Even as the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines informed the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday that it would fund its revival plan with internal resources, the DGCA asked the grounded airlines to come up with a revival plan only after taking on board all the stakeholders to ensure safety of operations and revoking of its suspended flying licence.
DGCA Arun Misra told the CEO of Kingfisher Airlines, Sanjary Aggarwal, during the meeting here that any move to revoke the suspended licence of the airline would come only after a revival plan was submitted and then scrutinised to ensure that the airline would be able to carry out its operations in a sustainable manner.
Mr. Aggarwal, sources in the Aviation Ministry said, told the DGCA that, at present, the source of funding for the airline would be through their own resources. The development comes close on the heels of Kingfisher promising to pay four months pending salary to its employees by December resulting in immediate withdrawal of the strike and the management lifting 25-day lock-out. However, Kingfisher could not provide any further details to DGCA on its operational plans as the company promoter, Vijay Mallya, was not in the country and any progress in that direction would take place only after his arrival and discussions with the stakeholders, including the lending banks and financial institutions.
The DGCA told the Kingfisher management that its stakeholders such as Airports Authority of India, other airport operators, oil companies and maintenance, repair and overhaul operators had to support the revival plan. The DGCA is also likely to hold consultations with the stakeholders before taking any steps towards revoking the suspended flying licence on the airline.
The airline was also asked to submit a winter schedule along with the revival plan with information on the number of aircraft it proposed to operate. The carrier, which last year had a fleet of 66 aircraft, now has 10 — seven Airbus A-320s and three ATR turbo-props. The airline is saddled with a loss of Rs.8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs.7,524 crore, a large part of which has not been serviced for several months.