Kingfisher, owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, said its net losses narrowed to 1.88 billion rupees (S$54.75 million) from a loss of 2.44 billion rupees in the year earlier period.
The company, known for its advertising slogan 'Fly the Good Times' and its five-star service, said it had changed its accounting year to Apr to March from Jul to Jun and was giving only nine-month figures for the 2007-08 financial period. It posted a full-year loss of 4.2 billion rupees in 2006-07.
The announcement came three days after the company and Jet Airways agreed on a wide-ranging working alliance to battle slowing growth and high fuel costs.
India's crowded airline sector has been hit by huge losses on the back of a recent surge in global fuel prices that have forced fare hikes, leading to reduced passenger numbers.
The sector posted a combined loss of US$938 million in the fiscal year to March 2008 and analysts expect it to return a nearly two-billion dollar loss in the current year.
The Jet-Kingfisher alliance involves joint fuel management, ground handling, network rationalisation and crew sharing but no exchange of equity.
Mallya announced late on Wednesday that the full-service carrier had no plans to follow Jet's lead in laying off staff to stem losses but would 'do whatever it takes to cut down cost and flab.'
Jet on Wednesday announced it was laying off 1,900 employees, a move it said would save one million dollars a month.
Jet posted a full year loss to March of 2.53 billion rupees and is only forecast to break even by 2010. -- AFP