New Delhi:
Kingfisher Airlines can't compromise on safety - that was the stern message from the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as it pulled up the beleaguered airline today following large-scale flight disruptions.
In a meeting with Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal, the DGCA categorically told the ailing airline that cutting costs did not translate into playing around with the safety of the passengers. The stiff warning came after the private carrier cancelled a large number of flights over the weekend that has spilled onto the new week. It also witnessed resignations of at least 34 pilots yesterday, with several other staff members being put on notice. The airline, though, assured the DGCA that it had enough cabin crew and pilots to manage its flights. The regulator, meanwhile, has decided to go for "safety surveillance" of all of Kingfisher's operating aircraft but assured that there is no cause for concern and passengers need not be worried.
The airline also has been given time till tomorrow to come up with a "realistic" flight schedule for its operating aircraft. "The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said. But he ruled out ruled out any immediate punitive action to avert further difficulties to passengers. "Our priority is not to punish...because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face," he said.
Out of Kingfisher's 64 aircraft, 28 are operational. Today, at least 34 Kingfisher flights - six from Delhi, five from Mumbai, 18 from Bangalore and five from Hyderabad - were cancelled. On Monday, the airline cancelled 30 flights; half of its flights from major metros were cancelled or delayed on Sunday. Internationally, flight operations to Bangkok, Dhaka and Kathmandu have been shut. Colombo, sources say, will be shut down shortly. Of all Kingfisher Airlines international services, only the London flight is presently operating.
Kingfisher was asked to explain why flights have been cancelled since Saturday without informing the DGCA. Mr Bhushan said the airline had not shared enough information with passengers, causing unacceptable inconvenience.
Kingfisher also assured the regulator that the issue of non-payment of salaries would be sorted out soon. The matter has reportedly effected the resignations of its pilots. In fact, Kingfisher has closed down its Kolkata operations because the staff there had not been paid salaries for months. "They assured that the arrears would be paid...I have now been assured that the December salaries will be cleared by February and January by March," Mr Bhushan said. The DGCA has asked the government to review the acceptability of this step.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, meanwhile, told reporters today, "We have to hear out Kingfisher. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normal schedule. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer." He also said that in any industry closure of one unit creates trouble for the entire industry and added that steps have to be taken to see that Kingfisher restores its flight schedule and passengers are not inconvenienced.
Under fire for the massive flight disruptions, Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya yesterday apologised to inconvenienced fliers. Speaking to NDTV, the airline baron attributed the chaos to a sudden freezing of the carrier's properties by the Income Tax department. (Read: Kingfisher statement on cancellation of flights)
"We tried to reach as many as possible, we tried to make alternative bookings, refunds," Mr Mallya told NDTV. (Watch: Vijay Mallya speaks to NDTV on Kingfisher crisis)
But Mr Mallya insisted that he will not shut down the private carrier, which is struggling to stay afloat following the large-scale flight disruptions.
"I don't think it's an option to just give up and exit and close down. I don't think it will happen. I don't think the government wants it either," Mr Mallya said, in his first public reaction to the latest crisis that has gripped his cash-strapped airline.
"We have never asked for a bailout. I would never have even thought about it. I know exactly the constraints in this country vis-a-vis private enterprise. So this entire bailout issue is media making...We have asked banks to consider our proposal to provide more working capital," he said, making it clear that the airline has never asked for a bailout from the government.
Mr Mallya's clarification came after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh ruled out bailout for Kingfisher as it is a private carrier.
Kingfisher said it expects to return in the next 2-3 days to its regular schedule of about 240 daily flights. This is the second time in four months that Kingfisher has cancelled a large number of flights without informing the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a violation of basic guidelines.
"We have received reports about large-scale cancellations. They are bound to inform us when they cut their schedule. But they have not done so," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said, adding, "We are gathering information from all the centres. Once we get this, we will decide what to do." Aviation rules require operators to have prior approval of the DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. Mr Bhushan said the DGCA had sent messages to all other airlines to accommodate passengers stranded due to the Kingfisher cancellations. "They have to do this without enhancing the fares," he said.
Explaining why the airline did not inform aviation regulator DGCA about flight cancellations, Mr Mallya said on Monday, "The I-T authorities very suddenly froze our bank accounts. The inevitable disruptions had to happen. There was no time or no chance to reach out either to the DGCA or perhaps adequately to our guests who were booked on our flights."
Kingfisher declared losses of 444 crores in the third quarter of this year - up from 254 crores a year ago. Kingfisher's current debt is close to 1.3 billion dollars or Rs. 7,057.08 crore. It has been lobbying hard with the government to allow foreign airlines to buy into Indian carriers, a proposal the government is now trying to push through as the country's biggest airlines show bleeding balance sheets. "We are in dialogue with the tax authorities. We have pointed out to them that this drastic action of freezing bank accounts causes huge public inconvenience. Apart from the fact that if our flights get disrupted on a continued basis, then our revenue gets affected," Mr Mallya added.
A group of 18 banks, led by the State of Bank of India (SBI), that have lent to Kingfisher met on Friday to discuss the carrier's financial state and sources said Kingfisher hoped the banks would provide it with some working capital soon. There is no official word from either the lending banks or the airline on this yet.
In a meeting with Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal, the DGCA categorically told the ailing airline that cutting costs did not translate into playing around with the safety of the passengers. The stiff warning came after the private carrier cancelled a large number of flights over the weekend that has spilled onto the new week. It also witnessed resignations of at least 34 pilots yesterday, with several other staff members being put on notice. The airline, though, assured the DGCA that it had enough cabin crew and pilots to manage its flights. The regulator, meanwhile, has decided to go for "safety surveillance" of all of Kingfisher's operating aircraft but assured that there is no cause for concern and passengers need not be worried.
The airline also has been given time till tomorrow to come up with a "realistic" flight schedule for its operating aircraft. "The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said. But he ruled out ruled out any immediate punitive action to avert further difficulties to passengers. "Our priority is not to punish...because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face," he said.
Out of Kingfisher's 64 aircraft, 28 are operational. Today, at least 34 Kingfisher flights - six from Delhi, five from Mumbai, 18 from Bangalore and five from Hyderabad - were cancelled. On Monday, the airline cancelled 30 flights; half of its flights from major metros were cancelled or delayed on Sunday. Internationally, flight operations to Bangkok, Dhaka and Kathmandu have been shut. Colombo, sources say, will be shut down shortly. Of all Kingfisher Airlines international services, only the London flight is presently operating.
Kingfisher was asked to explain why flights have been cancelled since Saturday without informing the DGCA. Mr Bhushan said the airline had not shared enough information with passengers, causing unacceptable inconvenience.
Kingfisher also assured the regulator that the issue of non-payment of salaries would be sorted out soon. The matter has reportedly effected the resignations of its pilots. In fact, Kingfisher has closed down its Kolkata operations because the staff there had not been paid salaries for months. "They assured that the arrears would be paid...I have now been assured that the December salaries will be cleared by February and January by March," Mr Bhushan said. The DGCA has asked the government to review the acceptability of this step.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, meanwhile, told reporters today, "We have to hear out Kingfisher. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normal schedule. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer." He also said that in any industry closure of one unit creates trouble for the entire industry and added that steps have to be taken to see that Kingfisher restores its flight schedule and passengers are not inconvenienced.
Under fire for the massive flight disruptions, Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya yesterday apologised to inconvenienced fliers. Speaking to NDTV, the airline baron attributed the chaos to a sudden freezing of the carrier's properties by the Income Tax department. (Read: Kingfisher statement on cancellation of flights)
"We tried to reach as many as possible, we tried to make alternative bookings, refunds," Mr Mallya told NDTV. (Watch: Vijay Mallya speaks to NDTV on Kingfisher crisis)
But Mr Mallya insisted that he will not shut down the private carrier, which is struggling to stay afloat following the large-scale flight disruptions.
"I don't think it's an option to just give up and exit and close down. I don't think it will happen. I don't think the government wants it either," Mr Mallya said, in his first public reaction to the latest crisis that has gripped his cash-strapped airline.
"We have never asked for a bailout. I would never have even thought about it. I know exactly the constraints in this country vis-a-vis private enterprise. So this entire bailout issue is media making...We have asked banks to consider our proposal to provide more working capital," he said, making it clear that the airline has never asked for a bailout from the government.
Mr Mallya's clarification came after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh ruled out bailout for Kingfisher as it is a private carrier.
Kingfisher said it expects to return in the next 2-3 days to its regular schedule of about 240 daily flights. This is the second time in four months that Kingfisher has cancelled a large number of flights without informing the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a violation of basic guidelines.
"We have received reports about large-scale cancellations. They are bound to inform us when they cut their schedule. But they have not done so," DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan said, adding, "We are gathering information from all the centres. Once we get this, we will decide what to do." Aviation rules require operators to have prior approval of the DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. Mr Bhushan said the DGCA had sent messages to all other airlines to accommodate passengers stranded due to the Kingfisher cancellations. "They have to do this without enhancing the fares," he said.
Explaining why the airline did not inform aviation regulator DGCA about flight cancellations, Mr Mallya said on Monday, "The I-T authorities very suddenly froze our bank accounts. The inevitable disruptions had to happen. There was no time or no chance to reach out either to the DGCA or perhaps adequately to our guests who were booked on our flights."
Kingfisher declared losses of 444 crores in the third quarter of this year - up from 254 crores a year ago. Kingfisher's current debt is close to 1.3 billion dollars or Rs. 7,057.08 crore. It has been lobbying hard with the government to allow foreign airlines to buy into Indian carriers, a proposal the government is now trying to push through as the country's biggest airlines show bleeding balance sheets. "We are in dialogue with the tax authorities. We have pointed out to them that this drastic action of freezing bank accounts causes huge public inconvenience. Apart from the fact that if our flights get disrupted on a continued basis, then our revenue gets affected," Mr Mallya added.
A group of 18 banks, led by the State of Bank of India (SBI), that have lent to Kingfisher met on Friday to discuss the carrier's financial state and sources said Kingfisher hoped the banks would provide it with some working capital soon. There is no official word from either the lending banks or the airline on this yet.
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