Ten years after Kingfisher Airlines was grounded, its former employees continue to wait for their dues. On Monday, the Supreme Court awarded a four-month sentence to the grounded airline's flamboyant owner Vijay Mallya in a contempt case. The apex court also ordered him to deposit $40 million plus interest in four weeks to avoid attachment of his properties.
Kingfisher Airlines' conciliation meeting with Air India recently ended without any result.
The government has de-frozen the bank accounts of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines and Air India after the two air carriers made part-payment of their service tax dues.
From November 12, Vistara aircraft will be operated under Air India's banner, identifiable by a special four-digit flight code beginning with '2'. For example, flight UK 955 will become AI 2955, making it easier for customers to recognise when booking on airindia.com after this date.
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines has become the first private airline in the country to get Category III certification from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways on Thursday cancelled their flights to London while Air India postponed its services to Toronto and London, which were to take off tonight as airspace was closed over several North European airports due to drifting ash from a volcano in Iceland.
No major price skirmishes expected; Passengers seem to prefer flights with a short stop-over.
Bowing to the pressure from travel agents, Air India has deferred by one month its decision to withdraw the five per cent agency commission from October 1.On June 20, the airline had informed various travel agent bodies that it was withdrawing the five per cent commission to agents from October 1.
Lenders of bankrupt airline Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday told the Supreme Court that successful bidder Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) was "unwilling" to pay the dues and that the "liquidation" was the only option left. The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud was hearing the SBI-led consortium plea against the NCLAT's March order upholding ownership transfer of the bankrupt airline to JKC.
With the London airport opening up after wide-spread flight disruptions caused by volcanic ash from Iceland, Air India and Jet Airways on Wednesday readied themselves to resume operation to the UK.
Domestic passenger traffic fell 15.7 per cent in October.
The Vijay Mallya-owned carrier would become the first airline from the subcontinent to join any of the global airline groups, the two others being 'Star Alliance' and 'SkyTeam', spokespersons of the airline and the alliance said.
Unlike private carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, Air India has not given any security as insurance against default, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
GR Gopinath, chairman of Air Deccan (in which Vijay Mallya has picked up 26 per cent), says the policy is blatantly tilted towards protecting just two carriers - Jet Airways and Air-India - to maintain their monopoly in the international skies.
Tata Sons has started the process of due diligence of state-owned Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. Sources said the group has appointed Bain and Company and Seabury Group for this purpose. Once complete, a financial bid will be submitted and a deal to take over the airline is likely to fructify by end of this year or even earlier, people involved in the process said. Simultaneously, the group has brought in veterans in the aviation business from Delta and United Airlines to prepare a plan for post-merger integration of Air India with its existing airline ventures. Tata Sons operates Vistara - a 51:49 percent joint venture with Singapore Airlines and Air Asia India, in which Tatas hold 83.67 per cent stakes.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side were crowned the World Cup winners after beating Sri Lanka by six wickets in the final at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday to become only the second Indian squad to win cricket's showpiece event after Kapil Dev's 1983 outfit.
Mallya claims private airlines were discriminated against by the Indian government, which bailed out state-owned Air India but did not assist his own Kingfisher Airlines and now Jet Airways.
While Air India owes Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion), beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines has unpaid dues of Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million) and both carriers have been put on the cash-and-carry mode of payment.
According to the department, Kingfisher owes the sum for the April-September period and Air India's is for the period between April and August.
Three major domestic carriers -- Air India, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways -- will together require around $10-12 billion (Rs 47,000-Rs 560,000 crore) over the next two-three years to fund their aircraft acquisition plans, an aviation think tank has said.
Kingfisher Airlines is launching its flight operations in Jammu from November 25 while GoAir has announced doubling its flight operations, also by the end of this month. Initially, it will operate seven flights a week. The company has appointed staff and raised infrastructure for the operation of its offices in Jammu. Kingfisher has been operating in Srinagar for more than a year.
Govt has no plan to divest stake in Air India.
'It is very clear that Air India cannot be managed by the government.' 'Air India should be run as a separate profit entity.'
Flights to the UK and other European destinations of Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines remained cancelled for the sixth consecutive day today in the wake of huge clouds of volcanic ash emanating from Iceland.
Air India and Jet would, however, operate their flights to the US and Canada by taking a diversion, sources in the airlines said.
India's leading private air carrier Kingfisher Airlines has launched two new international flights connecting the UAE to New Delhi and Mumbai.
The Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation also expects India's airlines to post a combined loss of a whopping $1.4 billion, with Air India likely to be the 'worst performer' to report a loss of almost the entire amount of $1.3 billion.
That such a deal can be greeted with celebration in the camps of both buyer and seller speaks volumes about the airline and its recent history, explains T N Ninan.
Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and state-owned NACIL owe public sector oil companies over Rs 2,241 crore (Rs 22.41 billion) as payment for jet fuel, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said on Tuesday.
The 16-hour flight will be the first direct one from India to the US west coast.
The suggestion comes within days of reports that LIC and the Employee Provident Fund Organisation snapped up the entire Rs 7,400-crore (Rs 74-billion) bond issue of the debt-ridden Air India.
Various airlines, including the defunct Kingfisher, owed Rs 3,030 crore (Rs 30.30 billion) to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at the end of December last year.
The industry is hoping the Tatas deepen their dive and offer two stable airlines -- a Vistara merged into Air India servicing the international routes, and an AirAsia India merged with Air India Express that competes with the low fare airlines in India and offers destinations within five hours, says Anjuli Bhargava.
Kingfisher will be permitted to fly abroad this year, following its acquisition of Air Deccan. Since Air Deccan will be eligible for the international arena this August, Kingfisher too will enjoy this right.
Aviation consultancy CAPA on Thursday said allowing domestic airlines to take advance bookings from April 15 is "unfair" to consumers since a decision on lifting the nationwide lockdown is yet to be taken. During the lockdown period only special flights approved by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, medical evacuation flights and those carrying cargo, including medical equipment, to and from different parts of the country are operational.
It is imperative that the government first decides who should assume ownership of running Air India.
In the case of Air India, even competition could not compete with the government.
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