The Hindu Business Line : Air India, IA cut cumulative losses in first 4 months

INDIAN Airlines (IA) and Air India (AI) have reported a decline in their cumulative losses during the first four months of the current financial year.

IA has reported a drastic reduction in cumulative loss at Rs 3.9 crore during the first four months of 2004-05. The airline had reported a cumulative loss of Rs 64.05 crore during the same period in the previous year.

IA also recorded a reduction in losses close to 50 per cent during July this year at Rs 9.85 crore, as compared to a loss of Rs 19.40 crore reported during the same period in the previous year. The airline carried 23.50 lakh passengers during the first four months of the current fiscal, up from 18.19 lakh passengers carried in the year-ago period. Similarly, AI has registered a cumulative loss of Rs 30.53 crore during the first four months of the current fiscal, which is lower than the loss of Rs 35 crore recorded during the same period last year. The airline, however, recorded a net profit of Rs 13.23 crore in July 2004. This performance was much lower than the net profit of Rs 22.4 crore recorded in the same month last year.

AI also saw a jump in the number of passengers carried during the April-July this year at 14,60,504, as compared to 11,58,443 passengers carried by the Maharaja during the corresponding period in 2003. There was also a substantial increase in the number of passengers carried by the airline during July this year as compared to the same month last year . The airline carried 3,88,141 passengers during July this year, up from 3,34,797 passengers flying with AI during the year-ago period. .