Kingfisher crisis: 'Is it our duty to fly on loss-making routes,' tweets Vijay Mallya

New Delhi:  Hours after the government made it clear that a debt recast like was done for Air India was not possible for Kingfisher, the airline's owner and liquor baron Vijay Mallya tweeted, "Is it Kingfisher's duty to fly on loss-making routes when state governments tax heavily? Or should we be financially prudent and fly profitably?"

In another post that came in minutes after the first one, Mr Mallya seemed unhappy over the taxes. "Every government has gone out of the way to support airlines and connectivity. In India, airlines are over-taxed and over-charged. Wonder why?" he said in the tweet.

Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has been in the news for numerous flight cancellations in the past few days. Over the last four days, it has grounded more than 120 flights. On Friday, at least 40 flights were cancelled and scores of pilots and other ground-staff called-in sick.

Kingfisher says flights had to be cancelled because of route rationalisation and due to the airline's efforts at improving productivity. In a statement, the airlines said, "As per the revised schedule, it will offer 300 daily flights connecting 54 cities as compared to its previous schedule of 340 flights."

"Kingfisher has been in business for six years and it will continue to be around. There is no doubt in our mind as a management team or Dr Mallya as a promoter of the airline about the credibility or the future of the airline," Kingfisher's CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said.

Sources say the airline has sought Finance Ministry's help on its loans. But the airline maintains it hasn't asked for a government bailout; it says it has asked banks to increase limits in order to meet escalating operations costs.

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said on Friday that "There is no package and government of India has no plans for a package. He (Vijay Mallya) did not ask for a package. But this is one of the major airlines and the government did not want to see it close down. I hope the banks will come forward. We will talk to them." He said he might speak to banks for the airlines and added that he had spoken to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy after Mr Mallya spoke to him seeking help.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a notice under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, asking Kingfisher why it had not taken the regulator's prior approval to curtail its flight schedules as required by this rule. It has also sought to know whether the airline had taken any step to facilitate the passengers inconvenienced by the cancellations.

Mr Mallya is said to have spoken to the DGCA on Thursday. He reportedly assured the DGCA that the airline is working out a contingency plan to minimise passenger inconvenience in the coming months. The airline says passengers are being informed via mails about recent developments and changes. It, however, stresses that "reports about flights being cancelled owing to the supposed exodus of pilots appears to be falsified."

Meanwhile, all the oil marketing companies - Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited - have denied extending credit line to the airline and asked it to pay for lifting jet fuel on a daily basis.

Sources have said that the Delhi International Airport (DIAL)
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Was a giant planet kicked out?

Computer simulations suggest that a giant planet was kicked out of our solar system billions of years ago, saving Earth in the process. But how solid are those simulations?

The concept appears in a paper written by David Nesvorny, a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute, and published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. His findings aren't based on the discovery of an actual Planet X, but instead are the result of thousands of simulations re-enacting the dynamical development of our planetary system.

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"Colleagues suggested a clever way around this problem," Nesvorny said in a news release issued this week by the Southwest Research Institute. "They proposed that Jupiter's orbit quickly changed when Jupiter scattered off of Uranus or Neptune during the dynamical instability in the outer solar system."

This maneuver, known as the jumping-Jupiter hypothesis, would be less disruptive for the inner solar system. Nesvorny decided to test the idea by running billions of years' worth of simulations. He found Read more

Small savings schemes to give higher returns now

NEW DELHI: Investors have something to cheer about. After months of delay, the government on Friday accepted the recommendations of a panel which would help investors earn higher interest on small savings schemes such as public provident fund and post office deposits.

An expert panel, headed by former RBI deputy governor Shyamala Gopinath, had recommended moving to a market-linked interest rate system for small savings schemes that would translate into higher returns for now.

The return on the Public Provident Fund ( PPF) scheme in the current fiscal is expected to be 8.6%, up from 8%, while the return on the five-year national savings certificate plan would be 8.4% from 8%.

The government also accepted the panel's recommendation to raise the annual investment ceiling under the popular Public Provident Fund scheme to Rs 100, 000 from the present Rs 70,000. Another popular scheme, the Kisan Vikas Patra, would be discontinued.  Read more

Kingfisher seeks Govt help, more flights curtailed

New Delhi: Ailing Kingfisher Airlines CEO Sanjay Agarwal put up a brave front on Friday and while speaking exclusively to Network 18 defended the flight cancellations as part of strategy. Agarwal said, "Cancellation of flights was a well thought, pre-determined plan. Cancelled flights on non-profitable routes and for reconfiguration of seats."

Agarwal said that they had first planned to cancel flights for a shorter duration so thought need not be required to notify the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

"We apologise to DGCA for not keeping them in loop, " added the CEO.

Nine more flights were cancelled in Mumbai and 40 flights withdrawn from all over the country on Saturday.

DGCA on Friday said Kingfisher Airlines have assured it that at any given point of time not more than three of their aircraft would be out of use and maintained the government is keeping an eye on whether airlines were using their slots.

Pointing out that Kingfisher Airlines has sent a reply explaining why its aircraft were not flying, DGCA head Bharat Bhushan said the airline has given

reconfiguration of the planes as the reason.

Sources told CNN-IBN that the ground staff have not been paid for three months.

With his cash-strapped airline hitting a air pocket, Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya tweeted on the crisis. He said, "Is it Kingfishers duty 2 fly on loss-making routes when State Governments tax heavily? Or should we be financially prudent and fly profitably? Every Government has gone out of the way to support Airlines and connectivity. In India airlines are over taxed and over charged. Wonder why?"

The stocks of the airline plunged to an all-time low to 19.1 per cent in early trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange to a record low before recovering to 9.45 per cent.

Kingfisher needs over Rs 1000 crore in working capital loans to tide over its current crisis.

Oil companies to whom Kingfisher owes over Rs 200 crore have already threatened to stop supplies, and airports too could follow.

Reaching out to the Aviation Ministry was the last resort. With employees also agitated over delayed salaries, troubles are far from over for the airline that once flew the good times.

And it is not just Kingfisher Airlines in trouble. Even Jet Airways has flown into bad weather, posting a net loss of Rs 714 crore for the quarter Read more

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