Air Deccan posts Rs 212 crore loss

Battered by pressures on yields and low passenger loads in March, price warrior Air Deccan has suffered a loss of Rs 213 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2007. The loss was on a net income of Rs 437 crore during the period. The airline has recorded no sale and leaseback transaction during the quarter unlike the previous quarter, where it notched a Rs 9.6 crore profit. The loss for the nine-month period ended March 31 was Rs 244 crore. Commenting on the performance, Deccan Aviation MD Capt GR Gopinath said, “A combination of high operational costs and oversupply is creating a weak domestic yield environment in the industry. Fuel prices are once again close to historically high levels, coupled with the fact that February and March are inherently weaker months for the travel industry.”

The airline spent about Rs 229 crore on fuel during the quarter. Talking of the airline’s problems with the migration to a new central reservation system which resulted in botched up bookings and inaccurate transaction reports, he said, “We were impacted by costs relating to migration of our central reservation system and reduction in available seat kilometres to enable bunching up of our maintenance program. These measures are expected to enhance our operational and financial performance in the coming quarters. This has impacted our financial results this quarter which have been sluggish.” The airline’s load factors, which were at a high of 83% during February, fell to below break-even levels of 70% in March, sources said. The airline, which operates 65 destinations in India, carried 17.17 lakh passengers in the quarter. Currently, the airline operates 19 Airbus A 320 aircraft with an average age of 1.5 years and 24 ATR turboprop aircraft.

Courtesy: TNN

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