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| Air India posts net loss of Rs 5,548 crore | |
| BS Reporter / Chennai November 12, 2009, 0:40 IST | |
Beleaguered national carrier Air India reported a post-tax loss of Rs 5,548.26 crore for the financial year 2008-09. The net loss came down from the Rs 7,200-crore loss the airline suffered in 2007-08. The airline’s load factor also dropped to 59.5 per cent from 63.8 per cent.
Air India’s board, which met in Chennai today, approved the accounts for the financial year 2008-09. The state-run airline that has been facing higher labour costs and fuel bills, has identified Booz & Allen to look at costs across the board for savings.
Total revenue declined to Rs 13,479 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 15,252 crore in 2007-08. The number of passengers travelling on Air India flights declined to 10.36 million in 2008-09 from 13.21 million in 2007-08, in the background of the global economic meltdown, which resulted in lesser passengers traveling and falling yields.
The other factors that contributed to the loss included rise in fuel costs, higher depreciation costs due to induction of new fleet, increase in interest on aircraft loans & borrowings and loss of foreign exchange due to depreciating rupee.
The company has taken a series of measures in the past one year to enhance revenue and reduce costs, which include restructuring/withdrawal of certain loss-making routes, return of leased aircraft, rationalisation of wage structure, sales and marketing initiatives to improve yields and load factors, phasing out of old fleet and induction of new aircraft.
“These measures, together with the pick-up in demand in the domestic and international traffic, are likely to result in an improvement in the operating performance for the year 2009-10, subject to fuel prices,” an official statement from the airline said.
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