After cancelling 50 flights every day till November 19, the country’s second-largest carrier Kingfisher Airlines indicating to government that it is looking at curtailing 200 flights from its daily winter schedule of 418 domestic flights.
Moreover, around 130 pilots have already quit the cash-strapped carrier in the past few weeks. Also, airport operators, oil companies and vendors of all imaginable items have massive dues running with Kingfisher and are demanding that owner Vijay Mallya pay up. Given the shortage of crew and funds, the airline has truncated its schedule, perhaps opting to fly less and spend less.
With a 20% market share, Kingfisher carries one crore domestic flyers a year. This roughly translates into nine lakh passengers a month. If flights are cut by half, 4 lakh passengers will be left in the lurch. Other airlines are also flying with over 80% occupancy and do not have excess capacity to absorb the passengers booked on Kingfisher’s cancelled flights.
To fill the gap, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airports to provide a list of unutilized slots so that other airlines may be allowed to fly in those time slots. Even Mumbai airport - the most constrained in the country with no free slots - has suddenly unutilized slots with Kingfisher cancelling flights.
