DGCA summons Vijay Mallya; Kingfisher licence hangs in balance

The crisis at Kingfisher Airlines could take a turn for the worse as the air safety regulator is actively considering the possibility of suspending the cash-strapped carriers licence in the wake of safety concerns arising from its worsening financial situation,government sources said

The crisis at Kingfisher Airlines could take a turn for the worse as the air safety regulator is actively considering the possibility of suspending the cash-strapped carriers licence in the wake of safety concerns arising from its worsening financial situation,government sources said.

The promoter of the airline Vijay Mallya has been asked to appear before the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday to explain the reasons behind the carriers non-compliance with the recovery plan submitted by it earlier to the regulator. This will be the first time Mallya will appear before DGCA since the crisis deepened at his airline since January this year. So far,the airline CEO Sanjay Aggarwal had been holding meetings with DGCA.

The officials said that the airline cannot be allowed to continue as it may pose a serious safety risk,given the multiple financial problems it is faced with. We have been getting feelers on the potential safety risk to the passengers. Anything can go wrong, said the source. The airline has already folded its international operations. The ministry has been receiving daily reports from the DGCA on the airlines performance and operations.

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The airline has curtailed its operations from 400 flights filed by it for the winter schedule to operating just a little over 100,reducing its fleet size from 68 to less than 20 now. The airline had assured that it would clear the pending salaries for four months to its employees by February 29. In its recovery plan,it said that it will put the grounded aircraft back in operation after their maintenance is completed, said the source. But none of it has happened till date, the official added. The airline had submitted a detailed recovery plan in response to the show-cause notice issued to it on January 30 by the regulator. We have to give the airline 15-day time to respond to the show-cause,which they did. Their reply has been satisfactory,but not the compliance, said another ministry official in the know.

Finding various safety lapses,DGCA in its safety audit last year,had pointed out that the airline was a fit case to be grounded. Kingfisher,with total loss and debt at Rs 12,000 crore,has failed to clear its dues to vendors including airport operators,ground handlers,oil suppliers,catering,lessors and the tax department.

Nizamuddin went to the US in December 2015 for a Master’s course in Computer Science, which he completed from Florida Institute of Technology in 2017. He completed his B.Tech in ECE from Jayaprakash Narayan College of Engineering, Mahbubnagar.

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