Will not close down Kingfisher: Vijay Mallya

[EnterTheVoid]

More staff horror stories: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-10-06/news/34293835_1_kfa-employees-kingfisher-airlines-dgca

[Sachin=GOD]

No wages for seven months! Seven months! How long can they work without their wages for? On the other hand, they can't exactly find a job elsewhere quickly as the market is so saturated with engineers, pilots and cabin crew right now. As for those engineers/technicians with highly specialised skills, it will be difficult to branch into a new career at this stage of their life. If Kingfisher goes bust, highly unlikely the banks will see a penny they invested. So, what to do? Sell a stake in United Breweries to keep afloat a sinking airline?

there was news that Mallya is close to selling a majority stake in United Spirits to Diageo - Link

[EnterTheVoid]

The business model was utter bung to begin with - This was neither a full service carrier nor a budget one, it was somewhere in between! While baap and beta live the good life, their employees don't even have enough money to get to work. Dismal stuff.

[Needforspeed]

This fat bhikari should be in prison. He has been running an airline on public money taken from public sector banks .Hasn't paid his employees for months.Hasn't deposited taxes cut from employees salaries for the last two years.Hasn't paid airports,oil companies ,service tax, his aircraft lessors. This man refused point blank to give any personal guarantee in return for fresh loans but almost demands that his airline be given money because according to him it is in national interest. He is so cocky because he has over the years cultivated politicians in every political party.In any country less corrupt than ours this leech would be behind bars.

Spot on. One example of his swindle is this http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3610715.ece?homepage=true And now he wants the government to bail him out. http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=741067 Kingfisher probably is going to take down more of public money than Mallaya's money. There is no way this company can come out of the red.

[Crookbond]

Arrest warrant issued for India billionaire Mallya

NEW DELHI — An Indian court filed an arrest warrant Friday for Vijay Mallya, a Formula One tycoon nicknamed the "King of Good Times", over allegations that cheques written by his troubled airline had bounced. The non-bailable warrant was issued in the local sessions court in the southern city of Hyderabad against Mallya and four other executives in a dramatic escalation of the crisis facing his cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya's whereabouts were not immediately known although a member of his entourage said he was out of the country. The warrant was issued as the airline announced it was extending its shutdown until October 20 due to a dispute with striking staff over wages that have not been paid for seven months. Kingfisher has been grounded for nearly two weeks. "At this time, the airline is hopeful of resuming operations starting October 21st," Kingfisher said in a statement late Friday. The arrest warrant for Mallya was triggered after a complaint was lodged before the court by GHIAL, the operator of Hyderabad airport, over non-payment of bills. "The cases were listed today for the airline to appear in the court," said a GHIAL spokesman. "Since they failed to appear before the magistrate, the court has ordered issuance of NBW (non-bailable warrants) against Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), Vijay Mallya and four other KFA officials," the spokesman added in a statement to AFP. Kingfisher's lawyers had urged the court not to issue the warrants but their request was dismissed by Judge Kedara Chary, said a report from inside the courtroom by the Press Trust of Indian news agency. The cheques for 105 million rupees (around $2 million) were to settle user fees at the airport for services such as the parking of jets and landing charges. Mallya is a cigar-puffing tycoon who inherited his father's beer business and built it into an empire spanning fertilizers, top European alcohol brands, Formula One team Force India and a cricket club, Royal Challengers Bangalore. But the 56-year-old, who is also an independent member of parliament, has come unstuck with Kingfisher Airlines, which was launched in 2005 but has never made a profit. The debt-ridden airline, named after Mallya's biggest beer brand, owes billions of dollars in taxes, airport fees and to staff who have not been paid since April. With its fleet on the ground, it faces the prospect of having its licence cancelled. Negotiations on persuading staff to return to work foundered once again on Friday and the fleet will therefore remain grounded until at least October 20, according to the Press Trust of India. Last week, the wife of an airline technician committed suicide, reportedly because of the financial stress caused by her husband's unpaid wages, leading to renewed scrutiny of Mallya's lavish lifestyle. Mallya owns a yacht, property across the world and a fleet of vintages cars. But his empire is facing an increasing financial crunch. His flagship United Breweries (UB), India's biggest brewer, is in talks to sell a stake of the profitable liquor empire to Diageo, the world's largest distiller, which analysts say could raise $800 million. Hyderabad's police chief Anurag Sharma told AFP his department had not yet received the arrest warrant for Mallya. Once we receive it, "we will see what exactly is the instructions", commissioner Sharma said. There was no immediate comment from Mallya on the latest developments. Calls by AFP to Kingfisher executives' mobile telephones were not answered on Friday but a person who answered the phone at the tycoon's home in New Delhi said he was out of the country. Kingfisher Airlines was India's second-largest airline until a year ago but now it has a market share of just 3.2 percent, the smallest of the country's carriers. A report by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a Sydney-based consultancy, says Kingfisher's debts total $2.49 billion including bank debts of $1.1 billion, and it had accumulated losses of $1.9 billion.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gfg_rQDW9EtNjBoBtprJ4MhT-2pg?docId=CNG.95963beb8bf297a9ef79c36b49fbb0df.4a1

[velu]

Kingfisher Airlines license suspended The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended Kingfisher Airlines license till it does not come up with a revival plan. Kingfisher Airlines had failed to reply to any of the questions posed in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) show cause notice. Instead, the airline has asked for time to reply in person to the notice. In a statement, the debt-ridden airline announced that that it has extended it's ongoing lockout to October 23. Meanwhile, Kingfisher itself remains hopeful of being able to resume operations by November. In a statement issued, it said, "Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has extended the partial lockout until October 23, 2012. We had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17 and are hopeful of reaching common ground when we meet again next week. Currently, we anticipate resuming operations on November 6, subject to our resumption plan being reviewed and approved by the DGCA." The stock fell 4.58 percent to close at Rs 11.45 on Friday, which tanked nearly 18 percent in last 15 days.

SRC

[Sachin=GOD]

Its a step in the right direction but the problem is how will the employees get their salaries...

[Raghav_12]

Kingfisher grounded, Vijay Mallya and son globe trot http://truthdive.com/2012/10/21/kingfisher-grounded-vijay-mallya-and-son-globe-trot.html

New Delhi, Oct 21 (TruthDive) : Vijay Mallya,the liquor baron and owner of Kingfisher Airlines is at Korea to watch his team take part in the FI formula race. His son Siddharth is playing beach volleyball with bikini girls in London and looking out calendar girls. Kingfisher airlines staff and lenders are left in the lurch. With the license being suspended, the staff have no clue of their future as Vijay Mallya did not turn up to meet the aviation minister or DGCA. He was last seen at the shareholders meeting. His personal staff say that he left India in his private jet almost 20 days back. His Airbus ACJ licence is intact even though his Kingfisher operation has been suspended. His private jet has four air hostesses and two pilots. The employees hope that he turns up for the Grand Prix in Delhi so that they can corner him. A wife of an employee of the aircraft carrier earlier committed suicide due to financial crunch. MallyaÃÔ son is in London and keeps posting his activities on Twitter. He tweeted about the post 5 pm rush in pubs and released the promo for the upcoming calendar featuring bikini girls and his beach volleyball (again with bikini girls). Banks have around Rs 7000 crore to get from Kingfisher airlines. Right from the start, the aviation carrier did not make any profit and situation reached the peak in November 2010. The banks infused more money to keep it afloat. Even last month, some banks released some money which was to be used for paying salaries. Airports and aviation fuel suppliers had long back put the airline on cash and carry mode since it defaulted on payments. MallyaÃÔ clout and also that the collateral offered for the Rs 7000 crore is much lower has the banks in a spot if they initiate a legal recovery because they will have to write off several thousand crores.

This duo of Father and Son is absolutely shameless.

[Crookbond]

Sid Mallya's tweet was :haha: Btw, it's their airlines let them behave how they want to. They are not concerned why make a moral police situation out of it? :dontknow: