RootsIn -Kingfisher to come up with revised shedule today:

News Details

Kingfisher to come up with revised shedule today:

Location - New Delhi, Delhi ..Posted on 22 Feb 2012

New Delhi: The 24-hour deadline set by aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), for Kingfisher Airlines to come up with a realistic flight schedule ends today.

DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan told reporters after the regulator quizzed Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and top officials on how they plan to get the crisis-ridden airlines back on track."The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours".

The cash-strapped carrier, facing the wrath of Income Tax authorities which have frozen its bank accounts, was operating only 28 of its 64 planes, leading to large-scale disruption of its schedule for the fifth consecutive day.

The airline was also given time till Wednesday to come up with a "realistic" flight schedule for its operating aircraft. "The airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours," Mr Bhushan said.

"To be on the safer side, we have decided to go for safety surveillance of all of their operating aircraft," said Bhushan.

Asked whether DGCA was contemplating cracking the whip on Kingfisher, he said, “let us not talk of punitive action at the moment. We are more interested to see the airline back on its feet. Our priority is not to punish ... because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face."

A day after he ruled out any Government bailout for Kingfisher, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said Government will have to hear them out.

"We have to hear them out. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normalcy. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer," he said.

Under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, airlines need prior approval of DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. Any violation can amount to cancellation of the flight permit of an airline, as an extreme measure.

Out of Kingfisher's 64 aircraft, 28 are operational. Yesterday, at least 34 Kingfisher flights - six from Delhi, five from Mumbai, 18 from Bangalore and five from Hyderabad - were cancelled. On Monday, the airline cancelled 30 flights; half of its flights from major metros were cancelled or delayed on Sunday. Internationally, flight operations to Bangkok, Dhaka and Kathmandu have been shut. Colombo, sources say, will be shut down shortly. Of all Kingfisher Airlines international services, only the London flight is presently operating.

After the two-hour meeting with Aggarwal and the airlines executive vice president Hitesh Patel, Bhushan said the DGCA, which had summoned them to explain the large-scale disruption in operations and the reasons for it, also wanted know why payment of salaries has been delayed.