Pakistan International Airlines (PIAC) posted an after-tax loss of Rs 386 million in the third quarter ended September 30, 2004, because of higher oil prices. According to the statement of PIAC, the board of directors of the airline met on Tuesday to announce financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2004.
According to the financial statements for the 3rd quarter, presented to PIAC board, the fuel prices were at Rs 74.81 per US gallon during July-September period as compared with Rs 49.35 per US gallon during the same period a year ago.
The airline experienced a major impact of this fuel price increase when it had to absorb an additional cost of Rs 1,964 million during the third quarter of 2004 as compared to last year''s third quarter. Apart from the fuel hit, PIA also had to absorb the exchange rate impact due to currency devaluation which was around Rs 460 million during the quarter.
During this third quarter the passenger traffic was up by 15.4 percent while cargo traffic was up by 16.6 percent over last year. Passenger yield during this period was up by 14 percent.
The airline was able to contain the loss to an after tax loss of Rs 386 million during July-September 2004.
The January-September 2004 accounts of PIAC were also presented to the board. These resulted in an after-tax profit of Rs 1,013 million. The board was informed that this profit was after absorbing an additional fuel bill of Rs 3,657 million and the impact of rupee devaluation to the extent of Rs 705 million over the corresponding period of last year.
The board was apprised that during this period the airline recorded 14.2 percent growth in terms of passenger traffic and 9.5 percent increase in terms of cargo.
The meeting was presided by Ahmed Saeed, Chairman, PIAC, and attended by Air Marshal (Retd) Pervez Akhtar Nawaz, Director General, Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan, Major General (Retd) Muhammad Ashraf Chaudhry, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Asad Ali Khan, M.H.K. Kaishgi, Javed Saifullah Khan, Syed Ali Raza and Kamal Azfar.