Regional Round-Up
Kingfisher's bid to fly again set to struggle
May 1st 2013
Debt-ridden and grounded Indian carrier, Kingfisher Airlines, last month submitted its second recovery plan to the country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in an attempt to get back into the air. Read More »
But early signs of success are not good. Speaking at a bilateral partners’ meeting between the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its Asia-Pacific counterparts, DGCA head, Arun Mishra, said the latest revival plan amounted to “nothing much”.
The plan had been submitted earlier in the month by Kingfisher chief executive, Sanjay Agarwal.
Agarwal said that under the plan, Kingfisher parent, the UB Group, would initially invest $119 million.
The carrier also provided letters from its creditors which stated they had no objections to Kingfisher’s plan to re-start operations, although Agarwal didn’t identify the creditors who had supplied no-objection letters.
He said the carrier planned to start flights with five A320 jets and two ATR turboprops. Later the fleet would be increased to 20 aircraft.
Kingfisher was grounded in October last year with debts of more than $2.5 billion. Many of its planes have been repossessed by lessors.
