Says will have 300 daily flights soon, with full fleet operational in three months; denies any crisis or pilot exodus or asking for govt help.
After three days of turmoil in Indian skies caused by debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines cancelling close to 100 flights, without giving any notice, the carrier apologised. And, repeated what it had said on the first day, that it was only “rationalising” its operations.
"The airline industry in India is going through a tough period due to high costs and lower yields. This is evident by the unprecedented losses recently reported. To counter these pressures and leverage its strengths, Kingfisher decided to rationalise network, drop unprofitable flights and expedite its fleet reconfiguration. This initiative will improve the long-term profitability of the airline," said the airline, owned by flamboyant billionaire Vijay Mallya. It had said the same thing three days earlier.
The new thing was a belated admission that it had inconvenienced many, beside breaking the rule that flights on this scale can’t be just cancelled without informing the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
"The existing rules require DGCA to be informed if there are flight cancellations for a longer period of time. While we were finalising the plans, we only announced these cancellations until November 19th. We did not feel the need for informing DGCA. In hindsight, we should have informed them and we apologized to them for the same. Our guests remain our top priority. We reached out to all our guests who were booked on these cancelled flights to re-accommodate them, either on our or other airline flights. We offered full refund to those who so desired. We apologise to the guests who might have been inconvenienced," said Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer, in a statement issued tonight.
The airline has said it will be initiating 300 flights shortly, connecting 54 cities, as compared to its previous schedule of 340 flights. It said the reconfiguration initiative, started earlier this month to fit more seats in the economy class, will require up to three aircraft to be out of service over the next three months at any one time for this exercise to be completed.
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"It will reduce the number of fleet configurations from seven to three, improving operational flexibility. This initiative will add more seats to the fleet, improving revenue production of each aircraft," said Aggarwal.
He said it had credit terms or payment arrangements with all its vendors and had asked banks for an increase in credit limits due to significant rises in operating costs caused by increase in fuel prices and rupee devaluation. ”We have not made any bailout request to the government. Kingfisher does not see any risk to its future or long-term viability. The whole Indian aviation industry is struggling due to high costs and lower yields. We are no exception. Like any other prudent business, we are taking steps to improve our financial performance," said Aggarwal.
He also denied reports of a large exodus of pilots, but admitted to delays of a few days in the past two to three months in paying staff salaries. "However, all employees have been paid in the month the salaries were due," went the statement.