Has Kingfisher Airlines' CEO quit?

Has Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer of Kingfisher Airlines, quit? Most likely yes, according to a Business Line report.

While an airline spokesperson denied Aggarwal had put in his papers, the report said rumours of his leaving the airlines have been floating around for quite some time now.

The report said Aggarwal is believed to have not been involved in key negotiations that the airline has been engaged in recently.

Aggarwal joined the airline in September last year. A final decision will only be known after the airline board approves the move, Business Line said.

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If this is true, it will be another nail in the coffin of the financially-gasping airline.

The airline has been making headlines in the past few weeks for its growing list of troubles: the airline is fast running out of cash and everyone from banks and airline leasing companies to fuel suppliers and airport authorities are breathing down the airline’s neck to collect their dues.

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At the moment, even the staff is not being paid salaries on time, and several pilots and cabin crew are reported to have left. A DNA report said the airline had even asked 60 pilots to leave in 48 hours recently.

Chairman Vijay Mallya has been desperately hunting for an investor to infuse more funds into the ailing airline. And it seems he may have just found someone, although admittedly, it is a strange choice.

In a rather surprising development, a Reuters report_,_ quoting a Times of India story, reported that the Sahara Group might extend a helping hand to cash-strapped Kingfisher. It said Subrata Roy, the elusive chairman of Sahara, could provide Kingfisher with a Rs 250 crore loan.

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With Kingsfisher’s debt totalling Rs 7,000 crore, Sahara’s gesture (which is still not confirmed) is too small to really bail out the company out of its troubles, but it’s a start. The possible deal follows an earlier partnership between Roy and Vijay Mallya, chairman of Kingfisher Airlines, for Formula One. It remains to be seen if Mallya actually gets the money.

With no government decision yet on allowing foreign direct investment in airlines, Kingfisher is very nearly out of options. Banks are wary of lending further to the airline because they want to see a viable business plan; earlier, a consortium of 14 banks had participated in a debt restructuring plan for the airline, and they’ve burnt their fingers once doing that.

Tick, tick, tick - the clock is ticking and time is running out.