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In what spells more trouble for Kingfisher Airlines, its code-share agreement with British Airways has been suspended.
The agreement allowed passengers to book their journeys on each other's Web sites, earn frequent flyer points on the code-share routes and gain access to each other's airport lounges. The two airlines had signed a code-share agreement for each other's flights across India, Sri Lanka, the UK and continental Europe in September 2010.
Confirming the latest development, Mr Chris Fordyce, Regional Commercial Manager, South Asia, said British Airways customers booked to travel on an operating Kingfisher flight will remain unaffected. “Our customers booked to travel on a cancelled service will be able to rebook to an alternate service, where available, or claim a full refund,” he added.
Travel industry sources indicated that the suspension of the agreement between the two airlines was probably because of the poor financial health of Kingfisher Airlines.
The airline, which saw its net loss swell by almost 75 per cent to Rs 444 crore for the quarter ending December 2011, was also recently suspended from the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) for failing to meet its financial dues.
“With this suspension, Kingfisher loses an important sales channel for their domestic network. This has more implications for Kingfisher Airlines. British Airways has a strong partnership with other airlines and a good base in India,” said Director, STIC Travel Group, Ms Richa Goyal Sikri.
The agreement saw British Airways' code being placed on 11 domestic Indian routes and one route to Sri Lanka operated by Kingfisher Airlines.
Kingfisher Airlines' code was placed on nine British Airways' routes from Heathrow to the UK region and to continental Europe.
No fresh loans: Pranab
Meanwhile, in more bad news for the airline, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, told the Rajya Sabha that State Bank of India (SBI) has no plans of providing fresh loans to Kingfisher Airlines.
The Minister added that SBI, the leader of a consortium of lenders to the air carrier, had said that the airline's account was “sub-standard” with eight public sector banks (PSBs) and “standard” with five PSBs as on February 2012. The airline has a debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore.
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