Kingfisher Airlines may further curtail flights

Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines, which is seeing turbulent times due to a fund crunch, may further curtail or club flights, as it struggles to source spares for its aircraft.
The airline, which has 20 aircraft, is operating 120 daily flights in its summer schedule, which began in March. Currently, the airline is using only 14-15 aircraft, as these are adequate to maintain its schedule.
According to an airline source, an Airbus A320 was grounded in Mumbai on Wednesday, leading to the cancellation of a few flights. Also, a few aircraft were scheduled to undergo routine maintenance that required replacement of parts. “We are trying our best to get spares. But if we do not get these on time, one or two more aircraft may be grounded,” he said.
Grounding of aircraft is not the airline’s only concern. It has not paid salaries to it employees for four months. “We were promised the salary for February by May-end. When we approached the management, we were told we would receive it by last weekend, but we haven’t yet got it. How can we believe the management, as it does not live up to assurances?” asked a senior commander. Protesting against the delay in salaries, 8-10 pilots have already stopped flying. An airline spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking comments.
24/06/12 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Categories: Kingfisher Jun 2012