Kingfisher blames tax action for flight disruptions

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SME Times News Bureau | 21 Feb, 2012
Kingfisher Airlines Monday admitted that the sudden attachment of its bank accounts by the Income Tax Department has led to the crisis affecting its flight operations, leading to cancellations across its network.

According to a statement here Monday evening, the KFA said that the I-T action "has severely affected our ability to make operations payments leading to the present curtailment (of flight operations)".

However, the KFA was engaged in talks with the I-T authorities to work out a payment plan and get the bank accounts defreezed at the earliest by appealing them to consider the inconvenience faced by its passengers, it said.

The statement added that once the bank accounts are unfrozen, employees' salaries can be paid and the grounded aircraft can also be recovered faster to enable restoration of the flight schedules.

"About 15 percent of our flights operating consistently for the past three months have been cancelled and we have done and are doing our best to inform guests in advance of cancellations and clubbing and to re-book them on other carriers," an official airlines spokesperson said, adding that full refunds are also being offered to those wanting it.

Referring to the show-cause notice issued by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, the official said that the KFA has "been in touch with the DGCA to keep them informed of the disruptions".

"We will appear before the DGCA tomorrow (Tuesday) and submit all details they want and also a plan to restore the full schedule. We would like to reassure that there are absolutely no safety issues with the aircraft that are operating," the official said.

Though the KFA has been meeting with its consortium of bankers since last week, the official said that "we have not approached the Government of India for any bail-out."

He assured that KFA has sufficient number of flight and cabin crews to operate its regular schedules and regretted inconvenience to passengers due to the current disruptions.