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Airlines Sing The Blues

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The two steadily-sinking airlines of India continued to make news on Wednesday as the government moved court against the striking Air India pilots and also initiated legal action against Kingfisher Airlines "towards dishonour of the cheques submitted" by the carrier. Jet Airways and Spicejet have also been served notices on overdues, said Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. All but two major airlines in India have defaulted on paying airport charges, said the civil aviation minister. IndiGo, the only profitable airline in the country, and privately-held Go Air have not defaulted on airport payments, Singh told lawmakers in a written reply. The Air India management on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking an order restraining the pilots from going on strike. The court on its part restrained over 200 agitating Air India pilots from continuing their "illegal strike", reporting sick and staging demonstrations, a day after the airlines management sacked 10 pilots and derecognised their union The judge also said allowing such a strike to continue will cause irreparable loss to the company as well as huge inconvenience to the passengers travelling by the national carrier. Admitting that pilots are most important group in any airlines and could even shut down carriers if they want, Singh said pilots should understand their responsibilites as well. "Air India is almost bankrupt. (It) is not able to pay salaries for months, not paid to airport authority and oil marketing companies," he said, adding the government is trying to revive Air India by infusing Rs 30,000 crore of "public money" over a period of time, but there are strings attached. The minister also said the government has "a back-up plan (to deal with strike)...We can downsize...If employees are not interested that Air India should expand, then government is not going to provide money to it." "If you keep striking on such issues every three months, then we are not ready to invest public money in Air India," said the minister. Section of Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild went on strike on Wednesday following failure of talks with the Air India management. The IPG pilots have been agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression. "Four flights have been cancelled today, two each from Delhi and Mumbai," Air India spokesperson said in New Delhi. Around 200 Air India pilots owing allegiance to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) had reported sick on Tuesday resulting in cancellation of at least 13 international flights. The pilots have been protesting against rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training. Kingfisher To Start Paying Jan Salaries Earlier, Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya wrote in a letter to employees that it will start paying January salaries starting from Wednesday, as the debt-laden carrier struggles to retain staff. Last month, on April 19, Kingfisher Airlines began the process of importing aviation fuel, in a move that could help the cash-strapped carrier bring down its fuel bill but present substantial and costly logistical challenges. High fuel prices are just one of the issues plaguing India's ailing airline industry, but a recent decision allowing direct import of jet fuel by airlines is no panacea due to the large costs of setting up storage and supply infrastructure. "Kingfisher Airlines has received authorisation from the Director General of Foreign Trade for the import of aviation turbine fuel ... and we are taking active steps to initiate the process of ATF import," the company said in a statement. SpiceJet Ltd, another airline, said on Wednesday it had approval to begin direct ATF imports, which account for around half of Indian carriers' operating costs. Debt-laden Kingfisher, which has slashed its services as banks refuse to extend loans to the carrier, has become a byword for the troubled industry which is expected to have lost up to $3 billion in the fiscal year that ended in March, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Direct imports could bring down fuel costs by 15 to 20 per cent, according to industry analysts, but setting up the infrastructure to import, store and deliver the fuel to their aircraft would require large upfront costs. Oil and gas major Reliance Industries said in February it was in talks with a number of airlines to provide jet fuel infrastructure and transport services. India's airlines were previously required to buy fuel from marketing companies including state run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, which are mandated to levy various federal and state taxes. (With Agencies)