Kingfisher: Without office in Mumbai airport, will it remain an airline?

What will happen to an Indian airline if it has no office in one of the busiest airports in the country? It probably will become almost non-existent.

For Kingfisher Airlines, however, it is a little bit different because it is already non-existent for consumers since it is not operating any flights now. But such a predicament is sure to jeopardise its attempts to get back on its feet.

[caption id=“attachment_542870” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The airline, which has not paid dues for over a year now, owes Rs 22 crore to the airport, the report said quoting sources. AFP[/caption]

According to a report in the Economic Times, Mumbai International Airport is considering slapping an eviction notice on the airline to forcibly vacate it from the 19,000 sq ft space it occupies in the airport’s Terminal IA.

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Interestingly, a senior Kingfisher official has told the newspaper that the company is actually surrendering 15,000 sq ft as it is not operating any flight for the time being and as it is unlikely to operate the full schedule in the near term.

The airline, which has not paid dues for over a year now, owes Rs 22 crore to the airport, the report said quoting sources.

Kingfisher had made peace with its agitating staff earlier last month but is yet to resume its operations.

Kingfisher has more than Rs 7,000 crore debt and bankers have said that they will take a decision on giving further funds to the cash-starved airline only after Mallya infuses capital.

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A PTI report had said last week that bankers were still waiting for a revival plan from Mallya.

However, banks have not yet taken any steps towards debt recovery.

The airlines’ revival is getting delayed inordinately as there are a lot of issues the company needs to sort out before it starts operations.

An earlier report in The Economic Times had said airline officials have not been able to sort out scores of regulatory issues that are imperative for it to resume operations.

A PTI report said the staff had also threatened to approach regulator DGCA if they were not paid the May salary on Friday.