DGCA Orders Kingfisher Safety Audit

There have been questions over the safety of Kingfisher Airlines’ planes lately, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) director general EK Bharat Bhushan met with airline chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal this week to discuss the issue, among other things. The carrier has been cancelling many flights in the last few days and has been left with only 28 aircraft out of a total 58 to fly. Leasing companies have already repossessed some planes.

After the meeting, Bhushan reassured travellers booked to fly with Kingfisher Airlines that safety is a top priority and hasn’t been compromised. However, he did say that his DGCA team will carry out a special safety audit on the aircraft that are currently in operation at the airline.

The DGCA was annoyed with the Kingfisher’s cancellations, as it hadn’t been notified of the changes beforehand, while passengers were left stranded at a moment’s notice. Bhushan said that the regulator doesn’t want passengers to be affected. He has given Kingfisher until today to create a comprehensive schedule change. They want to see the airline back on its feet, so they don’t want to punish the company due to the immediate trouble the travelling public would face.

When Kingfisher Airlines suddenly cut some of its flights in November, Bhushan continued, they asked the carrier to produce a revised schedule. The DGCA has reviewed the situation and have found that, with 28 planes, the airline will only be able to operate 175 flights day, compared to the 400 listed on its winter schedule. They have to hear the carrier. When big businesses collapse, it affects people, and banks certainly can’t be lobbied to bail out all the companies that are struggling.

Aggarwal declined to go into detail about the meeting with the DGCA, but told journalists that the airline’s cancelled scheduled will be restored by the beginning of next week. For measures to revive the carrier, management is believed to have told the regulator that it may have to return some aircraft to their leasing companies, as the leases have been terminated to bring down losses.

As for refunds, Bhushan said that the DGCA can’t act against carriers who price fares on the higher range of their pricing brackets. If a passenger books a ticket 15 days before their flight and then has to rebook due to a cancelled service, they will have to pay the difference. He didn’t say, however, what would happen for passengers booked to fly on routes where Kingfisher has a monopoly or is one of two carriers.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher has been losing pilots because it’s not paying them. In just the last week, 50 pilots resigned – most of which joined rival IndiGo. The lack of payments has been going on since December, and the DGCA has pointed out that the carrier has assured salaries for that month will be paid soon, while all other dues will be paid by March 20. However, the regulator isn’t taking action against the pilots who are quitting.

Sources at Kingfisher say the carrier paid Rs 21 crore to the Income Tax department on Tuesday, which was to go towards its tax dues. They are said to be expecting frozen bank accounts to be de-attached. This follows the airline blaming, on Monday, the Income Tax authorities for its financial struggle, as freezing its accounts resulted in its service cancellations. The company’s Income Tax dues are more than Rs 100 crore.