Air India, which recorded a net profit of about Rs 134 crore (Rs 1.34 billion) in 2002-03, has registered a total operating loss of Rs 303.12 crore (Rs 3.03 billion) on nine of the ten routes it flew during the year.

Even the net profit recorded in the last fiscal was about Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) less than the one registered in 2001-02, according to the 2002-03 Annual Report of the carrier tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

It recorded an operating profit of over Rs 13 crore (Rs 130 million) only on one scheduled route it operated last fiscal.

Air-India's operating losses also mounted from Rs 3.10 crore (Rs 31 million) in 2000-01 and Rs 54.33 crore (Rs 543 million) in 2001-02 to Rs 189.72 crore (Rs 1.83 billion) in 2002-03, the report showed.

It said the factors which contributed to the "improved profitability" were reduction in financing cost, improved passenger and overall load factors, dividend from its subsidiary -- Hotel Corporation of India, profit on sale of three A300-B4 aircraft and exchange gain due to the strengthening of the Indian rupee vis-a-vis the US dollar.

The airline's operations on the domestic sector also incurred loss of Rs 31.62 crore (Rs 316 million), while the hub and spoke operations with Indian Airlines flights contributed to loss of another Rs 24.71 crore (Rs 247 million) during the year.

Air-India's cost per employee also increased from over Rs 30 lakh (Rs 3 million) in 2001-02 to Rs 34.51 lakh (Rs 3.4 million) in 2002-03, though its passenger load factor, which was 73 per cent in 2000-01, improved from 66.6 per cent in 2001-02 to 71.6 per cent last fiscal.

However, the number of employees declined from 16,612 in 2001-02 to 16,068 in 2002-03.