Deccan Aviation's row with aircraft lessors reaches SC

New Delhi: Deccan Aviation has moved the Supreme Court to resolve the dispute with aircraft lessor GECAS Group of Companies over the terms of lease agreement.
After the merger between Deccan Aviation&aposs low-cost airline Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines, it was decided to terminate the lease agreements prematurely with lessors to eliminate surplus aircraft and avoid duplication of flights.
A bench headed by Justice D K Jain has admitted the plea by Deccan Aviation (whose low-cost carrier Air Deccan has since been renamed Kingfisher Red after its merger with Kingfisher Airlines) challenging the Karnataka High Court ruling that refused to interfere in the dispute involving commercial activity of Deccan with its aircraft lessors.
Earlier, on Deccan&aposs plea the Karnataka high court had given an exparte order restraining the lessors from repossessing the aircraft. However, the court vacated its stay order on a plea by GE Commercial Aviation Services, a part GECAS group, and dismissed Deccan&aposs petition on the ground that though the lessors had given consent to the merger scheme, it would not take away their rights to repossess the aircraft.
GECAS Group of Companies had invoked the cross default clause and had held up around 4.714 million dollars in the form of cash and letters of credit when only rental amount of 1.643 million dollars was due in respect of four aircraft.
According to Deccan senior counsel F Nariman and Pratap Venugopal, the court which had sanctioned the merger scheme under Section 391 of the Companies Act cannot refuse to decide its dispute with its creditors. Resolution of the dispute was a must for proper working of the merger scheme, they added.
31/05/09 Indopia

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Bad weather forces Bangalore flight back to Chennai

Chennai: A surprise awaited passengers of Kingfisher Airlines' Chennai-Bangalore flight on Friday afternoon. They found themselves back in Chennai instead of Bangalore after two hours in the air.
"I had the most surreal experience. We boarded the airplane at 2.45 pm expecting to reach Bangalore soon. Our flight did reach Bangalore but it did not land there and just waited for a while. Finally, when it did proceed and land, we found ourselves back in Chennai around 4.15 pm," said Aashish who is employed with a private concern.
According to a pilot, such diversions have not been unknown in this season in areas like Kochi and Bangalore if the region is experiencing heavy rains, resulting in poor visibility. "Though pilots get a complete weather report of the destination airport before taking off, they fly there in the hope that the weather will clear and they will be able to land. However, if they find they cannot do so, they turn back for safety reasons," the pilot added.
An Air Traffic Controller pointed out that flights were similarly diverted from Mangalore to Kochi recently when pilots found they could not land due to poor visibility caused by heavy rain.
Passengers on Friday's flight to Bangalore claimed there were no announcements on board about the diversion.
30/05/09 Times of India

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Jet Airways, Kingfisher plan code sharing on domestic routes

Mumbai: Six months after announcing the biggest operational alliance in India's aviation sector, Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd have agreed to initiate code-share on certain flights on the domestic route.
The two airlines together are the country's biggest private airlines by passengers carried and expect code sharing to garner more passenger traffic on their flights. Code sharing is a commercial agreement between airlines in which they can mutually use their two-letter identification code to book flights and sell seats under its own name on another carrier's flight. This helps airlines get a larger network using fewer flights and potentially fly different legs of a journey by issuing a single ticket.
Saroj K Datta, executive director, Jet Airways, told DNA, "We have drawn a plan on code sharing between the two airlines and will be submitting the proposal to the government shortly for approval."
Airlines planning to enter into passenger sharing alliances need to take approvals from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Jet and Kingfisher will code share on domestic routes now and international routes would be reviewed later, Datta said. However, he denied commenting on the number of flights under consideration.
Kingfisher Airlines, in a statement, said, "We are in discussions with Jet Airways on code sharing certain routes and will be launching such flights shortly."
Datta said, "Code sharing will not result in any savings or profits, but will generate more traffic for both the parties."
Airlines are grappling with falling passenger numbers and the domestic airlines are likely to report combined losses of $2 billion, according to industry estimates. The air traffic during the first quarter of the current calendar year also slipped 12% as local carriers flew 13.68 lakh fewer passengers compared with the first quarter of last year.
28/05/09 Daily News & Analysis

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Kingfisher flight suffers bird-hit, passengers safe

Mumbai: A Kingfisher Airlines flight was on Wednesday forced to return to Indore airport shortly after it took-off for Mumbai, following a bird hit."The commander turned around the aircraft after it suffered a bird hit," a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson told said.
The flight-IT 3148-which took off from Indore airport at 7.55 am, was scheduled to arrive at Mumbai at 8.55 am, the spokesperson said.
All passengers were off-loaded and an inspection of the aircraft was carried out, he said.
"During the inspection, engineers found that four blades had suffered damage," he said.
A new aircraft is being sent to ferry the stranded passengers, he said, adding, "engineers are working to get the aircraft back in flying condition."
27/05/09 PTI/Times of India

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Kingfisher Airlines Introduces New Mobile Ticketing Solution

Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines today announced the launch of King Mobile, a mobile ticketing solution. King Mobile will be available exclusively on ngpay, India’s fastest-growing mobile commerce service. This service will provide guests with a convenient option to book tickets anywhere, anytime and can be used on all GPRS enabled low-end as well as high-end phones. With this facility, guest can now book, pay and generate e-tickets on their phones as well as check miles and book Kingfisher Holidays.
To avail this service, guest will have to download the secure ngpay application on to their GPRS enabled phones by sending a sms KingMobile to 56388. Once King Mobile is installed after one-time registration, guest can book tickets, Kingfisher Holiday packages and also check their King Miles. E-tickets generated will be automatically emailed to the guests’ preferred email address which can be printed and used to gain entry inside the airport as well as for check-in using valid photo identification. On completion of the booking, e-ticket details will be stored automatically on the phone in the ngpay application for future access. The guest will also receive the booking details on his phone via SMS.
27/05/09 Thaindian.com

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Kingfisher official partner for Sunfeast World 10K

Bangalore: Kingfisher Airlines on Tuesday announced that it will be the official airline partner - for the second year in a row - for Sunfeast World 10K, scheduled on May 31 in Bangalore.
As a part of the association, Kingfisher Airlines will showcase the Sunfeast World 10K route.
During the `Fly Kingfisher showcase Sunfeast World 10K route', a local radio jockey will travel with a Force India car (placed on a truck) from May 24 to May 26. The RJ will promote various landmarks and quiz the public about the places. Winners will receive return tickets to Dubai and London from Bangalore. The Force India car will also be showcased at the expo from May 27 to May 30.
27/05/09 Times of India

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Kingfisher renting out planes to foreign carrier

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, will rent out at least two of its five long-haul A330-223 aircraft to Nigerian carrier Arik Air Ltd for two years from the third quarter of 2009.
This indicates that the Mumbai-based carrier’s expansion plans into Europe and the US remain uncertain. It sold two of its long-haul, Airbus SAS-made A340s to Arik Air late last year when it was scheduled to take deliveries of 10 other aircraft to start international operations.
Kingfisher Airlines, India’s largest private carrier by passengers, launched only a few international flights with five of the A330s deliveries it accepted.
“All it says is that Kingfisher will not expand in the long-haul sector for at least two years,” a London-based analyst said on condition of anonymity. “It will continue to expand in the region and I expect flights to start to Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu and the Middle East in the next 18 months.”
The analyst added that the leases were an indication that Kingfisher may expand regionally unless there are drastic changes in the international market.
This year, Kingfisher has started flights to Colombo and Dhaka using its domestic fleet of ATR planes. It also has government approval to fly to Chittagong, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and plans to start an all-economy service between Bangalore and Dubai from 25 June using an Airbus A320.
The Arik Air lease will start almost a year after the two A330s, valued at list prices of $180.9 million (Rs862 crore) each, have been grounded.
Rival domestic carrier Jet Airways (India) Ltd has given nine wide-body aircraft on lease to West Asian carriers but for much shorter time.
21/05/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Fare war on Dhaka-Kolkata air route

A fare war has now surfaced on the Dhaka-Kolkata route, as Indian carriers recently slashed fares drastically to secure a slice of the market, airline officials said yesterday.
In the last couple of days, three Indian carriers operating from Bangladesh reduced their fares for flights between Dhaka-Kolkata. Air India Express was the first to cut fare, followed by Jet Airways and the newest entrant Kingfisher Airlines.
Local carriers--Biman Bangladesh Airlines, GMG and United Airways -- are yet to respond to the price cuts by the Indian carriers and some said they are first observing the situation.
“We cut our fares to allure more travellers to our flights on the route. Our Dhaka-Delhi route has a 90 percent rate of occupancy, but it is quite low for our Dhaka-Kolkata route. I hope we will be able to attract more travellers after the reduction in fares,” said Sudhakar Rao, general manager of Jet Airways in Bangladesh.
The Jet Airways official termed the latest fare promotional and said it would continue from May 18 to June 30.
The fare war began as Liquor baron Vijay Mallya led private airline Kingfisher Airlines to debut on the Dhaka-Kolkata route on May 15. It is the sixth airline to secure a slice of the air-travel market, which is blessed mainly by Bangladeshi medical treatment seekers, tourists and business people.
21/05/09 Sohel Parvez/The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Gopinath ready to offload 10% stake in Kingfisher

Mumbai: With no private equity deal expected soon to finance his cargo business, Captain Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost flying in India, is open to the idea of selling his 10% stake in Vijay Mallaya’s Kingfisher Airlines.
“A couple of PE investors have approached us to invest in the cargo business, but I have postponed the process now. We will revisit it a few months later, if the valuation improves,” said Gopinath, chairman and managing director of wholly-owned Deccan Express Logistics (DEL).
The $625-million domestic express cargo market is expected to grow at 20% a year over the next five years. On his willingness to dilute his stake in Kingfisher Airlines, Gopinath said: “It depends on the valuation I get.” At today’s market price, his 10% stake is valued at Rs 51 crore.
Gopinath has already pumped in Rs 125 crore in Deccan Express Logistics and needs to raise an additional Rs 150 crore. The company, branded as Deccan 360, is expected to launch the first dedicated cargo service in India on May 27. It has already inducted an Airbus A-310 and will add two more next month.
16/05/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Daily flight to Dhaka ftom Calcutta

Calcutta: Kingfisher Airlines launched a daily flight to Dhaka from the city on Friday. Calcutta thus became the fourth city from which the private airline operates international flights.
The Kingfisher Red (the airline’s low-cost service) flight will take off from Calcutta at 1.35pm and touch down in Dhaka at 3.15pm (local time). The return flight will start its journey at 4pm (local time) and reach the city at 4.15pm. The promotional minimum return fare of around Rs 6,500 including taxes will be valid till June 15, said airline sources.
An airport official said the inaugural 66-seater plane went to Dhaka with 22 passengers and returned with 50 passengers. Currently, Air India Express, Jet Airways, GMG Airlines and United Airways operates in the sector.
16/05/09 The Telegraph

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Major airlines plan portal to save on commission

New Delhi: Domestic air-carriers Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet and IndiGo have found a way to save on agent commission and service charge.
The three, under the banner of Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), are planning to launch a travel portal — rang7 — to sell air tickets. The industry body is expected to take up the proposal in its next meeting, a person familiar with the development said. Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have earlier once withdrawn agent commission but had to soon restore it under pres-sure from thousands of travel agents across the country. According to industry estimates, distribution of air tickets through travel agents and travel portals such as Makemytrip.com and Yatra.com costs airlines nearly Rs 200 crore annually.
The proposed portal is likely to be launched within two months. It will show fares offered by different airlines in ascending order, unlike existing portals which show fare options in the order they want. A venture capital fund has committed to invest close to $3 million in the company, an industry official said on condition of anonymity.
Other carriers are also expected to follow suit. Industry officials said participating airlines would own the portal even without investing in it.
The business model of Rang7 is based on the lines of Orbitz in the US and Opodo in Europe.
15/05/09 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

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Kingfisher's refund cheque of Rs 12,975 bounces

A communication goof-up between Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines and its banker saw a cheque of Rs 12,975 bounce, much to the embarrassment of the country's largest private carrier, which promptly arranged a bank draft for the recipient.
A cheque issued by the airline drawn from its account with Axis Bank at Mumbai's Nariman Point branch as ticket refund to one Suresh Gulabrani on April 4, 2009, bounced.
When contacted a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said, "The particular bank account from which this cheque was issued in a non-operating account (not used for regular and daily transactions of the company)...we have already issued that written instructions to our bankers to make a demand draft in the name of this guest and effect the refund immediately."
He said the carrier had an arrangement with Axis Bank whereby "cheques issued against refund from this account are payable at par anywhere in India".
"Consequently, the Axis Bank branch in the city where the refund cheque may be presented has to follow a pre-agreed standard operating procedure (SOP) and contact the branch from where the account is maintained. In this case the pre-set SOP appears not to have been followed," he added.
14/05/09 Rediff

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Former Kerala minister acquitted in molestation case

Chennai: Kerala Congress chairman and former minister P J Joseph has been acquitted in the case of attempting to outrage the modesty of a woman inside an aircraft. The Sriperumbudur Magistrate Court acquitted Joseph on Monday on the grounds that the prosecution failed to prove without doubt the charges levelled against him.
The case pertains to a complaint given by television anchor and Chennai resident Lakshmi Gopakumar that the minister attempted to outrage her modesty inside a Kingfisher aircraft from Chennai to Kochi on August 3, 2006. Joseph, who was the then Public Works Minister, had to step down as the issue snowballed.
Chennai airport police who probed the case had framed Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Sexual Harassment Act-1998 against Joseph. The trial of the case has been going on for the last 10 months.
Lakshmi’s counsel told reporters that an appeal would be filed against the verdict.
Contesting the charges that Joseph touched Lakshmi with his left hand through the gap between the seat and window of the aircraft, Joseph’s counsel argued that Joseph was not able to move his left hand freely since he had undergone a surgery. Medical reports in support of this were also produced in the court. The court also pointed out that the prosecution could not produce a copy of the complaint reportedly submitted by Lakshmi to the Kingfisher Airlines authority. Though the investigating officers had approached the airlines seeking a copy of the letter, there was no response. Joseph’s counsel S Raghunath said that Joseph’s seat inside the aircraft was changed by the crew and not by Joseph.
The investigating officers had recorded the statement of 28 witnesses, including the crew members and passengers of the Kingfisher flight in which the incident allegedly took place.
12/05/09 ExpressBuzz

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Jet, SpiceJet may pare losses, Kingfisher seen deeper in red

New Delhi /Mumbai: Two of the country’s three listed carriers are likely to reduce losses in the March quarter from a year ago, helped by lower fuel prices and reduced seat capacity in domestic skies, analysts tracking the airlines said.
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, Jet Airways (India) Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd, that together account for two of three air passengers in the country, are expected to post a combined loss of around Rs600 crore for the quarter gone by, the fourth and final one of fiscal 2009, when they start announcing results on or before 30 June, compared with a loss of at least Rs700 crore in the same quarter of fiscal 2008.
The three listed carriers have not announced dates for announcement of their results but are mandated under India’s securities laws to report them before 30 June.
Most of such losses for the quarter to 31 March are likely to be accounted for by Kingfisher Airlines, which has seen its expenses soar after it started international flights late last year.
Jet, which scaled back overseas operations and leased out planes aggressively to boost revenues at a time of a glut in the business, together with low cost subsidiary JetLite Ltd, is likely to halve losses from January-March period in 2008.
Jet, that lost Rs384.48 crore including Rs163.30 crore on JetLite in the March quarter of fiscal 2008, may post losses between Rs150-250 crore, according to four analyst estimates.
Kingfisher, the largest airline by passengers carried in the latest quarter, that lost nearly Rs200 crore in the year-ago quarter, including Deccan Aviation Ltd that it took over in 2007, may increase its losses to at least Rs350 crore, according to aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, or Capa.
Low-cost carrier SpiceJet, too, is expected to reduce losses by 60%, analysts said. It may reduce losses to Rs40-50 crore, down from Rs123.60 crore in January-March last year, says Capa.
Jet is likely to offset some of its losses with the help of international revenue and trimming flight frequency on loss-making routes such as Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco, one analyst predicted.
11/05/09 Tarun Shukla and P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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Kingfisher to fly from Bangalore to Dubai from next month

Dubai: Liquor baron Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines will start flying daily from India's technology hub Bangalore to Dubai from June 25.
The flight, using an A320 aircraft, will take off from Bangalore at 6.30 pm and land in Dubai at 8.55 pm local time while the return flight will leave Dubai at 11.30pm and reach Bangalore at 4.45 am, the airline's officials told the media during the Arabian Travel Market held recently here.
The launch was planned for March but had to be delayed because of the global economic slowdown, officials said, adding Kingfisher also plans to start flights to Abu Dhabi and a couple of other destinations in the Gulf region.
The airline has expanded its route network significantly since acquiring Air Deccan in 2007. Kingfisher has 87 aircraft in its fleet and has 438 flights daily to 72 destinations in India and abroad. It operates 27 direct flights to Indian destinations from Bangalore.
10/05/09 PTI/Economic Times

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Kingfisher to transfer at least 25 flights to no-frill segment

Mumbai: Local carrier Kingfisher Airlines Ltd announced on Friday that it is moving at least 25 full-service flights to its low-fare segment Kingfisher Red beginning 15 May.
These flights include routes connecting cities such as Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Jammu, Lucknow and Chennai.
Kingfisher has sent a communication to this effect—which was reviewed by Mint—to travel agents across the country.
The move comes a day after Jet Airways (India) Ltd announced it was launching a new all-economy, no-frills service called Jet Konnect.
Jet Airways has positioned Konnect along the same lines as JetLite, the airline’s existing no-frills service, and Kingfisher Red.
Jet and Kingfisher’s moves to convert full-service flights to the low-fare segment aim to attract passengers at a time when the Indian aviation industry is facing losses of $2 billion (around Rs10,000 crore) for fiscal 2009.
This also means that the larger full-service carriers such as Jet and Kingfisher are encroaching into territory that was until now the preserve of airlines such as SpiceJet Ltd, InterGlobel Aviation Pvt. Ltd that runs IndiGo and GoAirlines (India) Pvt. Ltd’s GoAir.
08/05/09 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

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SBI extends Rs 500-cr loan to Kingfisher

Bangalore: State Bank of India (SBI) has agreed to provide Rs 500-crore loan to Kingfisher Airlines, helping the Vijay Mallya-owned airline to meet its immediate cash needs. The airline is in discussions with several banks to raise at least Rs 2,000 crore.
SBI is believed to have cleared a three-year term loan of Rs 500 crore earlier this week. “Kingfisher has an immediate funding gap of around Rs 1,800-2,000 crore. It has been in discussions with a few public sector banks. SBI has cleared Rs 500-crore facility in the past few days, while talks are on with a few other banks,” said a source close to the development.
A Kingfisher Airlines spoksperson declined comment. “It will be inappropriate to offer any comment at this stage as fund raising is an ongoing process and we are bound by confidentiality agreements,” said the spokesperson.
The domestic airlines, faced with mounting losses, have been lobbying hard with the nationalised banks to extend fresh credit facilities. This comes after the private banks declined to extend more loans to the aviation sector.
Kingfisher Airlines is holding talks with three other public sector banks — Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank —for raising additional debt facility of Rs 1,500 crore. The airline has raised debts from private banks, mainly ICICI Bank, in the past.
07/05/09 Boby Kurian/Economic Times

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Jet Air-Kingfisher operational synergies pact yet to take effect

A Jet Airways spokesperson told Business Line that the working groups set up between the two airlines are working out the modalities.
“Working groups have been set up between the two carriers to work out detailed modalities. Once we are in a position to share any information, we will do so at an appropriate time,” the airline spokesperson said. When contacted, a Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson said the alliance is very much on track.
In October last year, both the airlines signed an agreement to help them to significantly rationalise and reduce costs and provide improved standards of service and a wider choice of air travel options to the consumers.
The scope of the alliance included joint fuel management, common ground handling, cross selling of flight inventories, code shares on both domestic and international flights and joint network rationalisation and synergies.
The Jet Airways spokesperson said that the airline is not in a position to offer any information on the status of its deal with the Bahrain-based Gulf Air which had apparently decided to return the leased aircraftto Jet Airways after the wet lease gets over.
It is learnt that Gulf Air had indicated to Jet Airways that it plans to return four long range Boeing 777-300ER aircraft once the wet lease period gets over in six months. According to the agreement, Gulf Air was to convert the wet lease to dry lease after six months.
07/05/09 K. Giriprakash/HotStocked.com

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Kingfisher negotiating Rs 2,000 cr loan from SBI

New Delhi/Mumbai: Kingfisher Airlines is negotiating with State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest bank, for a working capital loan of over Rs 2,000 crore. The money will be used for clearing fuel bills. SBI executives, however, said the sanctioned amount was likely to be lower.
Industry sources said the carrier owed over Rs 620 crore to BPCL and HPCL, besides Rs 160 crore to IOC. However, Kingfisher Airlines is not the only company with oil dues. “Raising funds is an ongoing issue and because we are bound by confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, it will be inappropriate to offer any comment at this stage,” a Kingfisher spokesperson said.
The payment of aviation turbine fuel dues has been an issue for all major airlines. On October 23, 2008, oil companies gave airlines a breather on dues worth Rs 2,900 crore, which were to be paid in six monthly instalments till March 31, 2009. Subsequent purchases from the date of that announcement were given credit of 90 days. Sources said airlines were defaulting both on instalments and current purchases.
Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and state-owned Air India started this financial year with accumulated dues of Rs 4,000 crore to oil companies and airports, sources said.
06/05/09 Business Standard

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IOC encashes Rs 50 cr Kingfisher bank guarantee

New Delhi: State-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has encashed a Rs 50 crore bank guarantee after a cheque issued by Kingfisher Airlines towards fuel dues bounced.
IOC encashed the bank guarantee Kingfisher had given for buying aviation turbine fuel or ATF for its fleet of 75 aircraft, 10-days back, industry sources said.
As on April 20, the private air-carrier owed IOC about Rs 160 crore in fuel bills. It sent a cheque of the amount to IOC but the cheque bounced, forcing IOC to encash the bank guarantee.
Besides IOC, Kingfisher owes HPCL -- its largest ATF supplier -- Rs 336 crore and BPCL another Rs 290 crore.
Industry sources said the company had put Kingfisher on cash-and-carry about 2-3 month back after the airline failed to honour its commitment of making timely payments for past fuel dues as had been agreed last year.
Both IOC and BPCL have stopped credit to Kingfisher and are asking the airline to make payments for every refueling. HPCL, however, continues to give some credit to the airline.
05/05/09 Press Trust Of India/Business Standard

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