DGCA suspended flying licence of Kingfisher
New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday suspended the flying licence till further order of the ailing Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) for failing to come up with a safe, efficient and reliable revival plan.
Suspension of flying licence implies an immediate halt to all bookings on the entire Kingfisher network as well as through travel agents, the officials said.
Asked why the license was suspended, the officials said the government did not want a situation where the airline, which was on cash-and-carry mode for almost all service providers, re-starts operations and then keeps flying in fits and starts, as has been happening since last year-end.
The airline, promoted by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, which has not operated a single flight since October 1, had been asked to explain by Saturday why its licence should not be suspended or cancelled. However, its response to the show-cause notice issued by the aviation regulator was not satisfactory.
Meanwhile, the airline submitted a reply to the DGCA asking for more time, and did not respond to the main queries by the sector regulator.
The carrier has not been registering any profit since it was founded in 2005 by Mallya. Currently, the airline is operating only 10 aircrafts as against 66 planes a year ago.
Moreover, the debt-ridden carrier is facing a salary backlog of seven months and has been grounded since the start of the month on the back of employee unrest.
