Kingfisher Q1 net loss widens to Rs 650 cr

At Rs 301 cr, revenue sees six-fold decline

Kingfisher Airlines today announced its net loss in the quarter ended June widened about two and a half times to Rs 650 crore, compared with the net loss of Rs 263 crore in the corresponding period last year. Revenue fell more than six times to Rs 301 crore, against Rs 1,907 crore in the year-ago period.

Operating losses rose from Rs 79 crore in the year-ago period to Rs 204 crore. The airline’s operating losses in the previous quarter stood at Rs 429 crore.

The UB Group-owned company maintained it was hopeful of recapitalising itself. It stated till then, it would continue on a 20-aircraft holding plan. However, it did not specify a timeframe or the instrument of recapitalisation.

The airline’s debt stands at about Rs 8,000 crore, and the finance charge of servicing this during the quarter was Rs 383 crore, a rise of 26 per cent over the year-ago period. The airline also had to grapple with redelivery costs, which rose three times to Rs 167 crore. Also, restructuring and idle costs stood at Rs 208 crore, against none in the corresponding period last year.

Since November 2011, crisis-hit Kingfisher Airlines started curtailing flights, from 360 to about 100 flights a day, and this has led to a sharp decline in revenue. The company has been managing operations through stop-gap arrangements on a day-to-day basis.

Recently, after repeated defaults by the airline, its aircraft lessors had seized some aircraft. “In respect of certain aircraft being taken on finance leases, which have a book value of Rs 241 crore, the lessors concerned have terminated the relevant lease agreements in the light of events of default by the company and the aircraft stand deregistered. We are negotiation with the lessors concerned to purchase the aircraft,” the management said.

The company’s employee base, too, shrank from 7,000 to about 1,000. This led to staff costs decreasing to about Rs 59 crore in the quarter ended June from Rs 173 crore in the corresponding period last year.