New Delhi / Mumbai: India’s second largest low-fare carrier by market share SpiceJet Ltd on Thursday reported its biggest profit since inception.

The country’s second largest full-service airline Kingfisher Airlines Ltd also announced on Thursday that it had turned profitable at the operating level in the third quarter on higher passenger traffic and lower costs.

SpiceJet, which started operations in 2005, posted a profit of Rs108.9 crore in December quarter, compared with a loss of Rs17.9 crore a year earlier. Revenue from operations rose 37% and the number of passengers increased by more than half in the period, while the cost per available seat kilometre fell by 22%.

“The aviation industry has taken a turn for the better,” said chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal. “We are looking forward to a good quarter ahead.”

Kingfisher Airlines reported a wider net loss in the three months ended 31 December, but swung to an operating profit as it cut costs. Net loss rose to Rs419.96 crore from Rs413.39 crore a year ago. Revenue fell 6.58% to Rs1,352.45 crore.

At the operating level, the carrier reported a profit of Rs11 crore, compared with a Rs122 crore loss in the year-ago period.

Passenger traffic increased 30.5%.

The operating profit came largely on reductions of employee costs, aircraft lease rentals and aircraft fuel expenses.

In an investor presentation, the airlines said that excluding aircraft lease rentals operating profit would have been Rs185 crore.

tarun.s@livemint.com