Kingfisher July-Sept loss widens as revenue plummets

Debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines , grounded for over a month after a violent staff protest and concerns about safety, widened its quarterly loss from a year ago because of a steep decline in revenues.

The company said it is preparing a comprehensive plan to restart operations soon.

The airline posted a record net loss of 7.54 billion rupees for the September quarter, compared with a loss of 4.69 billion rupees a year earlier.

Revenues declined 87 percent to 2 billion rupees from 15.5 billion rupees a year ago.

Kingfisher is preparing a comprehensive plan for re-start of operations which will be shared with the airline regulator and bankers, the carrier said in a statement.

Kingfisher shares are down 39 percent this year, closing at 12.8 rupees before the earnings release early on Thursday, a tiny fraction of their all-time peak above 334 rupees in late 2007.