Kingfisher may face operational shutdown

Zeebiz Bureau

New Delhi: Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) may face pressure to shut down its operations temporarily owing to unremitting losses and pressure from lenders that have kept hammering the company for a long time now.

The debt-laden airline, which has reported a loss of Rs. 651 crore in April-June, compared with a loss of Rs. 264 crore in the year-ago period, has never made profit since it was founded in 2005.

Aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation said in a recent research report, "Without an investment of approximately $600 million in the next 30-60 days, and access to a further $400 million ( Rs. 2,200 crore) over the next 12-18 months to fully fund its business plans, Kingfisher faces the prospect of an operational shutdown, possibly temporarily, to allow it to restructure and re-organise".

Kingfisher, facing severe fund crunch, has not paid salaries to most of its employees, including pilots and engineers, since March this year, which has prompted pilots to stay away from work a couple of times.

The Vijay Mallya-led carrier, which is currently operating around 100 flights per day, has most of its operations from Mumbai and Delhi after the airline reduced the number of flights to almost one fourth in the wake of financial crunch.

With PTI Inputs