Kingfisher Airlines revival plan fails to impress DGCA

Cash strapped Kingfisher Airlines’ plans to once again start operations stands grounded as the airline officials have not submitted a concrete revival plan before the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to restart operations. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the FAA-Asia Pacific bilateral partners’ meeting here on Tuesday, DGCA chief Arun Mishra said there was “nothing much” in the latest revival plan submitted by the Kingfisher Airlines CEO Sanjay Agarwal to the civil aviation regulator. 

The previous week, Agarwal had met Mishra in New Delhi and submitted a plan to renew its licence which stands cancelled since December 2012.  Agarwal had said that with the infusion of funds from its parent UB Group, the airline would be in a position to once again start flight operations, that has remained suspended since October 2012.

Although Agarwal said Kingfisher had given a complete plan to start operations with seven planes comprising five Airbus and two ATRs, it had sought the DGCA’s nod as Kingfisher Airlines has not obtained a No Objection Certificate (no-objection certificates) from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the banks which had lent money to the cash-strapped airline.

Only a few private airports in the country have given NOCs to the airline.

@dna