There seems no respite to the increasing woes of Kingfisher Airlines as the company today reported a year-on-year (YoY) 103 per cent jump in its net loss for the quarter ended September 2011. The carriers net loss rose to Rs 468 crore during the quarter under review as against a net loss of Rs 230.81 crore posted in the July-September quarter of 2010,as a result of a 70 per cent rise in fuel expenses. The companys fuel cost jumped to Rs 816 crore from Rs 479.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The carriers income from services,however,rose by 10.5 per cent to Rs 1,528.16 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal. With a debt of over Rs 7,000 crore,interest cost of the airline stood at Rs 334 crore during the quarter. Urging the government need to look into the taxation structure,Vijay Mallya,chairman and MD of Kingfisher Airlines said I do not have any hesitation in saying that the state governments are enjoying heavy windfall profits as a result of the rising oil prices. The higher the price of crude,the higher the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and more the tax collection. This is something that needs a serious attention of the state government and the Central government. He also said that Kingfisher will now only operate in the top end of the market as the no-frills segment is highly competitive. We dont want to be a part of the bloodbath in the low-cost segment. The competition at the upper end is a lot less fierce, said Mallya,adding that the yields are much better in the top end and the airline has over 2 million loyal customers.
