Kingfisher CEO to meet DGCA to submit revival plan soon: Vijay Mallya

"The DGCA is away. As soon as he comes back, Sanjay Aggarwal (CEO of Kingfisher Airlines) will meet DGCA on Kingfisher's restart plan," Mr Mallya, chairman of the UB group, which controls Kingfisher Airlines, said.

 

Mr Mallya didn't specify when the meeting with the regulator -- who is back on Monday -- will take place. 

 

The airline lost its flying licence on December 31 last year after it failed to come up with a revival plan following a strike by engineers and pilots that saw the carrier's entire fleet grounded since October. The airline has so far been unable to submit a credible plan to the regulator.

 

The airline owes dues to the Airport Authority of India and oil retailers, among others, and needs no-objection certificates (NOCs) from them before it can resume operations.

 

According to Mr Mallya, all NOCs have now been submitted. "DGCA has to decide now. All NOCs have been submitted," he said today.

 

Meanwhile, facing acute financial crisis due to non-payment of salaries for the past 10 months, employees of Kingfisher Airlines are meeting today to protest against the "total neglect and ignorance" by the company as well as the government and to decide on a course of action in the future.

 

The employees are also seeking prosecution of Mr Mallya by the government. "If Gopal Kanda, promoter of MDLR airlines, can be prosecuted for suicide of an employee why can't the government prosecute Vijay Mallya for suicide of the family member of his employees," said Santosh Gautam, President of Kingfisher Airlines Maintenance Association.

 

Employees have also threatened to disrupt matches of the Royal Challenger Bangalore (RCB) -- the team owned by Mr Mallya -- in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL).

 

Kingfisher Airlines owes a loan of over Rs. 7,000 crore to the consortium of 17 banks, led by the State Bank of India. The lenders have said they would soon start the process to recover their dues.

 

Kingfisher has over Rs. 15,000 crore in the form of debt, accumulated losses and various dues.

 

It reported a net loss of Rs. 755.17 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, a period in which it did not operate a single flight. The airline also did not report any revenue for the quarter as against Rs. 1,367.71 crore in the year-ago period.

 

With inputs from Agencies