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Banks reluctant to bail out Kingfisher Airlines

NEW DELHI: A public pitch by civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi on Friday for a financial bailout for Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines appears to have failed to move lenders or the finance ministry. They seem unwilling to provide fresh support, arguing that the promoters first need to infuse capital. Although lenders led by the State Bank of India are meeting on Saturday, bankers are of the view that they may not be in a position to take a further hit and claim the loss-making airline has not fulfilled all the commitments it had undertaken when a debt restructuring was undertaken last December. The divergence in the government came to the fore on a day when the companys stocks plunged to a lifetime low. Although Kingfisher on Friday disputed TOIs front page report that on Thursday it operated only 269 flights, or 64% of its winter schedule of 418, director general of civil aviation E K Bharat Bhushan publicly said slot utilization was only 64%, and added that the unutilized slots might be allotted to other carriers (detailed report on Page 14). The operational and financial troubles at Indias second largest airline by market share prompted Ravi to take up cudgels on its behalf. He said he would speak to the finance minister to get some assistance from the lead banks for the airline.

                                                                                                               
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