Kingfisher Airlines incurs loss of Rs 1,647 cr in FY10

Private air-carrier Kingfisher Airlines today posted a loss of Rs 1,647 crore for 2009-10 fiscal mainly due to grounded aircraft, premature termination of aircraft lease and foreign exchange losses.

The airline had incurred a loss of Rs 2,140 crore in the previous fiscal.

"This performance has been delivered despite the impact of extraordinary items totalling more than Rs 640 crore due to several uncontrollable factors," the airline said in a statement.

A Rs 240 crore on account of grounded aircraft, over Rs 400 crore on account of premature termination of aircraft lease, foreign exchange loss and general clean up post the complete integration of Air Deccan had an impact on the balance sheet, the company said.

At the same time, the EBIDTA loss also came down at Rs 696 crore in FY10 against Rs 1,743 crore in the previous fiscal, the company said.

The revenue from international operations jumped fourfold in FY10 on the back of strong load factor, it said.

Besides, the airline's also registered an 11 point jump in its domestic seat factor at 71 per cent during the year as compared to FY09.

The airline expects the domestic capacity to expand lower than growth in demand.

"This will result in steep increase in industry load factors in FY11," the airline forecast.

Projecting a 5-7 per cent improvement in the domestic yields in the FY11, the airline said this may be as high as 10 per cent in Q3 of the current fiscal.