Another attempt could be made on Wednesday to get Kingfisher Airlines back to flying with the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Agarwal set to meet the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
This meeting comes days before a crucial meeting of a consortium of bankers that have lent over Rs 7,500 crore to the now defunct airline.
The consortium is refusing to lend any more money to the airline till the promoters bring in more funds. The airline suspended operations on October 11, 2012 and its operating licence lapsed on December 31, 2012.
Earlier this week senior Government officials indicated that they were not satisfied by the airline’s plans to invest Rs 650 crore as it might not guarantee efficient and reliable services.
“The revival plan, which was submitted by the airline, had lot of issues regarding lenders and staff payment which we felt may not lead to reliable services,” a senior Government official had said.
The revival plan also has no provision for payment to airport operators, the official had said. Payment of salaries and wages of staff in a phased manner could lead to a situation where the airline may not be able to provide reliable services because if staff members were not paid then they may stop working again and this could inconvenience passengers, he added.
In another development when employees sought a sale of assets to clear their back wages, the airline’s promoter and Member of Parliament, Vijay Mallya wrote to them telling them that a revival plan would be submitted to the DGCA.
In the letter Mallya mentioned how the UB Group was willing to provide Rs 650 crore to the airline. He also mentioned that the airline plans to restart operations in two phases.
In the first phase which should be implemented from Summer Schedule 2013, the airline plans to start operations with seven aircraft and increase this to 21 aircraft in four months.
In the second phase the airline plans to grow to 57 aircraft within 12 months of recapitalisation.
ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in