Kingfisher assures to restore normal schedule in 5-7 days

I / Mumbai February 21, 2012, 12:24 IST

The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) today in the two-hour long meeting with the top officials of the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines has asked to submit a revised flight schedule for the convenience of the passengers as they assure to resume to normal flight schedule within 5-7 days.

The Mallya-owned air carrier said that the the flight cancellation was not due to shortage of pilots and that currently, it is operating 28 out of 64 aircraft. It has also assured that the payments of the arrears will be cleared before March 20.

It has also asked the Income Tax (I-T) department to defreeze their bank accounts on a priority basis.

Meanwhile, the DGCA has made it clear that the passengers must be informed about the cancellations and also has ordered special safety surviellance on Kingfisher flights. It said that, "We have to take a balanced approach to tackle Kingfisher crisis and ensure that the airline comes back into action."

The debt-laden Kingfisher Airline's top brass today briefed aviation regulator DGCA about their plans to end the large-scale disruptions of flights and their financial troubles even as over 30 flights of the carrier were cancelled today. The officials said that it had answered all the questions asked by the DGCA.

Before going into the meeting with the chief of DGCA EK Bharat Bhushan, Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said, "We will answer whatever the regulator asks."

Concerned over the sudden cancellations and passenger inconvenience, DGCA had summoned the airline's CEO and top officials to appear before them to explain the large-scale disruptions in the operations and the reasons.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters, "We have to hear out Kingfisher. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normal schedule. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer".

He also said that in any industry closure of one unit creates trouble for the entire industry and added that steps have to be taken to see that Kingfisher restores its flight schedule and passengers are not inconvenienced.

The carrier cancelled more flights today.While 13 flights were cancelled from Mumbai, 8 were cancelled from Kolkata and four from Delhi leaving many passengers stranded. The major air route of Mumbai-Delhi was the worst-hit with maximum cancellations and clubbing of flights.

The Airlines faced fresh problems yesterday with 34 pilots quitting and a large number of staff being put on notice.

The resignation of the pilots have taken the total number of those who have quit to about 80 since last October, industry sources said.

Kingfisher has been suffering from a severe cash crunch that has culminated into the Income Tax authorities freezing its bank accounts last week on grounds of non-payment of tax dues.

The carrier had yesterday cancelled 30 flights including those to Bangkok, Singapore, Kathmandu and Dhaka, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at various airports across the country.