The airline, owned by liquor
tycoon Vijay Mallya and suspended in October over unpaid debts and salaries,
submitted a plan on Monday to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
to resume a limited service.
According to local media
reports, Kingfisher's parent company, UB Group, offered to inject 6.5 billion
rupees into the carrier - a key condition for getting it airborne again.
But Singh told reporters on
Wednesday that UB "did not say they are going to give anything" to
Kingfisher, which has estimated debts of $2.5 billion.
He did not specify if the
proposal, to resume operations with five planes, had been rejected. But he
noted that the airline owed money to banks, staff, airports, and tax
authorities.
All those stakeholders needed
to be convinced the relaunch plan was viable before the DGCA allowed the
airline to fly again, Singh said.
Kingfisher, which has been
trying unsuccessfully to raise fresh cash for more than a year, is hoping to
tap Etihad Airways as an investor.
The Gulf carrier, which is
seeking to widen operations in India and other Asian markets, is in the final
stages of talks to buy part of either Kingfisher or Indian rival Jet Airways
(JET.NS), an Indian government official said last week.
Last month, Diageo Plc (DGE.L)
bought a majority stake in United Spirits (UNSP.NS), also a UB Group company,
for $2.1 billion. UB did not specify if part of that money would be injected
into Kingfisher.
Kingfisher shares erased
intraday gains of as much as 3.8 percent on Wednesday to end flat on the day.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/12/26/india-kingfisher-airlines-funding-idINDEE8BP04520121226
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