Kingfisher Airlines scrip hits all-time low

Shares of Kingfisher Airlines today slumped by over 19% to an all-time low on the bourses, before recovering some ground, as the cash-strapped company continued to face turbulence after it cancelled 30 more flights yesterday.

Kingfisher shares crashed 19.12%, to Rs 17.55 on the BSE. Similarly, on the NSE, the stock plummeted by 18.43% to Rs 17.70.

The airline, which is facing financial difficulties, cancelled over 30 flights for the fourth consecutive day yesterday.

The airline has suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a mounting debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore.

Kingfisher's flight schedules have also been severely hit with 3 oil companies -- HPCL, IOC and BPCL -- stopping the grant of credit to it for lifting the jet fuel and asking it to make payments on a daily basis.

Over the past four days, the Vijay Mallya-owned airline has cancelled more than 120 flights maintaining they were taking some aircraft off the schedule to add business class seats in them.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had issued a show-cause notice to Kingfisher asking why it had not taken the regulator's prior approval to curtail its flight schedules as required by the Aircraft Rules, 1937.

Later, the stock pared some of the losses and was trading at Rs 19.25, down 11.29% at 1251 hrs on the BSE.