Says Jet Airways CEO, Wolfgang Prock-Schaeur, "We posted profits mainly due to the appreciation of the rupee since we pay our staff in dollars. Secondly, our yields per passenger improved by six per cent. Our operating costs also came down in this quarter due to the usage of wide-bodied aircraft."

He added, "Domestic operations accounted for 76 per cent of operating revenues compared with 87 per cent in the first quarter last year, reflecting the growing scale and contribution of international operations." He also said that the profits would have been almost Rs 60 crore this quarter, had Jet not spent US$ 12 million on advertisements of wide-bodied aircraft which it had ordered. However, he said that the company is expected to break even by the third quarter and the result of Jet Lite and Jet Airways would be combined.

The next two quarters will remain challenging for the airline because of the large-scale fleet expansion that it has undertaken, particularly on international operations. Jet had a foreign currency gain of US$ 31 million in the first quarter because of the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar. The airline, controlled by Naresh Goyal, needs to earn a profit to fund the purchase of new planes and expand services to North America and Europe. The airline has as much as US$ 800 million of overseas loans.