India's Jet Airways has reported a net loss of 997 million rupees or $18.5 million during the second quarter of the financial year.

The loss reported during the quarter is much lower than 7.13-billion rupees loss reported in the same quarter of the previous year by the airline. The results for the quarter are better than market expectations as analysts said that the company might report a loss of about 2.6-billion rupee.

Jet chief executive Nikos Kardassis said, "An improvement in yields has helped the group to post an operating profit." He also said that the airline is facing challenges due to low passenger traffic and high cost of fuel in the country.

The company's income from operations rose 20 percent to 37.5 billion rupees and its overall revenues increased 25 percent to 41.37 billion rupees during the quarter. The airline said that the sale and leasing back of the aircrafts as well as cancelling services on loss making routes has helped the airline reduce losses in the quarter.

Jet Airways is the second largest airline in the country and has a market share of about 24 percent.