Kingfisher Airlines ( KFA) reported a 75% wider net loss for the December quarter from a year earlier, as the ailing carrier was squeezed by high fuel costs, a weaker rupee and fierce competition.
Debt-laden Kingfisher, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is around a quarter-owned by banks and its top lender State Bank of India has refused to add to loans it considers non-performing.
'Steep depreciation of the Indian rupee coupled with consistently high crude oil prices has led to a challenging quarter for the Indian aviation industry,' Kingfisher said in a statement.
The company is in talks with distressed-debt experts but there are no signs of a guardian angel equity injection that executives have long promised. An entry into the potentially lucrative oneworld alliance was postponed this month as it scrambles for capital.
Unpaid staff have left in droves, and scores of flights have been cancelled to cut costs. Turboprop maker ATR, a joint venture of EADS and Finmeccanica, cancelled 38 plane orders from Kingfisher in January because the airline hadn't paid for the planes.
Kingfisher lost Rs444 crore($90.1 million) in the fiscal third quarter, 74.8% more than a loss of Rs254 crore a year previously. Revenue fell 15.2% to Rs13.42 crore.
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Debt-laden Kingfisher, controlled by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, is around a quarter-owned by banks and its top lender State Bank of India has refused to add to loans it considers non-performing.
'Steep depreciation of the Indian rupee coupled with consistently high crude oil prices has led to a challenging quarter for the Indian aviation industry,' Kingfisher said in a statement.
The company is in talks with distressed-debt experts but there are no signs of a guardian angel equity injection that executives have long promised. An entry into the potentially lucrative oneworld alliance was postponed this month as it scrambles for capital.
Unpaid staff have left in droves, and scores of flights have been cancelled to cut costs. Turboprop maker ATR, a joint venture of EADS and Finmeccanica, cancelled 38 plane orders from Kingfisher in January because the airline hadn't paid for the planes.
Kingfisher lost Rs444 crore($90.1 million) in the fiscal third quarter, 74.8% more than a loss of Rs254 crore a year previously. Revenue fell 15.2% to Rs13.42 crore.
....more info