Vijay Mallya chafes, talks of plans to fly out of trouble

Writing the epitaph of Kingfisher Airlines constantly is not fair, Vijay Mallya complained on Tuesday.

Then, after a raft of digs at the media, clarified that the lurching carrier has not sought any bailout. There’s no intention to disembark its 7,000 staffers either, Mallya assured.

As for the flight plan out of the airpocket, one of the key steps is to raise about Rs1,000 crore in loans, including Rs150 crore, to reconfigure/upgrade  Kingfisher Jet aircraft, Ravi Nedungadi, CFO of UB Group, Kingfisher’s parent, said.

Mallya said the carrier had about $200 million or Rs1,000 crore of deposits with aircraft lessors. Around 60-70% of it can be returned which would go towards reducing the debt load, he said.

The carrier will also look at selling Kingfisher House in Mumbai, revisit fuel imports and raise capital through rights and global depositary receipts (GDRs).

“We have pursued and will pursue all possibilities of raising capital,” said Vijay Mallya, chairman, Kingfisher Airlines.

“A domestic investor is also ready to put money,” the 55-year-old flamboyant honcho said, exhorting the government to allow libe ral foreign investment. The carrier has asked banks to boost working-capital facilities and also sought to lower interest costs," he said.

Later in the day, Pradip Chaudhari, chairman of the State Bank of India, one of the key lenders to the airline, said the carrier has not made any SOS calls on restructuring of debt.

Kingfisher has raised about Rs800 crore of loans this year from Mallya’s “friends, relatives and wellwishers,” Nedungadi said. That debt may be partly or completely converted into equity of the carrier during the rights offer, he said.

The airline hasn’t defaulted on interest repayments, Mallya said, adding it has also paid bills with two of its three main fuel suppliers.

The airline, which has a debt of around Rs6,500 crore, posted a loss of Rs469 crore in the quarter ended September 30 as fuel prices rose.

On pending fuel bills, Mallya said to companies — IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum — have been paid in full.

The reconfiguring of Kingfisher Red into full-cost airline is to avoid an imminent “bloodbath” in the low-cost segment, Mallya said.

The carrier will also delay orders for five A380 superjumbos and A320s because of market conditions, Mallya said. Deliveries for the A380s were due to start in 2016.

As for flights that were slashed, Mallya’s mea culpa: “I accept we could have handled it better.”