Kingfisher Airlines Q4 loss trebles

Bad times continued for the Kingfisher Airlines as it reported its worst-ever quarterly loss of Rs 1,151.53 crore in the March quarter of 2011-12 on Thursday.

This also brought down its stocks to an all-time low on the bourses during the day. The troubled Indian air carrier attributed the widening of loss to steep hike in fuel prices and sharp depreciation of the rupee.

The fourth quarter losses have trebled from Rs 355.55 crore in the January-March quarter of 2010-11.

The airline, which never made a profit since inception in May 2005, posted a net loss of Rs 2,328 crore in 2011-12 against losses of Rs 1,027.39 crore in 2010-11.

‘Operational cost savings were offset by a steep hike in fuel prices and sharp depreciation of the Indian rupee, which negatively impacted over 70 per cent of the cost base,’ Kingfisher said in a statement.

During the quarter, income from operations stood at Rs 741.28 crore as against Rs 1,626.65 crore during the same period of last year. Shares of Kingfisher Airlines tanked as much as 8 per cent to touch a new low in the morning trade after the results were announced. The Kingfisher stock opened on a weak note at Rs 10.85, then fell further to an early low of Rs 10.20, down 7.96 per cent from its previous closing price.

The Vijay Mallya-led airline has been facing turbulent weather for about a year now, tangled in a debt of about Rs 7,057.08 crore. The airline has also seen its market sharing eroding.

Kingfisher in March held a 6.4 per cent market share, below the budget carrier GoAir, which cornered 7.5 per cent market share in the same period. The air carrier now operates only 110 flights a day with a fleet of 20 aircraft as against 400 flights per day last year with 66 planes.