India's Kingfisher Airlines has posted slightly higher losses in its fiscal third quarter, but expects passenger traffic to recover as the Indian economy rebounds.
For the quarter ending 31 December 2009, the airline posted a net loss of 4.2 billion rupees ($91 million), compared with a loss of 4.1 billion in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
Total revenue fell 5% to 13.7 billion rupees, while total expenditure fell 12% to 17.9 billion rupees, says the airline.
RPKs for the quarter rose 14.8% from a year ago, it adds. The total number of passengers carried rose 4.2% to 2.7 million.
However, the gross revenue per passenger fell 10.4% to 4,934 rupees, says Kingfisher.
Capacity, in terms of ASKs, was slashed 7.5% in the quarter.
The airline has made cuts to aircraft lease costs and personnel costs among others to contain its expenses, says Kingfisher.
It plans to expand international services by utilising narrow body aircraft on "lucrative short haul markets", it adds.
"Buoyancy in passenger volumes is expected to continue as the Indian economy rebounds from the slowdown of early 2009," says the airline.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
