Kingfisher statement on flight plans

Posted by- Neelam Mathews
Feb 18, 2012

In true Kingfisher style, have finally got a statement a few minutes back, reproduced below. 

For some reason, the night owl  - as always- is at work here.

There have been no references to the Kolkata airport issue. If KF sees that news as sensational, it needs to get its house in order! No reason has been given as to why it will take 4 days to get back to normal ops, besides bird strikes, that seem to be the perrogative of Kingfisher alone.

As usual, it is the media to blame for sensationalizing hard facts such as AOGs that have increased, etc etc. 

 Here is the statement-

1.     With great respect to our friends in the media, it is not desirable to magnify or sensationalise any issue pertaining to Kingfisher Airlines.

2.     We would like to categorically state that we have not shut any stations nor do we have any intention of doing so.

3.     Admittedly there have been flight disruptions since yesterday which will continue for four days due to unexpected events including bird strikes which rendered aircraft out of service. We, therefore could only operate 208 daily flights.

4.     The speculative queries that we are reducing our operating schedule from 240 flights a day are ill-founded as we will operate the full schedule on our booking system within the next 4 days.

5.     There have been queries on whether we have been selling low fares. We cannot possibly understand the logic or motivation behind such a question as we, ourselves, announced that we intend focussing on the full service segment where our yields are higher. This low fare question was initially attributed to Air India and it seems to be Kingfisher's turn now to respond to questions from vested interests.

6.     We confirm that our Bank accounts were attached by the tax authorities. However, this has happened in the past not just to us but also to Air India. We have resolved issues before and will do so again.

7.     We have had a good meeting with our consortium of Banks who have accepted, in principle, the viability study prepared by SBI Capital markets and independent consultants. Our request for additional working capital has been acknowledged by the consortium and is subject to individual bank approvals.

8.     We would appreciate it if media would present a balanced and factual picture rather than adopt a wholly negative posture against Kingfisher which, regrettably has been the case.

Prakash Mirpuri

Vice President - Corporate Communications