New Delhi, Dec 11:
In what could spell more trouble for the cash-strapped Kingfisher
Airlines, the Mumbai airport has asked it to pay dues worth Rs 50 crore or
vacate the space it has at the airport.
Sources confirmed to the Business
Line that
a communication had been sent to the airline to clear its dues.
The letter, however, is not an eviction notice but a reminder to the
airline company to settle its dues.
Mumbai airport is one of the largest operating bases for Kingfisher
Airlines.
A consortium headed by the GVK Group is undertaking the modernisation of
Mumbai airport.
Meanwhile, the airline has clarified to BSE that while it was in
discussion with various investors, including Etihad Airways, for equity
investment, no agreement “has been reached either with Etihad or any other
airline and the matters are merely at a negotiation stages”.
The statement adds that the company had been attempting to raise the
much-needed capital over the last two years since the shareholders approved it.
The Kingfisher Airline stock ended almost five per cent higher on BSE at
Rs 15.67 amid reports that it had concluded a deal with Etihad for a 48 per
cent stake sale.
The airline, which has an outstanding of over Rs 8,000 crore, suspended
operations on October 1, after engineers refused to certify its aircraft as
being safe to operate.
On October 20, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation suspended its
operating licence.
Recently the airline promoter, Vijay Mallya, met the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation and indicated that an investor was likely to be announced
before December 31 when the licence comes up for renewal.
The Service Tax Department has impounded an ATR aircraft of the airline
for failing to meet tax dues of around Rs 63 crore.
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