New Delhi: The financial crisis engulfing big carriers like Air India and Kingfisher has now put a question mark on whether travellers with confirm ticket find their aircraft leaving on schedule. And if the flights do leave on time, then whether passengers of such full service airlines get anything to eat at all onboard.
In an unprecedented move, India's largest flight caterer Tajsats on Monday night warned AI that the national carrier would be put on cash-and-carry from Tuesday over mounting dues. While it is common for airport and oil companies to issue such threats to airlines, it is the first time that even a company supplying food on aircraft had to resort to this time-tested practice of making people pay up.
"Tajsats claimed dues of Rs 45 crore, of which about Rs 15 crore could be in the credit period limit. We promised to pay Rs 7-8 crore by next week and a like amount next month. The risk of being put on cash-and-carry by the flight caterer has been averted for now," said a senior AI official. AI has an annual bill of Rs 180 crore for food supply to aircraft in India and Rs 250 crore abroad. Tajsats is the largest supplier to AI in India.
While the promise of government funds coming AI's way resolved the food crisis, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher created another crisis by cancelling 31 flights daily till November 19, including four international flights to Bangkok.
09/11/11 Saurab Sinha/Economic Times
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