New Delhi/Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines got another reprieve on Tuesday, as the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) decided not to suspend its operations. But the regulator raised apprehensions about the troubled carrier’s ability to stick to the new flight schedule.
Kingfisher said it would suspend international operations and operate about 120 daily flights with 20 planes as it seeks funding, hours after the government warned the carrier’s licence might be cancelled if it failed to meet safety norms and financial viability conditions. The airline’s chairman, Vijay Mallya, and chief executive, Sanjay Agarwal, met the DGCA and gave the new flight plan.
“If he gives a plan and says I have that many planes, that much schedule, then why should we cancel?,” aviation minister Ajit Singh said, ahead of Mallya’s meeting with the regulator. However, he put the onus on Mallya to maintain the airline’s operations and adhere to the schedule, even as the government constituted a team to check whether the aircraft used were safe.
“The problem is, (in the) last two to three months, he has given several plans and he has not adhered to any of them,” Singh said, warning that the airline was liable for prosecution over unpaid taxes. “If passenger safety is compromised, we’ll not let any airline fly. Safety norms also involves financial viability.”
21/03/12 Reuters/Business Standard
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