Virgin Blue says the cost of the collapse of its reservation system meltdown two weeks ago could reach $20 million.
And the company told the ASX yesterday that it will be "actively pursuing all avenues" to recover the losses.
The failure on September 26 outage of the Navitaire New Skies system disrupted the travel plans of 25,000 passengers and caused problems for the carrier for 11 days.
Navitare is owned by the big US based consulting and business service firm, Accenture.
"An initial assessment of this interruption shows an estimated pre-tax profit impact of $15 million-$20 million," the airline said.
"Prior to the outage the group had seen an improvement in general trading conditions when compared to the corresponding period last year."
Navitaire now faces a hefty compensation bill.
The impact on the airline from the losses means recovering these costs will be vital.
In the June 30 year Virgin Blue reported a pre tax net profit of $34.3 million, with underlying earnings of 87.2 million before interest and tax.
If these losses are not recovered quickly, or they are delayed, the airline will be forced to raise a provision in its accounts for the December half year.
Navitare executives finally flew ton Australia last week to help Virgin Blue resolve the problem.
Virgin Blue shares eased 1.5c, or 3.2% to 45 cents yesterday.
