Kingfisher Airlines' ( KFA) fleet size will shrink further in the next few days.
This follows the impending deregistration and eventual return of at least five ATR aircraft. The turbo-prop aircraft are used for flights to secondary cities.
In the last few days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) received a letter from a lawyer firm to deregister the five ATR aircraft. Sources indicated that the exit of the aircraft will not affect the operations of KFA as the new schedule does not include them.
Industry sources claim that the number of narrow body aircraft being deregistered could more than double. The narrow body aircraft in the airline's fleet include Airbus A-320 and ATR. Industry sources point out that another five aircraft could also be taken back by the lessors.
KFA officials were not immediately available for comment. However, earlier the airline had indicated that with rising losses and banks accounts being frozen, each route and aircraft was being carefully looked at to see which ones were viable.
The airline is currently operating a fleet of 20 aircraft of which 16 are used to operate flights. Earlier, the airline operated a fleet of more than 60 aircraft. It now operates about 120 daily flights, down from more than the 400 flights earlier.
More time:
The airline got some respite with the Central Board of Excise and Customs indicating that it “might” give the airline some more time to settle its service tax dues. “We cannot kill the airline. We might give some more time to clear dues beyond March 31,” senior Finance Ministry officials said. The airline agreed to pay Rs10 crore of the Rs76-crore service tax dues this fiscal. The Department has frozen at least 40 airline accounts to recover the dues.
....more info
This follows the impending deregistration and eventual return of at least five ATR aircraft. The turbo-prop aircraft are used for flights to secondary cities.
In the last few days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) received a letter from a lawyer firm to deregister the five ATR aircraft. Sources indicated that the exit of the aircraft will not affect the operations of KFA as the new schedule does not include them.
Industry sources claim that the number of narrow body aircraft being deregistered could more than double. The narrow body aircraft in the airline's fleet include Airbus A-320 and ATR. Industry sources point out that another five aircraft could also be taken back by the lessors.
KFA officials were not immediately available for comment. However, earlier the airline had indicated that with rising losses and banks accounts being frozen, each route and aircraft was being carefully looked at to see which ones were viable.
The airline is currently operating a fleet of 20 aircraft of which 16 are used to operate flights. Earlier, the airline operated a fleet of more than 60 aircraft. It now operates about 120 daily flights, down from more than the 400 flights earlier.
More time:
The airline got some respite with the Central Board of Excise and Customs indicating that it “might” give the airline some more time to settle its service tax dues. “We cannot kill the airline. We might give some more time to clear dues beyond March 31,” senior Finance Ministry officials said. The airline agreed to pay Rs10 crore of the Rs76-crore service tax dues this fiscal. The Department has frozen at least 40 airline accounts to recover the dues.
....more info