Kingfisher submits interim revival plan

Kingfisher Airlines is understood to have submitted an interim revival plan to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), seeking approval to take to the skies once again after being grounded for almost three months.

“Kingfisher Airlines has indeed submitted an interim revival plan, which we had sought as a precondition for revoking its suspended flying licence. Clearance of dues from all the stakeholders including those to whom the airline owns money is one of the pre-conditions for revocation of license. There is no date yet for the airline restarting operations. It will take the DGCA a few days to examine the airline’s interim plan. After the DGCA go-ahead, it will take 6 to 8 weeks for the airline to begin operations,” sources in the Ministry said.

The revival plan was submitted by its CEO, Sanjay Aggarwal, on Monday. The airline plans to start operations with 5 Airbus and 2 ATR aircraft and scale it up to 11 ATR and 10 Airbus fleet within 10 weeks. It is learnt that Kingfisher would require about Rs. 652 crore over the next 12 months for running its operations. These funds will come from the UB Group’s resources as banks are unwilling to fund the airline. A few weeks ago Kingfisher had submitted an application for renewal of its flying permit, which is due to expire on December 31. At the time of suspending Kingfisher’s permit, the DGCA had indicated that a decision to renew or revoke the suspension of its Standard Operating Permit (SOP) could not be taken till it submitted a comprehensive financial and operational revival plan.

DGCA had on October 20 temporarily suspended the SOP of the carrier following a strike by its pilots and engineers over non-payment of salaries for several months, which completely grounded the fleet. Promoter Vijay Mallya had reportedly told the 17-lender consortium weeks ago that he was preparing to restart limited operations with a planned fund infusion of Rs. 425 crore through internal resources. Kingfisher is saddledwith a loss of Rs. 8,000 crore and a debt burden of another over Rs. 7,524 crore.

The airline plans to start operations with five Airbus and two ATR aircraft

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-business/kingfisher-submits-interim-revival-plan/article4236816.ece