The debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines hopes to bring in an investor before its operating licence expires on December 31.
This is the message that the airline’s chairman Vijay Mallya conveyed to the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Arun Mishra, during a meeting this evening.
The name of the investor, however, was not disclosed, nor was the amount that was likely to be pumped in by the investor.
Kingfisher suspended operations on October 1 and its licence was suspended on October 20. There has been intense speculation that the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is one of the suitors for Kingfisher.
Kingfisher has debt of over Rs 9,000 crore. A meeting of the consortium of banks, scheduled for December 8, has been postponed to December 17, giving rise to speculation that an investor may have evinced interest in picking up a stake in the airline.
Sources say that Etihad officials have visited the airline’s offices in Mumbai and other stations.