Regulator reviews situation, asks Kingfisher for revised schedule

The Director General of Civil Aviation Tuesday said it had asked crisis-hit carrier Kingfisher to come up with a revised flight schedule by Wednesday and that it would be monitoring the airline which continued to operate a largely-truncated fleet.

Director General of Civil Aviation E.K. Bharat Bhushan met Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive of the Vijay Mallya-promoted carrier to seek explanation from the airline. The airline is currently operating only about 28 of its 64 planes.

“We don’t want customers to be affected. Currently they have 28 aircraft. Have asked them to come up with a revised schedule not later by tomorrow (Wednesday),” Bhushan told reporters here after meeting Aggarwal.

The regulator, however, ruled out any punitive action against Kingfisher at this point in time.

Kingfisher has virtually shut down its flights from Kolkata and brought down frequencies on several of its sectors, rendering many passengers stranded or opting for other carriers in spite of the last minute tickets costing a lot more.

“Kolkata station of Kingfisher, they have not had any flights since a couple of days. This is a worrisome thing because Kolkata is an important gateway to the Northeast and there are very clear government directions saying that under no circumstances we should allow this to happen,” said Bhushan.

On being asked about the airline unable to pay, the regulator said: “I have been assured by the management that the December salaries will be paid by the end of February and by March 20 they will be able to clear the salary and arrears of January.”

Kingfisher, on its part, said it hoped to increase the number of flights in the next few days.

“Most of the flights cancelled in the last few days will be in action in next four to five days,” said Aggarwal.