Lenders set Nov 30 deadline for Kingfisher to fly again

SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri says management must get capital before November 30, airline says it is working on a comprehensive revival plan.

New Delhi : State Bank of India (SBI), the lead bank to ailing Kingfisher Airlines, today cautioned the carrier that it “will not fly” if it fails to bring in fresh capital by November 30.

“Banks’ consortium has done everything possible to make the company (Kingfisher) work. Only the company is not working… The management has to get capital. We have given time till November 30 that they should get capital otherwise the company will not fly…,” SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told PTI.

He further said the airline would not be able to get investors if it is not flying.     The bank chairman said the consortium, led by SBI, has made available a total Rs 7,000 crore to Kingfisher to help it keep flying.    The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), however, recently suspended the flying licence of Kingfisher following the airline’s failure to come up with a viable plan of financial and operational revival.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher said it is working on a comprehensive revival plan which will be given to aviation regulator DGCA in the next few weeks.

“We are working on a comprehensive plan which will address the interests of all stakeholders and this will be submitted to DGCA,” an airline spokesperson said when asked about their plans to get the suspension of its scheduled operator’s permit (SOP), valid till this year-end, revoked. Kingfisher is burdened with a loss of Rs 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs 7,524 crore, a large part of that has not been serviced since January.

“We will not comment on our banking relationships,” the airline spokesperson said. In November 2010, the banks had restructured Kingfisher loans worth Rs 6,500 crore.

The airline is under a lockout since October 1 and resultant suspension of entire operations.

The airline has suffered losses of Rs 1,609 crore in 2008-09, Rs 1,647 crore in 2009-10, Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 732 crore in 2011-12.

Kingfisher was issued an airline licence on August 26, 2003. It was actually issued to Air Deccan which was bought over by Kingfisher. It is valid till December 31 this year.

Kingfisher Airlines currently has only 10 operational aircraft compared to 66 a year ago.                  — PTI

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