Problems facing Civil Aviation in India.

[Param]

Vijay M maybe flamboyant, but see the video of the link and see how his mind works.

He is a King of Good Times, but he knows his onions.


As far as Praf Patel, well, he knows his onions too!

Soon, he will also face the wrath of the law and the people!

Air India's Pandora's box is about to explode!

But no Swamy is interested in Air India only 2G.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

niira radia on praful patel on how he destroyed the AI for emirates. on why the AI was on purpose being attempted to be sold to the TATA's, a deal not allowed by the PM.


on how the minister worked for naresh goel and mallya (in conversation with nk singh):

www.outlookindia.com | 'I Think He (Praful Patel) Has Worked As A Minister For Naresh Goyal' (you can listen to the audio there)

excerpt:

NK:By the way, Praful would be very unhappy, because every old guy has been given an elevation, leg up. But he has been kept waiting. He could have been made cabinet minister for civil aviation.NR: But he has destroyed the sector. I am sorry....I do have a view on this. He hasn't done justice to the sector.
NK: I think he has worked as a minister for Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways).
NR: Now he works for Mallya. That's it. Look at the way he has destroyed the national carrier.
NK: The national carrier has gone into decline. In my view they should have shuffled him around a bit.

i very distinctly recall niira radia putting a figure to the amount made by praful patel as a civil aviation minister and i think she was in conversation with suhel seth (not very sure if it was with suhel seth), not able to find the link to that conversation and even in that the accusations were flying thick and fast on how KF and JA were propped up and AI on purpose taken for a ride.

 

[Yusuf]

Kingfisher cancels 12 flights due to crew shortage, fuel problems

Kingfisher cancels 12 flights due to crew shortage, fuel problems - The Times of India

 

[Bangalorean]

The fuck is wrong with Mallya? Very disappointing. I had high hopes on Kingfisher.

They can still bounce back, maybe... but I expected much better.

 

[sob]

Just by putting PYT in a nice uniform does not make a business successful. The amount of time and attention that Dr.M spent on personally selecting the Air Crew, would have been spent on other aspects of the airline business, things would have been different for KF Airlines.

Even their auditor had warned them earlier in the year that the current business model and the condition of the company had put even survival at doubt.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

chicken are coming home to roost!

as sumeet is suggesting, KF was never really run professionally, so there you have it.

mr mallya must be so desperate to have a certain someone making a comeback as the civil aviation minister, who then can run the company for him.

 

[Yusuf]

Question is what happens next if both KF and AI get grounded?

 

[sob]

Prices of tickets would rocket. Also the only airline with money in it's pockets --Indigo is going to expand like hell and would occupy most of the space vacated by IA and KF. Jet would also be the gainer in this scenario.

 

[Armand2REP]

Wasn't Kingfisher one of India's better airlines? I have never flown it but will never fly Air India again.

 

[The Messiah]

The fuck is wrong with Mallya? Very disappointing. I had high hopes on Kingfisher.

They can still bounce back, maybe... but I expected much better.

kingfisher is in very bad shape financially.

indigo is best and is also financially better run than any airline in India.

 

[Daredevil]

Well there were many financially unsound mistakes made by Mallya.

He expanded too fast in too little time. He ordered a lot of planes at one go when it was required.
He bought Air Deccan to gain entry into international Arena but it was costly to operate and recession had its effect.
He had too many planes to operate and too little revenue generated from them. As a result - descent to bankruptcy.

The King of good times is fast becoming the King of bad times. If it were not for UB, his whole group would have collapsed long ago.

No-frills airlines will rule the roost in India.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

Question is what happens next if both KF and AI get grounded?

message is out loud and clear, have sustainable business models.

the impact will be, the no frill airlines will come out as winners, and it is them who will expand and dominate. anyways, KF is too big and too important to fall and i dont see how that will be allowed, wont be surprised if some sort of concessions get made for mr mallya.

AI wont be grounded, its a cash cow for some. your and my money is always cheap so the bailouts will keep happening, what they really require is a minister who works for this airline, and appoints a management which has best interests of the airline or one day as a part of a bigger conspiracy, AI will be sold of to someone like tata and we all will very happy assuming it happened for the larger good.

in all this i feel bad for air deccan, captain gopinath would have done a lot better justice to that airlines.

 

[sob]

Even Jet seems to be facing the heat.

Weighed down by fuel costs, huge competition; Jet Airways may dump 10% staff - The Economic Times

Jet Airways may cut up to 10% of its workforce as it grapples with a relentless rise in fuel costs and intense competition on key routes from low-fare rivals.

Three top executives of the Mumbai-based airline told ET the management had conveyed the decision to senior members in a meeting in October. Though the target of up to 10% (or about 1,000 employees) was conveyed verbally, a letter sent a few days after the meeting (last week of October) asked all department heads to prepare for layoffs in their departments.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

its getting nastier by the day. at least the rivals must be happy with all the traffic being diverted their way. have the prices been jacked up in the past one week by the rivals?

Kingfisher cancels 50 flights a day starting Wednesday

Flyers fume as Kingfisher cancels 50 flights a day - The Times of India

Excerpts:

cash-strapped KF said it was cancelling 50 flights every day starting Wednesday, up from 34 announced a day earlier.

Caught off-guard, many passengers were grounded while others hurriedly rebooked on other airlines paying a premium of up to 20%.

E R Bharat Bhushan, director-general of civil aviation, told TOI, "We have issued a showcause notice and are waiting for a written statement from the airline."

It remains to be seen if the aviation ministry cracks the whip or lets the airline off with just a warning. The maximum punishment that can be handed out for such a sudden large scale cancellation of flights and putting passengers to huge inconvenience in this peak travel season is cancellation of licence to fly.

not that revocation of the licence is on the cards, but it seems KF will lose a lot of market like what happened to maruti recently.

any news on their share value?

 

[sob]

Surprisingly the fares have not budged at all. A week back i was checking Delhi-Chennai return flight for the 1st week of December and the cheapest was Rs. 7500 through Indigo. Today when i just checked the prices are the same.
Also since last 3-4 days I have been receiving mailers from Jet advertising low fares with the Tag line- I love LoFares.

To me it looks like there is a drop in air traffic, reflecting the current economic condition. The airlines instead of increasing the fare are now looking to aggressively fill in the empty seats, so that they could recover the fixed costs at least.

 

[nrj]

Word just in, GOI may help KF.

Pranab Mukharjee asking states to lower fuel taxes & banks to extend loans to liquor mallya

 

[Yusuf]

TR, Capt Gopinath still regrets selling his baby to Mallya.

 

[sob]

Kingfisher Airlines: is it time to bid adieu? | Firstpost


On Friday, The Economic Times reported that lessors of Kingfisher Airlines plan to take back aircraft leased to the airline amid growing doubts about the future of the company and its strategy. If that happens, the airline will struggle not just with fewer pilots but also fewer aircraft, which could soon lead it to shutting operations altogether.The Times of India also reported that about 130 pilots had quit the cash-strapped airline in the past few weeks on worries about the future and salaries.
Clearly, unless the airline gets a financial lifeline from somewhere, it's difficult to see it surviving for too long in its current form.

The airline, burdened by debt of Rs 6,500 crore, is currently unable to access funds from either banks or the equity markets even as it loses about Rs 3-4 crore a day, according to The Economic Times. Indeed, in late September, research firm Veritas Invest said Kingfisher Airlines was already "bankrupt", according to a Firstpost story. The research firm also said the airline would need Rs 3,000-4,000 crore to get back on its feet.

 

[sob]

Govt bailout for Kingfisher? | Firstpost

TV reports say that Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya has spoken to the aviation ministry about bailing out the cash-strapped airline.

The aviation ministry has, in turn, spoken to the finance ministry on the issue, reports said.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee may talk to banks to extend loans to the beleaguered airline.

Sources at the aviation ministry said while an Air India-type recast is not possible for Kingfisher Airlines, oil companies might be asked to extend credit on fuel purchases to the airline.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

I am really tempted to say this. Trying to put in my side of the twist.

You chaps recall jet airways crisis, when they were trying to down size, and there was this huge uproar all over to the extent raj Thackeray stepped in and asked naresh goyal to not hand out pink slips, or he will have to face the consequences.

There was this article, I think posted by Sumeet here, which mentioned KF is looking to do away with the low cost airline business and only keep the full service airline business, I suspect mr mallya is playing a fast one here.

For some reason it is what is coming across to me, its not as if the debt has grown over night that it has become too hot to handle, and mr mallya I would imagine is too smart to let go of this business just like this.

They wanted to do away with low cost airline business, cut down the number of employees and the airplane fleet, and if we look at it, that is precisely what is happening, but here is a situation where people are voluntary moving out, and the GoI is walking in to "save" the airline.

If this is what is happening, boy you have an extra smart chap in mr mallya calling the shots.