Mumbai: The grounded Kingfisher Airlines Ltd ’s loss widened sharply to ₹ 1,156.91 crore in the June quarter from ₹ 650.78 crore a year earlier, primarily as the cost of returning aircraft more than doubled.

It reported no revenue.

The Vijay Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Airlines’ operating licence was suspended in October by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) following a strike by the airline’s employees. The permit has since expired, although it can be renewed within two years.

Although employee and lease rental expenses nearly halved, aircraft re-delivery costs in the June quarter increased to ₹ 419.96 crore from ₹ 167.34 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Employee costs fell to ₹ 59.44 crore from ₹ 118.89 crore and aircraft lease rental expenses to ₹ 103.56 crore from ₹ 195.56 crore earlier.

Kingfisher Airlines now has accumulated losses of ₹ 17,180.37 crore, and it owes ₹ 7,000 crore to banks and ₹ 8,000 crore to other lenders. Its net worth on 31 March was a negative ₹ 12,919.81 crore.

On Saturday, a consortium of banks took possession of the airline’s headquarters, Kingfisher House, near Mumbai’s domestic airport as part of a second phase of recovering loans from the airline. The banks will soon start proceedings to sell the building.

The group of 14 lenders led by State Bank of India expects to recover at least ₹ 1,000 crore by taking possession of buildings, helicopters and other fixed assets of the grounded airline, the bankers said.

The consortium collected ₹ 550-600 crore in the first phase by selling pledged shares of associate companies of Kingfisher Airlines’ parent UB Group.

The bankers had filed a claim on 3 May under the Sarfaesi (Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act to recover the dues. Under the claim, the bankers had given 60 days notice to the airline, which expired on 1 July.

The banks started procedures for taking over properties and other assets in the first week of July in consultation with the Debt Recovery Tribunal. The lenders will be selling the airline’s properties in Mumbai and Goa, two helicopters, other fixed assets and shares of UB Group firms.

The results were announced after the equity markets closed. Shares of Kingfisher Airlines rose 4.96% to ₹ 4.02 a share on BSE on Wednesday, while the benchmark Sensex rose 0.72% to end at 19,367.59 points.

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