A Kingfisher spokesperson said on Monday that the airline had “not approached the government for any bailout.”
As for negotiations with its prime lenders over the weekend in Mumbai, the spokesperson said, “We had a constructive meeting with our bank consortium last week.''
Aviation industry sources said that the consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India would soon decide on providing working capital to the cash-strapped airline.
The airline had urged the consortium for a working capital support of Rs.200 crore to Rs. 300 crore to tide over the crisis.
The carrier, which is to file a report to the DGCA on the flight cancellations since Friday, said it had been in touch with the aviation regulator and keeping it informed of the disruption. “We will appear before the DGCA on Tuesday and submit all details they want and also a plan to restore the full schedule,'' the spokesperson said.
“We have received reports about large-scale cancellations,” DGCA chief E.K. Bharat Bhushan said. “They are bound to inform us when they cut their schedule. But they have not done that.'' The DGCA was “gathering information from all the centres. Once we get this, we will decide what to do.” Aviation rules require operators to obtain approval of the DGCA before curtailing their flight schedules.
Mr. Bhushan said the DGCA had sent messages to all other airlines to accommodate passengers stranded due to the Kingfisher cancellations. “They have to do this without enhancing the fares,” he said.
The airline spokesperson said: “We have done and are doing our best to inform guests in advance of the cancellations and clubbing and to re-book them on other carriers. If the guests so desire, we are offering them a full refund.''
The airline was in touch with travel agencies “to keep them abreast of the disruptions so that they too can, in turn, ensure that guests contacting them /booking via them are kept updated of any changes.''
He claimed that there were absolutely “no safety issues” with the aircraft being operated and the airline had “adequate numbers of flight crew and cabin crew.”
