Troubled Kingfisher Airlines seeks govt help, flight curtailment on

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Facing serious financial turbulence, a major Indian private airliner Kingfisher Airlines has sought government help for a bailout even as it continued its flight curtailment spree for the fifth consecutive day today. The seriousness of the crisis was underlined by the urgent request of Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya made to India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi to help Kingfisher in infusion of funds through banks at low interest rates, besides other concessions in line with what state-owned Air India was getting, sources said. However, there was no official word immediately on whether any step was being taken on Mallya's request made earlier this week. Some 50 pilots and cabin crew did not turn up for duty by reporting sick as over 40 flights were cancelled across its network today. Innumerable passengers across the country cancelled Kingfisher flight tickets to travel by other airlines, though after paying 20-40 per cent higher at the last moment. Apart from taking aircraft off flights to reconfigure and install business class seats in them, airline CEO Sanjay Agarwal told PTI, "We decided to reduce frequency in some of the routes where we had multiple flights like Delhi-Mumbai or low passenger load like Nanded-Mysore." Asked whether they had responded to the show-cause notice issued by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Agarwal said, "We are in close touch with them. We are explaining to them that these cancellations are temporary in nature. We are keeping them informed." DGCA has issued the notice under Rule 140(A) of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, asking Kingfisher why it had not taken the regulator's prior approval to curtail its flight schedules as required by this rule. It has also sought to know whether the airline had taken any step to facilitate the passengers inconvenienced by the cancellations. Meanwhile, all India's public sector oil companies -- HPCL, IOC and BPCL -- have denied extending credit line to the liquor baron Mallya-owned airline and asked it to pay for lifting jet fuel on a daily basis. The airline has suffered a loss of Rs 10.27 billion (about USD 210 mn) in fiscal 2010-11 ended March 31, 2011 and has a mounting debt of Rs 70.57 billion (about USD 1.45 bn). To questions on alleged exodus of pilots and cabin crew from the airline, Agarwal, "There is a process of natural attrition. Pilots and other staff come and go. If you put the number of pilots who have left in over 7-8 months, it could be 100. "This has not happened all of a sudden as is being projected. Not a single Kingfisher flight has been cancelled due to shortage of crew as is being reported. We have over 650 pilots on our rolls now," the airline CEO maintained. Industry sources said the lessors of Kingfisher's leased turboprop ATR aircraft fleet have put the airline on notice and want urgent payments for the lease. The cash-strapped carrier also has unpaid dues to the operators of airports and other agencies, which have also been putting pressure on it to expedite payment. PTI