AirAsia India, Vistara FY22 losses widen on rise in costs, pandemic impact

AirAsia India and Vistara’s losses widened in the financial year ended March 31, 2022 (FY22) on a year-on-year (YoY) basis due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and an increase in operating costs, according to Tata Sons' FY22 annual report.

While aviation turbine fuel prices jumped around 67 per cent and rupee weakened by 0.4  per cent against the dollar in FY22 over FY21, passenger demand too was impacted by two waves of the pandemic. This had a toll on the airline’s financial results.

AirAsia India’s loss grew 42 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 2,178 crore, while its revenue rose nearly 39 per cent to Rs 1,887 crore.  The airline had a negative reserve and a surplus of Rs 4,849 crore.

Vistara’s loss rose by 35 per cent on a YoY basis to Rs 2,031 crore while its revenue jumped 2.3 times to Rs 5,226 crore in FY22. It reported a negative reserve and a surplus of Rs 8,120 crore at the end of March 2022.

AirAsia India has been shrinking its operations and operates only 27 aircraft.

It returned seven Airbus A320 planes to AirAsia Berhad in Malaysia in FY21. On the other hand, Vistara has been gradually building up its fleet and network. Vistara launched operations to Europe deploying its wide-body Boeing 787 aircraft and also operated charter flights resulting in revenue growth. It currently has 53 aircraft and its fleet will go up to 70 by end of calendar year 2023.

“The first half of FY22 was significantly impacted by the second wave of Covid-19, whereas the second half enabled demand recovery, although high fuel prices continued to be a challenge. We also spent a large part of 2021 densifying our domestic network, expanding our international footprint and investing in expanding our fleet,” Vistara said in a statement.