India Aviation Officials Ask Questions of Kingfisher

India aviation officials are to be asking questions of troubled airline Kingfisher. There has been three days of disruption at Kingfisher and the Indian Aviation Authorities have asked the airline to account for it. There have more than 100 flight cancellations over the last two days leaving many hundreds of passengers stranded.

The airline has experienced large scale cash flow problems that have lead to many staff leaving the company and large scale flight cancellations. The company blame high fuel costs and a weak rupee for its troubles.

The Civil Aviation’s Director General has asked the company’s senior officials to appear before it to explain the situation. The airline has said that the problems and cancellations will continue over the next few days.

Meanwhile a minister for civil aviation has categorically said that the Indian government is not prepared to bail out the company and will not be asking banks or private companies to do so either.

Losses have increased by 75% from October to December according to a spokesperson for the airline which raises new concerns for the company. The company made a loss of around $90m or £57m during that period compared to around half that amount a year earlier. This has lead to the net value of the company being eroded.

These latest figures have raised concerns over the future survival of the Indian airline as it finds it increasingly hard to attract fresh funds.

There have been fresh talks of a Hong Kong based company who may well inject fresh money into the ailing company.

Kingfisher has already stopped the budget airline section of its company in order to cut the losses. The company which started in 2005 has never made a profit.