Air India posts huge loss
Guest Writers are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the specific writer directly
Air India has confirmed that it suffered a massive loss in the 2013-14 financial year.
The ailing national carrier posted a net loss of INR50 billion (US$847 million) for the 12 months ending 31 March 2014, as a weak Indian rupee hurt the airline.
The result means that Air India has now failed to meet the terms of its INR300bn government bail-out package, which targeted a net loss of less than INR40bn this year, following the INR51.2bn deficit recorded in 2012-13.
The Economic Times cited a senior Air India official, who wished to remain nameless, as saying that the weak rupee had a severe impact on the airline, causing fuel expenses, aircraft landing charges, loans and all other dollar payments to rise sharply.
Air India’s annual revenues totalled INR177.5bn.
The loss for Air India comes just days after its biggest rival Jet Airways posted its largest ever full-year loss of INR41.3bn for 2013-14. None of which bodes well for the Indian aviation industry, which has already lost one key player in Kingfisher Airways.
Meanwhile, Air India also penned a new codeshare agreement last week. Under the agreement with Hong Kong Airlines, the two carriers will jointly sell routes connecting Delhi with Hong Kong and onwards to Seoul and Osaka.
Comments are closed.