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  • Dec 19th, 2012
  • Comments Off on India’s ailing Kingfisher Airlines to restart in phases
India's grounded and debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines, which has been desperately seeking investment from foreign carriers, said Monday it plans to resume operations in a "phased manner". The airline, owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, has not flown since it suspended operations in October when it was hit by a crippling strike by employees over non-payment of salaries.

The carrier has had its licence suspended by the Indian regulator until it comes up with a "viable" revival plan and is facing eviction from Mumbai airport for non-payment of parking and navigation charges. "We will restart in a phased manner and will provide funding ourselves," said airline spokesman Prakash Mirpuri, who did not specify a time frame.

The company has also come up with "a full recapitalisation plan which will be further discussed with a small designated group of bankers", Mirpuri told AFP in an emailed statement. "We have not asked the banks for any support." A senior executive of state-run State Bank of India, Shyamal Acharya, said Mallya was ready to inject 4.25 billion rupees ($78 million) of his own money into the airline to get it flying again, the Press Trust of India reported. The airline's lenders have set up a six-member core group, including State Bank of India, to keep track of Kingfisher's revival plans, Acharya said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012


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