SpiceJet posts record quarterly loss of $90 million

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - SpiceJet Ltd, India's fourth-biggest airline by domestic market share, reported a record quarterly net loss, hit by high fuel prices and a weaker local currency.

SpiceJet, controlled by billionaire Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group, said net loss was 5.59 billion rupees for its fiscal second quarter to September 30, compared with a net loss of 1.64 billion rupees a year earlier.

The quarterly loss was higher than its previous worst quarterly loss of 3.27 billion rupees reported for the September quarter of 2008, according to Thomson Reuters data.

SpiceJet and rivals such as Jet Airways operate in a country where provincial taxes make jet fuel among the world's most expensive. They also have to contend with a rupee trading near a record low, raising costs which are mostly denominated in dollars. (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Christopher Cushing; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)