NEW DELHI (Dow Jones) – Private airlines in India are expected to post a combined profit of $250 million-$300 million in the next fiscal year starting April 1, helped primarily by cost cuts and a likely improvement in traffic, an aviation consultancy said.

"After a turbulent couple of years, 2010 should be a more positive year for Indian aviation, provided that the airlines can remain disciplined on costs, capacity and pricing," the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said in a report released Thursday.

The consultancy expects the October-December quarter to be the most profitable period next fiscal year for India's private carriers, which include Jet Airways Ltd, SpiceJet Ltd., Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. and unlisted Indigo Airlines.

Most private carriers had posted losses in the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, hurt by overcapacity and the cost on the debt they had taken earlier.

Because of robust growth in air traffic, Indian carriers had added capacity and ordered more aircraft. The traffic, however, started dropping by mid-2008 due to the economic slowdown, leading to the current woes of the industry.

The Sydney-based consultancy expects state-run Air India to post a loss in the next fiscal year as well.

Air India's loss for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 had nearly doubled from a year earlier to INR55.48 billion ($1.19 billion) as operational costs rose due to higher fuel prices and revenue fell because of a decline in traffic.

According to the report, Jet Airways and SpiceJet are expected to achieve full-year profits next year. Kingfisher Airlines will, however, achieve profitability only in its domestic operations in that period, it said.

The consultancy said the airline industry's yield will likely surge 10% in the third quarter of next fiscal year. For the full fiscal year, the gain is expected at 5%-7%. "Maintaining yields will be the key and it was the loss of focus on this parameter that has contributed to the industry's current difficulties," the report said.