Kingfisher Airlines, owned by the UB Group, has narrowed its losses by 39 per cent to Rs 254 crore in the third quarter ending December, compared to the same period the year before, on the back of increased domestic load factor and several cost reduction measures.
The domestic load factor rose 11 per cent to 87 per cent during this period from a year earlier. Total income increased by 28 per cent in the quarter, to Rs 1,658 crore.
“Kingfisher’s improvement of 11 percentage points in load factor over two comparative periods is two times the change in industry load factor,” the company said in an investor presentation today. It also said domestic air travel demand was robust in the quarter, with 19 per cent growth over last year.
Operating profit was Rs 91 crore compared to a Rs 92-crore loss in the same period last year. On the back of cost-cutting and the progress in load factor, the airlines saw a sharp rise in Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margin to 5.4 per cent, from a negative margin of 6.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
Ebitdar (ebitda plus rent payments), another significant operating parameter, also saw a rise of 95 per cent, to Rs 335 crore during this period. Domestic Ebitdar saw a rise of 37 per cent to Rs 276 crore.