New Delhi, The Air India pilots' strike entered its fifth day on Saturday amid continuing cancellations and passengers' inconvenience even as an association of senior executive pilots have written to the Prime Minister to step in and resolve the crisis. This senior pilots' association of former Air India said the management was responsible for the strike since they violated the terms of merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. This group supported the striking Indian Pilots Guild and said that agreements of merger were not honoured. According to media reports quoting their letter to the PM, an Air India pilot can become a commander after ten years of flying while Indian Airlines pilot reaches that position in five years. Meanwhile, at least 16 flights originating from Delhi and Mumbai were cancelled during the day, Air India officials said Saturday morning. On Friday the management had sacked 25 more pilots as the national airline’s services were crippled by the strike. The pilots, who are protesting against a disagreement with management over salaries, job promotions and training, remained defiant even as the tally of fired pilots reached 71, Air India ...
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New Delhi, Amidst crises in Air India and Kingfisher Airlines, the aviation regulator has warned other airlines not to hike fares, a day after the Rajya Sabha was rocked over the issue of rising cost of air travel. "We have advised the airlines not to go ahead with the fare hike. There is no current reason for such a hike as the operating costs have not increased. We are very closely monitoring the situation. No airline will be allowed to take undue advantage of the situation," a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told IANS here. "Our fare monitoring cell is keeping a watch over the prices all the time. Airlines have to display accurate fares all the time," the official said adding that action would be taken against any airline which indulges in these activities under Rule 135 of Aircraft Rules of 1937. The development comes as national carrier Air India and Kingfisher Airlines are both facing employee-unrest and have cancelled several flights. Air India had to even stop bookings on some of its ultra long-haul routes till May 15, effectively cancelling more than 15 flights per day to major sectors such as the US, Europe, and some ...
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Mumbai, A large section of Delhi-based pilots of the Kingfisher Airlines, rostered for flights, called in sick Wednesday midnight onwards. Mumbai-based pilots joined the agitation Thursday evening. There was no perceptible impact on the airline's flight schedules or passengers though. "The airline management roped in pilots who also hold managerial positions to fill in for absentee pilots. As the carrier operates a skeletal flight schedule, these pilots could handle the workload," said a source. From Mumbai airport only one flight, the morning one to Chennai, was cancelled and it was for operational reasons, said a Mumbai International Airport spokesperson. The airline spokesperson was not available for comment. Kingfisher is now the smallest airline in the country in terms of market share with its operations down to 110 daily flights compared to 400-odd daily flights it operated last summer. The pilots' agitation could cause flight delays and cancellations if it continues beyond 48 hours. "The airline cannot roster its handful of management pilots everyday. They would have to give them their mandatory rest. That is when the airline will find it hard to maintain its flight ...
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New Delhi/Mumbai, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Tuesday dubbed "illegal" the protest by Air India pilots that has led to the axing of one international flight and disrupted other schedules. "This strike is illegal," the minister told journalists. "There are certain ways of even going on strike. The pilots may have grievances but they should have spoken to the management, me, other well wishers. "How can they (pilots) go on strike when Air India is on the path of recovery and when it is not out of the woods?" The minister's comment came as a section of Air India pilots reported sick Tuesday, seriously disrupting flights. An AI official said in Mumbai that the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Newark flight set to leave early Tuesday had been cancelled due to non-availability of pilots. According to one estimate, nearly 100 pilots are off-duty since midnight Monday after falling 'sick'. More are likely to follow suit. Among other things, the pilots are opposing the carrier's plans to provide the Boeing-787 Dreamliner to the erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots who are now part of the airline. Ajit Singh said this was unfair. He said while the Delhi High Court had upheld the ...
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Mumbai, Kingfisher Airlines has said it is not aware of any alleged analysis of financial records by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. “Kingfisher Airlines is not aware of any alleged analysis of financial records of Kingfisher Airlines by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, nor is it aware of any alleged analysis report," said Prakash Mirpuri, Vice President - Corporate Communications,The UB Group / Kingfisher Airlines Limited. "In fact, Kingfisher Airlines has received no communication in this regard from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. In the circumstances, Kingfisher Airlines will not speculate or comment on the alleged contents of an alleged report of which it has no knowledge whatsoever," he said. "Kingfisher Airlines is also not aware of any alleged letter allegedly written by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Kingfisher Airlines has not received any communication from the Serious Fraud Investigation Office in connection with any of its Accounts," said Mirpuri. "Kingfisher Airlines has requested the media house which ran this story to kindly disclose to it the source of its alleged information in this regard ...
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New Delhi, Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has been asked to pay Rs.60 crore which it owes as service tax, a senior fianance ministry official said Wednesday. According to S.K. Goel, chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs, the airline has been asked to pay the amount and no concessions will be provided to the carrier. "There is no question of leeway to Kingfisher on payment of service tax," Goel told reporters here. Earlier, the service tax department -- for the fourth time in four months -- had frozen 40 bank accounts belonging to the airlines as it had failed to meet the Feb 29 deadline for clearing its dues of Rs.40 crore to the department. Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya April 2 wrote to the airline's staff informing them that the company would be able to pay their overdue salaries as its bank accounts have been un-frozen following payments worth Rs.44 crore to the income tax department and Rs.20 crore as service tax. "All junior staff will be paid before Easter, April 4. All pilots and engineers will be paid April 9 and 10," he wrote. "My focus now is to start paying your seriously overdue salaries." The freeze on the airlines' accounts ...
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New Delhi, Government may cancel Kingfisher Airlines' licence if safety norms and financial viability conditions are not met, aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters on Tuesday. The cash-strapped carrier, which is now operating 18 planes, has failed to stick to its recovery plan, Singh said. Kingfisher Airlines, which has a debt of $1.3 billion, is facing collapse as banks have refused to lend more for day-to-day operations. ...
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New Delhi, Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines on Wednesday announced further reduction in its flight schedule and said its promoter Vijay Mallya will on Thursday meet pilots agitating over delayed salary. Last month the company had informed the authorities that they will be operating 140 flights daily. However, Kingfisher said that 'despite the shortage of crew' it operated 101 flights on Tuesday and will operate 101 flights on Wednesday. The airline also said it has returned wide body airbus A 330-200 aircraft to a lessor in the United Kingdom, adding that it plans to curtail international services. "We would like to confirm that we are curtailing our wide body overseas operations that are bleeding heavily," the company said. It, however, did not clarify which international sectors will be affected. Maintaining that its liquidity crunch was primarily caused by tax authorities freezing its bank accounts, the airline said in a statement, "We are also working with our bankers to realise the urgent interim working capital as approved in the Bankers Consortium meeting held on February 17." It added, "Whilst many of our pilots and engineers have expressed their ...
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Mumbai, The service tax department has frozen some more bank accounts of debt-crippled Kingfisher Airlines for missing the deadline for clearing dues. Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher had been given time till Wednesday to pay Rs 10 crore as arrears, but it could not meet the deadline till evening. Following this, the department attached all the bank accounts of the airline. "The airline has been paying its dues so far at the rate of Rs 1 crore for every working day. Until this week, they have paid their dues but again missed the deadline," said a senior official of the Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC), the apex body that administers indirect taxes. CBEC had frozen all bank accounts of Kingfisher earlier this year for nonpayment of dues, but lifted it after the airline started clearing it. Last week, the airline could not stick to the payment schedule, prompting the CBEC to freeze most of its accounts. Kingfisher was allowed to operate some accounts on the promise that it would pay up by February 29. A senior service tax official said the airline's management is in talks with CBEC officials to resolve the issue. Kingfisher declined to comment on the matter. The ...
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New Delhi, Kingfisher Airlines cancelled about 20 flights on Wednesday even as the DGCA was set to brief the civil aviation minister on the ailing carrier's plans to restore its services. The airline is expected to submit a fresh flight schedule to the DGCA which had asked it to come up with a "realistic" schedule which can be operated by 28 out of its 64 aircraft. DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan would meet civil aviation minister Ajit Singh today to brief him about the discussions he had with the Kingfisher top brass yesterday and the airline's plan to restore its schedule over the next few days. Among the flights cancelled this morning were 14 from Mumbai and two from Delhi. Reports said the airlines was partially restoring its operations from Kolkata especially flights from there to the Northeast. All operations from Kolkata were shut down from Friday night. The DGCA chief had yesterday said that the airlines will have to file a new schedule instead of a truncated one in the next 24 hours. The cash-strapped carrier, facing the wrath of Income Tax authorities which has frozen its bank accounts, was operating only 28 of its 64 planes, leading to large-scale ...
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New Delhi, The CEO of the ailing Kingfisher Airlines, Sanjay Aggarwal, arrived on Tuesday morning at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) office here to explain why flights were being cancelled by the private carrier. Aggarwal was summoned by the aviation regulator of India (DGCA) after the carrier started cancelling flights in large number since Sunday. The airline earlier had said it will appear before the DGCA Tuesday and "submit all details they want and also a plan to restore the full schedule." Kingfisher reportedly had not informed the aviation regulator (DGCA) about the cancellations, though in media releases Saturday night it said at least 15 percent of the flights (around 32 daily) would be cancelled a day for four days. On the third day on Tuesday, fights continued to be cancelled by Kingfisher. The loss-making Kingfisher Airlines on Monday said the prime reason for the ongoing disruption in flights is the sudden attachment of its bank accounts by the Income Tax department. The airline owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya said in a statement: "The prime reason for the current disruption in our flight schedules is the sudden attachment of ...
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Mumbai, Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines' promoter Vijay Mallya has said that he will not shut down the private carrier, which is struggling to stay afloat after another a fresh round of flight disruptions and resignation of pilots. On Monday, about 60 flights were cancelled, of which, according to airport officials, 16 were out of Mumbai. "Closing down is not an option. It will not happen. Government does not want it to happen. It is not in national interest," Mallya said on Monday, in his first public reaction to the latest crisis to hit the cash-strapped airline. "Why should we give up as long as we get help? Help is not bailout. We have asked banks to consider our proposal to provide more working capital." Asked about sudden disruptions in Kingfisher flights, Mallya said the airline's bank accounts were frozen "very suddenly" by Income Tax authorities over non-payment of tax dues. "I don't deny we have taxes due.... The bottomline is we requested for time to pay these dues." On why the airline did not inform the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about flight cancellations, he said, "If your bank account is frozen suddenly, obviously you don't have advance ...
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New Dehli, Operations of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines continued to be disrupted for the third consecutive day on Monday even as the government reiterated that it will not bailout the Vijay Mallya-led carrier. "Government is not going to give any bailout or ask the banks to bailout any private airline or any private industry for that matter," Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said. According to Singh, the the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is looking into the matter and is awaiting a reply from the airline. "DGCA is inquiring into the matter. Our first concern is about the ongoing flights and that passenger safety should not be compromised. Let us see what reply they (Kingfisher Airlines) give," Singh said. Singh blamed the crisis on the airline management for not paying its employees as a reason behind Saturday's strike in Kolkata. "They did not give salary to their employees for many months, people went on strike in Kolkata. Naturally, the flights got cancelled," Singh said. On Sunday the regulator ordered an inquiry into the large-scale cancellations. "We have called for the cancellation data from all over the country. They did ...
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Mumbai, Kingfisher Airlines operations continued to be disrupted for the third consecutive day with around 14 flights cancelled Monday, a day after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took a serious note of the developments and asked the airline CEO to appear before them on Tuesday, an airport official said. Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) officials, despite repeated attempts, declined to confirm or deny the developments. Instead, they repeatedly said that "we shall issue a statement when required" and refused to comment on the potential action by the DGCA. The cancellations have affected incoming or outbound flights in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. The abrupt flight cancellations had created major problems for passengers waiting to travel after having booked their tickets months in advance, an official at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport said. However, Sunday, the beleaguered carrier reeling under financial losses had claimed that despite flight disruptions since the past couple of days, it has not shut down any stations from its schedules, an official said. The developments have also worried passengers intending to travel on ...
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Shares in cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines rose more than 7% on Monday after reports the cash-strapped Indian carrier would consider proposals, including selling property, to cut its $1.3 billion debt by more than half. Kingfisher's board, which is meeting on Monday to finalise its quarterly results, will also consider converting loans from its parent company into equity and changing the terms under which it leases aircraft. The board is likely to explore ways out of the financial crisis as the Central government remains non-committal on the issue of allowing direct investment by foreign airlines in the domestic aviation sector. If approved, the proposals will help the company to get badly needed bank loans to run its operations. Company officials were not immediately available for comment on the report. Shares in Kingfisher, controlled by flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya, climbed 7.6% in a firm Mumbai market , after plunging as much as 18% on Friday to their lowest since launch. The carrier has become one of the main casualties of high fuel costs and a fierce price war between a handful of airlines which, between them, have ordered hundreds of aircraft for ...
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Kingston, Dec.23 (DNS)- An American Airlines Boeing 737 overshot the runway while landing at the international airport at Kingston, Jamaica on Tuesday night, the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority said. An FAA spokeswoman told Reuters the plane was American Airlines flight 331 from Miami. She had no further details. The plane crashed and broke in two after landing at Kingston, Fox News said on its website, quoting local reports. There were no immediate reports of casualties but an airport official said passengers were being evacuated and some were sent to the ...
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