New Delhi - India's national carrier Air India reported a net loss of 55.5 billion rupees (1.2 billion dollars) for the financial year which ended March, news reports said Thursday.

The state-run airline, which announced the results in the southern city of Chennai Wednesday evening, said the losses had more than doubled from the previous year's 22 billion rupees as revenues shrank 12 per cent owing to declining passenger numbers, the Hindustan Times daily reported.

The mounting losses were due to "global recession, fall in load factors and passenger yields," a statement from the airline said.

Last month, the Indian government said it would give Air India a 1-billion-dollar bailout on the condition that the airline cuts costs and increases revenues.

The National Aviation Co Ltd, which owns Air India, had deferred June salaries of its 31,000 employees by 15 days, leading to protests.

In September, the cash-strapped airline's pilots went on a five-day strike protesting against the company's decision to cut pay incentives.

Industry analysts said Air India's huge losses stemmed partly from overstaffing and poor management. A major restructuring plan is in the works, aimed at increasing revenue and cutting costs.

"Cost-cutting measures and a pickup in demand in domestic and international traffic are likely to result in improvement in the operating performance for the year 2009-10," Air India said.

The International Air Transport Association had forecast that the global aviation industry would lose 16.8 billion dollars in 2008 and 11 billion dollars in 2009 owing to weak revenue and an increase in operating costs. (dpa)