Kingfisher Airlines' June quarter loss widens to Rs 651 cr

New Delhi, Aug 11:

Airlines today reported widening of net loss for the quarter ended Jun 30 to Rs 650.8 crore due to costs associated with non-operating aircraft. The airline had posted a net loss of Rs 263.5 crore in the same period last year.

The income from operations of the airline tanked to Rs 301.4 crore from Rs 1,907 crore a year ago, down 83.72 per cent, the company said in a regulatory filing. "The impact of high fuel cost, high interest rate, depreciation of Indian rupee and extraordinary expenses on account of return of aircraft to the lessors and the cost associated with non-operating aircraft, resulted in a loss after tax of Rs 651 crore," the company said.

On Friday, the shares of the company had slumped below its face value ahead of its earnings announcement today. Kingfisher shares closed at Rs 7.40, down 11.06 per cent on the BSE yesterday. Intra-day, the scrip had plunged 12.62 per cent to a record low of Rs 7.27. Kingfisher shares have fallen about 65 per cent so far this year against a gain of 13.14 per cent in BSE Sensex.

"Kingfisher continues to believe it will get capitalised and get on a path of sustained profitability. The airline is in discussions with several strategic and financial investors to bring fresh capital," the company added.

The UB group provided cash support of over Rs 750 crore to the airline to meet its cash flow requirements, Kingfisher Airlines added.

Rivals airlines like Jet Airways and SpiceJet have reported profits in the June quarter. Kingfisher Airlines, which has been facing fund-crunch for almost a year now, has not paid salary to its staff for past five months. A sizeable number of employees have not been paid since February. The airline's operations have been disrupted time and again since April when pilots called off work protesting salary delays.

PTI