Kingfisher grounded: Will try to clear salaries within 'next few days', says airline

1. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is the regulatory body for airlines, meets today with Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal  for a status report on the crisis. After the meeting, he told reporters that Kingfisher would decide on Thursday whether to resume flights and said the airline planned to pay staff "in the next few days." Mr Aggarwal said half of Kingfisher's employees have received their salary, though he forfeited his.  "I get the last check," he said.
   

2. The DGCA told reporters that it is 'very concerned about situation' and that Kingfisher is hopeful of starting operations from  Friday (October 5). Before starting  operations, Kingfisher Airlines has been asked to show the regulator their operational plan. The DGCA said it was ready to talk to Kingfisher employees if they were not satisfied with the management's plan.
   

3. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said today "Passenger safety cannot be compromised." He added, "If engineers don't give approval before take-off the aircraft cannot fly. So we cannot allow Kingfisher to fly while engineers are on strike."

4. 270 engineers  have been on strike since Sunday because they haven't been paid.  The airline has in fact not paid any of its employees since March this year. (Read: Engineers in Chennai join the stir)
   

5. In an email to employees on Monday,  the CEO  said the lockout was the result of "unabated incidents of violence, criminal intimidation, assault" by disgruntled employees who have been intimidating their colleagues. (Read letter from Kingfisher CEO)
   

6. The Vijay Mallya-promoted airline has reportedly approached Air India and others for getting its aircraft checked for certification. "Kingfisher Airlines is in talks with Air India, IndiGo and Jet Airways to get its aircraft certified by their engineers for flying," an airline source said on Monday evening.(Read)

7. The airline's share price plunged 4.8 percent Monday, bringing its slide for the year so far to 27 percent.

8. Kingfisher posted a loss of Rs 650 crore  ($124.0 million) in the quarter ending June. Its total debt as of March 2012 was Rs 8,730 crore ($1.7 billion), according to FactSet, a financial information provider.The Vijay Mallya-owned airline is saddled with bank loans of more than Rs. 7,000 crore from 17 banks, which it has not serviced since January. State Bank of India has the maximum exposure to the airline at Rs. 1,400 crore.

9. The carrier has already grounded most of its fleet as of earlier this year. Under the government of India's rules, an airline needs to operate at least five planes in order to maintain its licence. It currently operates 50 flights a day with a fleet of 7 aircraft.

10. The carrier, which has never turned a profit, has seen its domestic market share fall from second place last year to last among India's six main carriers. At its peak it operated 300 flights a day and had a fleet of 64 aircraft.

(with inputs from Agencies)