Thursday 15 March 2012

Kingfisher To Curtail Overseas Operations

The debt-ridden airline Kingfisher Airlines on Wednesday said it would be curtailing its "wide-bodied" international operations that are bleeding heavily. In other words, the airline's flights to the United Kingdom and Hong Kong would be pruned, reports said.
The airline uses the wide body A-330 aircraft for flights to destinations in Europe like London and in Far East like Hong Kong, while the narrow body A-320 aircraft is used to operate flights to neighbouring countries in the South Asian region.
The airline also announced that it had returned an Airbus A-330-200 to a lessor in the UK. The company said positive and immediate action was being initiated on all fronts to cut costs.
Meanwhile, the airline's Chairman and Member of Parliament Vijay Mallya is to meet with pilots in Delhi on Thursday, the airline said.
"Despite the shortage of crew, it operated 101 flights on March 13 and will operate 101 flights on March 14.
Stating the external factors as reasons for its current state of affairs, it said, We request one and all to appreciate the serious handicaps we face not only because of our frozen accounts but because of the operating environment. We are working hard to resolve the issues that confront us given the current environment."
The airline has also been suspended from the IATA network, as it was not able to meet its financial commitments.
The airline, which clocked a net loss of Rs.444 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, had a debt of Rs.7,057.08 crore.

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