Free our bank accounts so we can fly: Kingfisher to taxman

It said employees’ “salaries can be paid and the grounded aircraft can be recovered quicker once the bank accounts are unfrozen and the schedule restored on priority.”

The spokesperson said the company was in talks with I-T authorities “to agree (on) a payment plan and get the bank accounts unfrozen at the earliest. We are appealing to them to see reason that inconvenience to the travelling public is not in anybody’s interests.”

Kingfisher’s CEO Sanjay Agarwal and top officials have been summoned by the DGCA to appear before them tomorrow to explain the disruptions in the operations of the cash-strapped carrier.

Over 30 flights were cancelled today,including those to Bangkok,Singapore,Kathmandu and Dhaka,leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at various airports across the country. About one-third of its flights were cancelled in six metros yesterday and similar disruption and delays were witnessed in Tier-II and III cities.

Ruling out any bailout to the airline,Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said the government had recently seized their bank accounts too. ”So our first concern is ongoing flights and passenger safety. Let us wait for their reply. The DGCA is inquiring into it.”

Kingfisher,which suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore,claimed only about 15 per cent of its flights,operating for the past three months,have been cancelled. The airline posted a Rs 444 crore loss in third quarter this fiscal. Today’s cancellations included 14 from Mumbai,seven from Kolkata and six from Delhi.

“We have done and are doing our best to inform guests in advance of cancellations and clubbing and to re-book them on other carriers,” besides offering them full refund,the spokesperson said.

He said the airline was in touch with travel agencies “to keep them abreast of the disruptions so that they too can,in turn,ensure that guests contacting them /booking via them are kept updated of any changes.”

Regarding negotiations with its prime lenders over the weekend in Mumbai,he merely said,”We have had a constructive meeting with our bank consortium last week” and,added the airline has “not approached the government for any bailout”.

The ailing carrier,which was to file a report to the DGCA on the flight cancellations along with the reasons,said it has been in touch with the aviation regulator and has kept it informed of the disruptions.

“We will appear before the DGCA tomorrow and submit all details they want and also a plan to restore the full schedule,” the spokesperson said.

He claimed there were “absolutely no safety issues with the aircraft that are operating” and the airline had “adequate number of flight and cabin crew to operate the schedule of flights.”

The spokesperson said “certain positive decisions” taken at a recent meeting of a Group of Ministers “would benefit the (airline) industry and also Kingfisher Airlines”.

The GoM had a few weeks ago decided to allow direct jet fuel imports by Indian airlines and permit foreign carriers to pick up stake in them. Kingfisher promoter Vijay Mallya had been lobbying hard with the government on both these issues. Meanwhile,a day ahead of the meeting with Kingfisher,the DGCA was in the process of gathering information from all centres on the cancellation and major delays of Kingfisher flights. The regulator will then decide on the action to be taken.

Under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules,1937,operators require to have prior approval of DGCA to curtail flight schedules. The violation of the rules can also amount to cancellation of the flight permit of an airline,as an extreme measure.

DGCA has also directed all other airlines to accommodate Kingfisher passengers stranded due to these cancellations without enhancing the fares.