New Delhi, October 20
It seems the end of the flight for Kingfisher Airlines, at least for now. The airline’s licence to fly has been suspended till it submits “a concrete and reliable revival plan ensuring safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable services to the satisfaction of the DGCA” — a situation that at present looks doubtful, considering its current state of affairs.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said the airline could make a comeback, but not until the DGCA is satisfied with concrete plans regarding the safety of its operations. “The management would have to make sure that its employees were not disgruntled,” he said.

The airline’s response to the regulator’s show-cause notice has been “unsatisfactory”. “They were asked to submit their operational preparedness plan for the resumption of flight operations. Instead, they sought more time to file a reply without indicating any time frame for submitting detailed response,” DGCA Arun Mishra said.

Reeling under huge debts, airport charges and fuel bills, the locked-out airline is seven months behind on salary payments. Airline officials claim Malaya is scouting for a “suitable” foreign partner to pitch in with FDI. 
They also say the government has only suspended and not cancelled the licence, meaning that the company has been given more time to react. However, doubts are being raised over the credibility of these claims.

DGCA sources say the move could have been effected long back, but the management was given a long rope keeping in mind future of 4,000 employees. Legal help is now being sought to ascertain the future course of action.

Named after popular Indian beer brand owned by Malaya’s UB group, Kingfisher’s downfall is a case study in itself. From a healthy market share of 22.9 per cent in 2008 to 3.2 per cent just before the lockout, experts blame it on the wrong business model that the airline chose to adopt.

With no clarity on future, employee unions have now gone into a huddle. Sources say a meeting is scheduled with the company management on Monday to find a middle path ahead of Diwali. While the employees are seeking salary dues of seven months, a settlement could be made for three or four months to avoid further embarrassment to Malaya, also a Rajya Sabha member.