Indian Airlines on Friday reported a 40 per cent reduction in its losses at Rs 134.73 crore (Rs 1.347 billion), offsetting the hike in its fuel bill on the strength of a rigorous cost cutting exercise and improved passenger traffic.
The board, at its meeting, also took note of the steps taken by the public sector carrier to synergise its operations with Air India on network expansion and route allocation, besides marketing and sales.
The reduction in the losses was reported even after the airline suffered a hike in the fuel bill by Rs 147 crore (Rs 1.47 billion) during the last fiscal and an increase of Rs 16.36 crore (Rs 163.6 million) in the landing, parking and navigation charges, IA officials said.
The airline ended the financial year with an operating loss of Rs 134.73 crore as against Rs 220.65 crore (Rs 2.206 billion) in the previous year, implying a reduction of 39 per cent. Its net loss was recorded at Rs 196.56 crore (Rs 1.965 billion) as against Rs 246.75 crore (Rs 2.467 billion) in 2001-02 showing an improvement of 20 per cent.
Another major decision taken at Friday's board meeting was granting approval to a new computerised reservation system to facilitate the sale of tickets by travel agents and expansion of IA's distribution base.