Pakistan International Airlines reports a loss of $207.5 million for 2007

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said it has ended an "exceptionally difficult" 2007 with a PKR13.4 billion ($207.5 million) loss. Operationally, it was also blacklisted by the European Union during the year, which hit its bottom line along with its prestige.

Losses for the year have widened slightly from a loss of PKR12.76 billion recorded in 2006.

A PIA statement said that the airline had "experienced a series of financial, operational and marketing problems" that left its "brand severely dented, [it] lost market share as well as growth in business which made the situation still more difficult."

The airline was reinstated fully by the EU last November.

A fall of 0.2% in full-year revenue, to PKR70.48 billion, was mitigated by a fall in expenses by 5.2% to PKR66.22 billion. However, non-operating costs, related to increased borrowing, went up nearly 50%. Operating loss also came down to PKR5.94 billion from PKR8.45 billion in 2006.

The airline said it was a "late starter" on fuel hedging but reduced utilization of its less-efficient aircraft to reduce the impact of rising fuel costs. It transported 5.4 million passengers last year, down 5.5%, and flew 13.68 billion RPKs, which was a drop of 9.5%.

Load factor was down 1.1 points to 67.4%.