The airline is long gone, but it has left behind about 1.25 billion US dollars (INR 7,500 Crores) of debt on the books of various banks in India. While there were a lot of push and shove amongst various parties on the leased planes which Kingfisher Airlines used, now the focus has moved to getting whatever value left out of the remaining assets of the airline. One of the assets they’d offered, and the banks accepted as collateral without much due diligence was the brand “Fly Kingfisher”. Apparently, some audit firm valued the brand at INR 3,000 Crores (500 million US Dollars) and that was good enough reason to lend them that amount. Anyhow, as per today’s newspapers: SBICAP Trustee…
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Kingfisher is no more, officially!
There was a lot of discussion going on about reviving Kingfisher Airlines in the past months, after the airline stopped operations in October 2012. Over the past few weeks and months, it made noises that it was serious about getting back in the aviation game, and was going to pay its employees as well before it could get started again. Employees were given some bit of their salaries, 3 months of the 7 months outstanding before they returned to work. Eventually, the Indian regulator got into the act and ‘suspended’ Kingfisher’s airline operation license. They also refused to approve the winter schedule of the airline. Vijay Mallya has been trying to offload his stake in the airline to another investor,…
Kingfisher employees get their salaries and get back on the job!
I initially thought that Kingfisher was not going to get out of the latest mess they got themselves in, but looks like finally the airline owner Vijay Mallya is more than eager to get it back on track. He was initially missing in action, and got branded an absconder by the media because he just wouldn’t come back to India on the next day of the crisis brewing into a lockout and grounding of the airline. However, when they seriously promised the 7-months unpaid employees 3 months salary within a month, like most of India, I believed this to be a hogwash so that Mr. Mallya did not have to face an embarrassment at the Indian Grand Prix, the Indian…
Do you still have a Kingfisher reservation?
Kingfisher might be gone, but there are people who have Kingfisher Airlines reservations out there. I had one for a couple of weeks back, and it took me a while to get it refunded because Kingfisher won’t pick the phone and the online travel agent I booked the ticket with was not going to make a ‘full refund’ till the airline did not update the ticket with instructions. Kingfisher, being in the dire straits it is, will not offer to put you on another airline if you booked their rock bottom fares and now don’t have a flight. So, you are best up booking on your own on another carrier. How to get your refund? Kingfisher was being proactive this…
So Long, Kingfisher!
I’ve got reader mail in the past few days about what was going to eventually happen to Kingfisher Airlines. I have to admit I’ve been very busy offline to respond, but like I wrote in my last post about this airline, their license was at stake a few days back. And now, it is finally over. Yesterday, the Indian aviation regulator DGCA, which had given Kingfisher Airlines 15 days to respond, finally went ahead and suspended the airlines’ aviation license. On October 5, Kingfisher Airlines received a notice from the regulator, with a 15-day timeline to respond. On October 19, Kingfisher responded back, asking for more time to respond to the notice. They had tried to convince the employees a…
Finally, Kingfisher’s license maybe at stake
Since the past ten months, Kingfisher Airlines has been in crisis mode and it has only grown worse over the months. Since the last weekend, there has been industrial action at the airline for the nth time, and the management grounded the shrunk fleet, first till October 4th and then till October 12th. All these days, it seemed the influential promoter was getting a free hand because of the political connections he had, and because the airline is too big to fail for all the banks who have doled out the debt to the airline in good times. At numerous times, the aviation ministry clarified, including earlier this week, that the airlines’ license is not at stake. However, there are…
Kingfisher Update [Updated!]: Expecting to fly in 5 days?
While Kingfisher Airlines does not have any cash left to pay employees as per media sources, it has extended its lockout till 7th October for the time being, which means it is not selling tickets till 7th October, and no flights will be operating till then as well. Like I mentioned yesterday, it however looks like this time it will take a lot longer to revive operations since the airline is now under regulatory pressure to review the situation, come back with a FIRM plan of action and pay salaries before it goes up in the air. However, as per Reuters, the airline is now making statements that about 100 employees have come back unconditionally to work, and they hope…
Kingfisher fiasco expected to be a long drawn one?
I usually prefer not speculating about things going bad at an airline, trying to give the longest rope to the airline in the absence of facts. However, it looks like this time the facts are not on Kingfisher Airlines’ side. Like I mentioned yesterday, Kingfisher Airlines is now in industrial action, undergoing a situation where all the flights are grounded, however the airline prefers to call it a partial lockout. The airline’s CEO reportedly met about a 100-odd staff today in Mumbai, trying to buy time (one more time!) from the staff. While the staff have refused to work without all their dues being cleared for the past 7 months, the regulator DGCA has also asked them to pay all…
Kingfisher: its not over yet?
My previous coverage of the Kingfisher Airlines and disruptions Kingfisher Airlines could just have been that lucky child which has been pulling off a lucky streak for the longest time. I am sure you’ve already read quite a bit on its current disruption, where unpaid employees have caused industrial action, which has been quoted as a reason by the management to ground all flights till October 4. While they may have had their reasons to not pay salaries for 6 months, I still don’t appreciate the management calling their employees’ actions Illegal, while not commenting on their own where they have not paid salaries for half a year (See press release here) The airline management, which was holidaying away, was…
Investments in Indian airlines are a go, Kingfisher might be saved!
Coming, not coming, coming, not! Finally, airlines in India are going to get the lifeline they were hoping for a long time. The Government of India finally took the measure to allow Indian scheduled carriers (Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, GoAir, Indigo, SpiceJet) to seek foreign equity infusion upto 49% of their equity capital from foreign airlines. Here is what the presser from the Government of India says: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for permitting foreign airlines to make foreign investment, up to 49 percent in scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services. Removing the existing restriction on investment by foreign airlines would assist in bringing in…
Flying Kingfisher Airlines one more time
I’ve come across more than my fair share of people who have patronised Kingfisher Airlines in the past, and still fly Kingfisher Airlines wherever they can. However, with Kingfisher Airlines no longer on the permitted list of carriers by my workplace, I’ve not been flying them for business over a period of time. When a Kingfisher patron Arun made a trip to Mumbai all the way to be on the last Kingfisher flight from Dubai, I warmed up to the airline again. However, they were not flying to places I wanted to go to and hence I had to wait a while to get them on a Mumbai – Delhi flight which is one of the trunk routes they are…
