Passengers wait at the Kingfisher Airlines booking counter in Mumbai on Monday. (AFP)

New Delhi, Feb. 20: The government today ruled out any bailout package for cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines even as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) summoned its chief executive to explain the flight cutbacks without prior intimation.

Kingfisher today cancelled over 30 flights, including those to Bangkok, Singapore, Kathmandu and Dhaka, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at various airports across the country.

The cancellations included 14 flights from Mumbai, seven from Calcutta and six from Delhi.

Promoter Vijay Mallya ruled out the possibility of the airline closing down. “Closing down is not an option. It will not happen. Government does not want it to happen. It is not in national interest,” Mallya said in his first public reaction to the latest crisis.

Sources in the DGCA said the regulator might hold out a threat of cancelling the licence.

“We are certainly looking at severe action against the erring airline. The course of action will of course depend on what the Kingfisher CEO says at the meeting tomorrow,” a DGCA official said.

Senior officials at the DGCA said the last time when the carrier had cancelled flights, it had been warned of a licence cancellation if it curtailed operations without prior information.

Kingfisher in a statement blamed the income tax department for its woes. “The prime reason for the current disruption in our flight schedules is the sudden attachment of our bank accounts by the I-T department. This has severely affected our ability to make operational payments leading to the curtailment. The revised schedule has been updated in the system,” it said.

The airline said it was in talks with the tax authorities on a tax payment plan and on getting the freeze on its bank accounts lifted at the earliest.

“We are appealing to them to see reason that inconvenience to the passengers is not in anybody’s interests. Employee salaries can be paid and the grounded aircraft can be recovered quicker once the bank accounts are unfrozen and the schedule restored on priority,” Kingfisher chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal said.

Ajit stern

The carrier’s hope for some financial assistance was snubbed today with civil aviation minister Ajit Singh ruling out any bailout.

“No, government is not going to (organise) any bailout,” he said.

“The government is not going to ask banks or private industry for that matter (for bailout). Recently, the government had seized their bank accounts. Our first concern is that ongoing flights and passenger safety should not be compromised. Let’s see what reply they give. The DGCA is inquiring into it.”