"Earlier, we were being paid a salary of Rs 4.30 lakh per month. Now it has been cut to Rs 3.50 lakh, all in the name of integration (with the erstwhile Deccan)," said a Kingfisher pilot said on condition of anonymity. Kingfisher's management, while slashing the salaries, has taken the defence that it was only implementing the Deccan-Kingfisher package structure in Kingfisher post-the merger,' the pilot said.
After being hit by a fuel price hike and capacity cut, it may be happy times again for the airline industry this festive season. While Kingfisher is looking at adding at least 15 new flights in the winter season, competitors Jet Airways, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Paramount are adding over 30 new flights together (arrivals and departures); they will do this through a combination of better utilisation of existing aircraft and inducting new fleet.
This cashless transaction is a part of corporate debt restructuring agreed by banks and the airline company.
Pratip Chaudhuri, SBI chairman, feels that the airlines should bring the amount to the table.
Airport operator GVK on Thursday said that as of now they had not put Kingfisher Airlines on cash-and-carry mode as the airline has paid some of its dues.
Kingfisher owes Rs 257.62 crore (Rs 2.57 billion) to the AAI, while Jet Airways Rs 38.49 crore (Rs 384.9 million) and its low cost arm JetLite Rs 13.96 crore (Rs 139.6 million), as on January 31, Civil Aviation Minister and Minister for Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Kingfisher's flying licence or the Scheduled Operator's Permit was suspended in October and later lapsed in December after the airline was grounded following a strike by its employees, including pilots, over non-payment of dues.
Banks stuck with miles purchased from Kingfisher Airlines, halt fresh buys
Srei Infra Finance group chief financial officer Sanjeev K Sancheti described the asset as a good buy as it is a fully secured debt.
Full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines has sought permission from the petroleum ministry to extend the date for paying dues to public sector oil companies for aviation turbine fuel.
A small aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines with 29 people on board a flight to Hyderabad was involved in an accident on the runway at the airport in Bengaluru on Thursday night shortly before take-off, leaving two passengers injured. All passengers of the IT 2427 flight were evacuated from the turbo-prop ATR plane, used for short-haul journey, whose nosewheel was damaged after it hit a dog that strayed into the area and the aircraft slid on the runway on its belly.
While guarantees given by Mallya fell from Rs 6,156 crore (Rs 61.56 billion) in the previous year 2010-11, the guarantees provided by Kingfisher's holding and associate companies rose from Rs 8,863 crore (Rs 88.63 billion) to Rs 8,926 crore (Rs 89.26 billion) in this period.
As industrialist Vijay Mallya fights his wilful defaulter tag, former CAG Vinod Rai has said Kingfisher Airlines' loan default is just a "trickle" and the overall problem of huge bad loans at public sector banks can be blamed on 'cronies' using connections to borrow money.
Kingfisher Airlines' plans to raise $400 million are on track and private equity players have showed keen interest in investing in the airline, its chairman Vijay Mallya said on Friday after the annual general meeting in Bangalore.
The move will help mop up not more than Rs 10 billion, which is only a fifth of the capital requirement of the industry, led by Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, say experts. The expected investment has been calculated on the basis of a 100 per cent premium on the current valuations of Jet Airways and Kingfisher -- two of the country's largest carriers by market share -- which require over Rs 50 billion.
Crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines would come up with a recovery road map in three days, chairman Vijay Mallya promised on Thursday.
Bankers and the senior management are expected to convene another meeting later this month.
Banks have been struggling hard to recover dues from grounded Kingfisher Air.
Even if you assume a higher return fare of Rs 40,000, the yield will still be lower than the costs.
Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines on Monday virtually blamed the Income Tax authorities for the large-scale flight disruptions, saying freezing of its bank accounts by them had "severely affected" payment schedules that had led to the curtailment in its services.
The services of Kingfisher can be restored only after the DGCA is convinced that the carrier can provide safe and sustainable operations.
Reacting to the buzz, shares of the grounded-carrier tanked 4.86 per cent to Rs 2.74 -- its lower circuit limit on the BSE.
With carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines all set to battle it out on international routes, leading expatriates with years of experience in global airlines are now being wooed for top management posts.
Kingfisher Airlines says its net loss has fallen by 39.54 per cent for the quarter ended December 31, 2010.
Air Deccan, which was renamed Simplifly Deccan after the merger with Kingfisher last year, is now called Kingfisher Red. According to the data released by the civil aviation ministry on Thursday, IndiGo's market share is 10.3 per cent, while that of Air Deccan trailed behind at 10.2 per cent.
Calcutta HC dismisses United Bank of India's decision on technical grounds
It is clear that foreign airlines have realised the growth possibilities of the Indian aviation sector and are keenly interested, the minister said.
Full service carrier Kingfisher Airlines has decided to cut its basic fares up to 60 per cent.This announcement, which will mean around a 20 per cent cut in overall fares, follows competitor Jet Airways.
"Absolutely not," RBI told reporters when asked to comment on reports suggesting that SBI has agreed to pump more money into the airline. RBI does not oppose "professional decision" of the bank.
Kingfisher on Monday offered its striking employees staggered payment of three months' salary dues before Diwali in mid-November in a bid to get them back to work but a section of employees rejected the offer prolonging the 23-day impasse.
Kingfisher and Deccan had appointed Accenture to study the structure of the merger of the two airlines including operational synergies, network rationalisation and management structure.
The new airline has begun recruiting pilots and is close to confirming its top executives, including a Singapore Airlines executive as its chief executive officer.
Seeking permission for direct import of jet fuel, Kingfisher Airlines has informed the government that steps are being taken to improve cash flow of the debt-ridden carrier by procuring ATF through suppliers' credit on lower interest rates.
The controversy over a DGCA note on beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines refused to die down with new DGCA chief Prashant Sukul saying there was no such document and his predecessor E K Bharat Bhushan seeking a probe into whether it was removed from the official file.
After excluding the shares they have pledged, the promoters hold a meagre 3.55 per cent in the crisis-ridden airline.
On Wednesday, the collector had issued an order in favour of the 17-banks consortium led by SBI to take physical possession of the villa
Key executives in Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan, which announced merger plans on Wednesday, said the merged company has plans to almost double its fleet from 80 to 158 aircraft over the next five to seven years and raise $250 million through equity infusion to finance its immediate expansion needs.
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