On a standalone basis, net profit rose 32.93% to Rs 73.22 crore on 46.66% increase in total revenue from operations to Rs 3,647.13 crore in Q3 December 2019 over Q3 December 2018.

This profit is after a non-cash forex charge on account of IND-AS116 of Rs 75.90 crore without which the profit would have been Rs 149.10 crore. Revenue increased as the airline added more destinations and expanded its fleet of passenger and freighter aircraft.

For the same comparative period, expenses were Rs 3,844.10 crore as against Rs 2,475.8 crore. On an EBITDA basis, Spicejet reported a profit of Rs 659.20 crore. On an EBITDAR basis, the company reported a profit of Rs 761.6 crore.

Despite the challenges that the airline is facing in terms of additional costs incurred, compounded by the continued grounding of its 737 MAX aircraft, the airline's capacity has grown by 59% in 2019. SpiceJet, yet again, excelled on operational parameters to report the highest passenger load factor among all airlines in the country all through the quarter. The average domestic load factor for the quarter was 91.9%. SpiceJet has recorded over 90% load factor for 56 successive months.

Ajay Singh, chairman and managing director, Spicejet said, "Spicejet has done remarkably well this quarter, despite a substantial profit hit from the grounding of the MAX aircraft, which has impacted our operations and led to additional costs. Despite facing an unprecedented crisis following the grounding of the MAX in March last year, Spicejet grew by close to 60% in 2019 demonstrating its ability to stand up to a crisis."

"We were expecting the MAX to return to service by January 2020 but that hasn't happened. The continued grounding and the delay in its return to service has undoubtedly hit our growth plans adversely and resulted in inefficient operations and increased costs. That said, Spicejet, expects to grow profitably while maintaining a tight control over costs and we look forward to an exciting 2020."

Spicejet operates 600 average daily flights to 63 destinations, including 54 domestic and 9 international ones.