Garuda Indonesia reported steeper losses in its nine-month earnings, as operating expenses continued to creep up.

For the nine months ended 30 September, the Indonesian flag carrier reported a pre-tax loss of $148 million, compared to $103 million in the year-ago period.

Garuda Indonesia 737-800

Source: Wikimedia Commons/Ikko Haidar Farozy

A Garuda 737-800 in October 2020

This was despite a 14.7% rise in operating revenue to $2.56 billion, led by increases in scheduled passenger and charter operations, but offset by a dip in revenue from religious pilgrimage – or Hajj – operations.

Still, Garuda saw its nine-month operating expenses outpace revenue increase, at nearly 20% year on year to $2.38 billion. MRO-related costs saw the sharpest increase during the nine-month period, up 51%.

Garuda widened its net loss for the period, at $131 million compared to $72 million a year ago.

The SkyTeam carrier did not provide further discussion on its results, but in past financial results had flagged a weakening in passenger yields from a post-pandemic high.