Losses at state-owned Indian Airlines Ltd, the country's largest domestic carrier, rose by half in the past financial year to March from the previous year as a global decline in tourism after September 11 hurt traffic.
The carrier, which has about half the share of the local air travel market, said in a statement on Monday, it had a loss of Rs 2.47 billion in 2001-02, up 55 per cent from Rs 1.59 billion in the year earlier.
The airline, whose domination over the domestic air travel market has been hit by privately held Jet Airways over the past nine years, said its revenue in 2001-02 was Rs 35.43 billion, an 8.1 per cent drop over the previous year's Rs 38.54 billion.
"The performance of Indian Airlines suffered a major setback in the aftermath of the September 11 incidents in the United States, which resulted in a decline in traffic globally," the company said in a statement.
Its passenger traffic fell about 8 per cent, it said.
It was also hurt by higher average aviation fuel prices in the past financial year, which at Rs 18,000 per kilolitre were 18.4 per cent higher than the previous year, while insurance costs soared after the September 11 attacks.
The airlines board also decided to lease five Airbus A-320s for up to five years and approved the lease of four 50-seat ATR-42-320 aircraft by its subsidiary for five years to fly to the remote northeastern states.
Indian Airline's fleet mostly comprises A-320s and Boeing-737s.
In March, the airline finalised a proposal to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus at a cost of $2.1 billion over five years, but which is still awaiting government approval.
In 2001, the government abandoned its plan to privatise the carrier following a lack of investor interest.
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