terms of volumes, we expect the momentum to grow," he said.

Helped by higher revenues and rise in passenger traffic, Jet Airways on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 226.4 crore for the three months ended June.

It also benefited from lower oil prices and a one-time gain from sale and leaseback of engines. In the year-ago period, it had net loss of Rs 258 crore.

Last Friday, Goyal had said the increased code-share between its partner Etihad helped the airline push down its losses by half in the last fiscal and reiterated optimism that by 2017 the airline could be fully profitable.