Kingfisher Air Loss Narrows On Lower Fuel, Staff Costs

Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. said Wednesday its second quarter net loss narrowed from a year earlier because of lower fuel and staff costs.
India's biggest airline by market share posted a net loss of 4.19 billion rupees ($104.4 million) in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with 4.83 billion rupees a year earlier.
Revenue declined 14% to 11.42 billion rupees from 13.23 billion rupees. Jet fuel expenses fell 45% to 4.60 billion rupees while staff costs decreased 18% to 1.72 billion rupees, it said.
India's aviation industry was severely hit by the global economic downturn in 2008, with domestic traffic falling more than 10%. Higher prices of jet fuel--the biggest cost component for a local carrier--had also increased the unpaid bills of local carriers.
Kingfisher's local rivals Jet Airways (India) Ltd. and SpiceJet Ltd. have also posted losses for the second quarter. While Jet reported a net loss of 4.07 billion rupees, low-fare carrier SpiceJet had a net loss of 1.01 billion rupees.
Problems of overcapacity and leveraged balance sheets continue to spell trouble for the loss-making companies, even as domestic traffic is looking at a gradual turnaround.
Kingfisher had total debt of 60 billion rupees as on Sept. 30, it said recently.
28/10/09 Anirban Chowdhury/Dowjones/Wall Street Journal

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Categories: Kingfisher Oct 2009