Comments
Kingfisher Airlines has said that it would normalise the entire flight schedule in the next 3-4 months. It made a detailed presentation to the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday.
The DGCA officials, meanwhile, refused to comment on what transpired in the meeting citing commercial interests of the airline.
However, they confirmed that the airline gave its version on flight schedule and recovery plan.
The regulator had summoned the top official of the airline to explain the reasons behind continued flight cancellations and their plans to restore normal schedule.
When contacted, the CEO of the airline, Mr Sanjay Agarwal, said: “The number of cancelled flights is 50-55 and these flights will be restored in the next 3-4 months.”
The airline, in a statement on November 8, announced that it had reduced frequency on some of its flights, which are predominantly over weekends or on some routes where there has been slow demand.
Temporary modification
For a limited period, these flights are either being cancelled or clubbed with other KFA flights in a well-controlled pre-determined manner.
The statement also said that the airline has initiated reconfiguration of its aircraft. This exercise will require few of the aircrafts to be out of service for the next few weeks, requiring a temporary modification of some of the flight schedules. Once the reconfiguration is complete, these aircraft will be pressed back into service immediately, it added.
Reconfiguration
The airline's schedule has been disrupted since November 7, resulting in major inconvenience to passengers.
Daily cancellations have already prompted the industry to raise fares. Jet and SpiceJet have already admitted that fares during the first fortnight of November were at least 20 per cent higher than the previous month. Now, the rise could be much steeper, an industry expert said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.