State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank to ailing Kingfisher Airlines, on Tuesday cautioned the carrier that it “will not fly” if it fails to bring in fresh capital by November 30.
“Banks’ consortium has done everything possible to make the company (Kingfisher) work. Only the company is not working... The management has to get capital. We have given time till November 30 that they should get capital otherwise the company will not fly...,” SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told PTI.
He further said the airline would not be able to get investors if it is not flying.
Chaudhuri said the consortium of 17 banks have been meeting regularly to help the cash-strapped airline.
SBI has over Rs 1,500-crore of exposure to Kingfisher.
The bank chairman said the consortium, led by SBI, has made available a total Rs 7,000 crore to Kingfisher to help it keep flying.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), however, recently suspended the flying licence of Kingfisher following the airline’s failure to come up with a viable plan of financial and operational revival.
Meanwhile, Kingfisher said it is working on a comprehensive revival plan which will be given to aviation regulator, DGCA, in the next few weeks.
“We are working on a comprehensive plan which will address the interests of all stakeholders and this will be submitted to DGCA,” an airline spokesperson said when asked about their plans to get the suspension of its scheduled operator’s permit (SOP), valid till this year-end, revoked.
Kingfisher is burdened with a loss of Rs 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs 7,524 crore, a large part of that has not been serviced since January.