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Lessors fly in for Kingfisher Airlines planes

kingfisher also faces trouble with cbi over bank loans to the tune of Rs2,200 cr

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A year after  Kingfisher Airlines shut operations, at least six engineers of a foreign aircraft lease company are at work at the city airport repairing two aircraft to fly them back to their home country.

The aircraft, which have been parked at the airport for long, were leased by the foreign firm to Kingfisher, said sources.

In June 2012, the airport operator dragged Kingfisher Airlines to court after cheques worth Rs30 crore issued by the airline to the airport operator bounced. At the time, Kingfisher owed the airport operator Rs 60 crore, said sources.

A spokesperson of Mumbai International Airport Limited, refused to comment.

Sources said that of nine aircraft belonging to Kingfisher Airlines which were until recently parked at the airport, five have been taken back by the other companies which leased the aircraft to Kingfisher. Two private jets are parked at the airport as they were impounded by tax authorities earlier this year while two others are being repaired.

“The foreign company is putting in a lot of money to get the planes fit to fly,” said an airport source.

Loan scam?

The Central Bureau of Investigation is conducting an initial enquiry into allegations that the airline siphoned off over Rs2,200 crore.  A bank alleged that Kingfisher took loans to take aircraft on lease by floating a dummy company.

The allegation was that Kingfisher’s dummy company procured aircraft for a certain amount from a genuine leasing company. The dummy company then ‘leased’ the same to Kingfisher at a higher amount than the initial lease amount. so that Kingisher could procure a bank loan for the ‘higher’ amount as quoted by its dummy company.

Central Bureau of Investigation’s spokesperson Kanchan Prasad confirmed the development. “The investigation is in progress and I cannot divulge anything more at the moment,. said Prasad.

However, officials of Kingfisher Airline refuted the allegation. “The “shell” [dummy] companies referred to are special purpose entities formed and owned by major leasing companies for tax efficiency. These offshore companies are not owned by Kingisher Airlines. This is common practice in the global aviation industry,” said the spokesperson.

King of troubled times?
Promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya,  Kingfisher was once among the leading airlines of the country. It was grounded and its license cancelled in October 2012 by the country’s aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation. In its heydays, the airline operated 66 aircraft of which a dozen are still in the country.

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