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Licence suspended; staff to intensify stir

The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation on Saturday suspended the licence of the crisis-ridden Kingfisher Airlines.

“The permit has been suspended with effect from October 20 till such time Kingfisher Airlines submits a concrete and reliable revival plan ensuring safe, efficient and sustainable scheduled air transport services to the satisfaction of the DGCA,” an official release stated. 

Suspension of licence implies an immediate halt to all bookings on the entire Kingfisher network as well as through travel agents although the airline had not notified the same on its website, which late on Saturday evening still read: bookings are subject to regulatory approval.

The Scheduled Operator Permit of the airline stands suspended till further orders. The move has shocked 6,000-odd employees who have decided to hold a meeting in Mumbai on Monday and intensify their agitation. They are planning to take their protests to the Formula 1 track at Greater Noida near Delhi where airline boss Vijay Mallya’s India Force is one of the participants at the race starting October 26.

The operator’s licence was to end on December 31, this year. The latest setback to Kingfisher came in the backdrop of DGCA not approving its winter schedule.
The airline, whose fleet strength has come down to 10 from 66 a year ago, has been saddled with a loss of Rs 8,000 crore and a debt burden of over Rs 7,524 crore.

Reacting to the DGCA order, Kingfisher said in a statement that its endeavour was to re-start operations at the earliest and that it was working in that direction.

The resumption plan would be submitted once issues with employees were resolved. “We are now immediately suspending all forward bookings till such time we resume operations.” The latest crisis in the airline started after the engineers and pilots struck work from September 30.

The airline declared partial lock-out the next day which has now been extended till October 23 while expressing hope that airline would fly again by November 6.

The DGCA had issued show-cause notice to the ailing carrier on October 5 to which the airline sought more time to respond. This, the DGCA found unsatisfactory and suspended its licence.

“The DGCA has observed that Kingfisher Airlines has not addressed any of the issues raised by the regulator during the meeting held with the Airlines on October 2 and the points raised in the show cause notice. They were asked to submit their operational preparedness plan for resumption of flight operations.  Instead, they have sought more time to file a reply…,” the release added.

Commenting on the critical situation of the airline after the DGCA move, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said licence, now suspended, would be cancelled if the carrier failed to provide a reasonable revival plan.