All Kingfisher flights in operation to go through safety audits, DGCA

Pulling up Kingfisher Airlines, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Tuesday asked the cash-strapped airline to come up with a revised schedule by Wednesday for the 28 out of the 64 aircraft that are in operation.

Kingfisher Airlines' CEO Sanjay Agarwal met the DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan to explain the large-scale disruption of operations and the reasons behind them. Airlines need prior approval of the DGCA to curtail their flight schedules. He also said, "There is no shortage of pilots and there are adequate number of pilots to sustain operations."

The aviation regulator said that all Kingfisher airlines' flights in operation will go through safety audits. It said that Kingfisher airlines' officials have assured that salary arrears will be cleared and adequate information will be given to the passengers before cancellations.

The carrier cancelled more flights on Tuesday. While 13 flights were cancelled from Mumbai, 8 were cancelled from Kolkata and four from Delhi leaving many passengers stranded. The major air route of Mumbai-Delhi was the worst-hit with maximum cancellations and clubbing of flights.

The Airlines faced fresh problems on Monday with 34 pilots quitting and a large number of staff being put on notice.

The resignation of the pilots have taken the total number of those who have quit to about 80 since last October, industry sources said.

Kingfisher has been suffering from a severe cash crunch that has culminated into the Income Tax authorities freezing its bank accounts last week on grounds of non-payment of tax dues.

The carrier had on Monday cancelled 30 flights including those to Bangkok, Singapore, Kathmandu and Dhaka, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at various airports across the country.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters, "We have to hear out Kingfisher. We don't know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normal schedule. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer".

He also said that in any industry closure of one unit creates trouble for the entire industry and added that steps have to be taken to see that Kingfisher restores its flight schedule and passengers are not inconvenienced.