INTRODUCTION Kingfisher Airlines Limited is an airline group based in India. Its head office is in Andheri (East), Mumbai and Registered Office in UB City, Bangalore. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red. The airline had been facing financial issues for many years. Until December 2011, Kingfisher Airlines had the second largest share in India's domestic air travel market. However due to a severe financial crisis faced by the airline at the beginning of 2012, it has the lowest market share since April 2012. The airline had shut down its operations when on October 20, 2012 the DGCA suspended its flying license. This suspension had been due to failure to give an effective response to the show- cause notice issued by DGCA. However, The airline had locked out its employees for several days before this suspension. On 25 October 2012, the employees agreed to return to work. On 7 June 2010 Kingfisher became a member elect of the Oneworld airline alliance when it signed a formal membership agreement. Kingfisher confirmed on the 20 December 2011 that it will join the Oneworld airline alliance on 10 February 2012. Kingfisher would have been the first Indian carrier to join one of the big airline alliances. However on February 3, 2012, owing to bad financial situation and two days after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) clearing house suspended Kingfisher Airlines; the airlines participation to Oneworld has been put on hold. History Kingfisher Airlines was established in 2003. It is owned by the Bengaluru based United Breweries Group. The airline started commercial operations in 9 May 2005 with a fleet of four new Airbus A320-200s operating a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. It started its international operations on 3 September 2008 by connecting Bengaluru with London. Kingfisher's head office is located in The Qube in Andheri (East), Mumbai and its registered office is located in UB City, Bangalore. Its head office was previously in the Kingfisher House in Vile Parle (East), Mumbai. In 2012 Vijay Mallya was trying to sell the Vile Parle Kingfisher House. With the freezing of the bank accounts of the airline by the Indian Income Tax Department, the airline entered a period of 1 financial unrest. Following are the year by year financial results of Kingfisher Airlines, all values are depicted in Indian rupee (INR) crore except EPS, which is in plain INR. In September 2011, the chairman and managing director of Kingfisher Airlines made following disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE); "The Company has incurred substantial losses and its net worth has been eroded. However, having regard to improvement in the economic sentiment, rationalization measures adopted by the Company, fleet recovery and the implementation of the debt recast package with the lenders and promoters including conversion of debt into share capital, these interim financial statements have been prepared on the basis that the Company is a going concern and that no adjustments are required to the carrying value of assets and liabilities" This filing was widely covered by Indian and international print and electronic media and analysts. It was stated by analysts and media that the company needed capital infusion to remain viable and this has pushed shares to near historic lows. Kingfisher Airlines Lenders later stated that they consider that company is viable. On 15 November 2011 the airline released poor financial results, indicating that it was "drowning in high-interest debt and losing money". Mallya indicated that his solution was for the government to reduce fuel and other taxes. The government was engaged in assessing whether to bail out the company and other airlines or let market forces determine which ones survive. Ever since the airline commenced operations in 2005, it has been reporting losses. After acquiring Air Deccan, Kingfisher suffered a loss of over 1,000 crore (US$182 million) for three consecutive years. By early 2012, the airline accumulated losses of over Rs. 7,000 crore (US$ 1.27 billion) with half of its fleet grounded and several members of its staff going on strike. Kingfisher's position in top Indian airlines on the basis of market share had slipped to last from 2 because of the crisis. In December 2011, for the second time in two months, Kingfisher's bank accounts were frozen by the Mumbai Income Tax department for non-payment of dues. Kingfisher Airlines owes 70 crore (US$12.74 million) to the service tax department. Indian tax body also stated that Kingfisher Airlines is delinquent On 20 October 2012, Kingfisher's licence was suspended by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation after it failed to address the Indian regulator's concerns about its operations. On Feb 25, 2013, its international flying rights and domestic slots were scrapped by the Indian aviation authorities. Destinations 2 As of 10 April 2012, Kingfisher Airlines served 25 domestic destinations within India. It had suspended all international operations from 10 April 2012 with the final flight between London Heathrow and Delhi. When the airline is flying, all routes are now operated with the Airbus A320 family, ATR 42s and ATR 72 aircraft. Its first long haul destination was London, United Kingdom which was launched in September 2008. It had plans to launch new long haul flights to cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania with deliveries of new aircraft. All long haul routes used to be operated on the Airbus A330-200. MISSION STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVE OF THE COMPANY Kingfisher Airlines passion is to deliver a world-class experience to its flyers. And since work and play can go hand-in-hand, they want to make sure that guests get some time to relax in the skies after several pressing commitments and stressful work obligations. Their objective is to be personally involved and ensure that every Kingfisher aircraft meets the global standards that I have set in terms of safety. They have also introduced a brand-new fleet which incorporates the latest technology available and in spite of the personalized entertainment system for personal viewing and listening pleasure, they manage a unique class price between low cost carrier and contemporary competitor‘s class. Creating an environment that feels first class but is in the budget. Read more: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/marketing-and-management-strategies- of-kingfisher-airlines-marketing-essay.php#ixzz2MRZiKMsC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingfisher_Airlines 3 FINANCIAL PROBLEMAS The saga of Kingfisher Airlines‘ financial problems and its potential bailout exposes ugliest face of Indian business—crony capitalism, breakdown in corporate governance, poor regulation, banking impurdence and complete lack of accountability at all levels. Ironically, it is happening at a time whey Dr Veerappa Moily, minister for corporate affairs made an impassioned speech in Mumbai urging corporate India to have better governance standards, talked about protecting investors and spoke of instituting patriotism awards for Indian companies. The Kingfisher story, clearly anticipated and documented by Veritas, a Canadian research firm, in September 2011 has played out as anticipated by this hard hitting report. The report titled, ‗A Pie in the Sky‘ wrote: UB Holdings (‗UB‘ or the ‗Company‘), the parent of Kingfisher Airlines (‗KAIR‘ or ‗Kingfisher‘), is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, and incidentally, so is KAIR. It also says that the true state of affairs are not reflected in the share price of the company and warned, right then, that investors should ―sell the stock and salvage whatever value they can‖ out of it. Unfortunately, under pressure from our government, Indian bankers were in no position to do the same. Veritas also examines the state of the parent UB Holdings, in a report whose title says it all: ―Debt Recast: Deadman Walking …‖ but more about that later. What can be a more forthright description of the state of affairs than this? Veritas writes: ―We believe that KAIR‘s book equity has been wiped out although audited financials pretend otherwise. The airline is burning cash at a rapid rate, we estimate Rs301.10 core ($ 65 million) in the first quarter of 2011-12, is in a business that requires capital perpetually, has no pricing power given six carriers fighting over the major hubs in India, is dependent on the vagaries of the price of oil and the largesse of state-run financial institutions in India, and its parent UB has run out of financial room to accommodate the needs of this capital-starved child. Moreover, in spite of the so-called debt recast, we believe that once the non-cancelable operating and financing lease commitments of KAIR are included, KAIR‘s enterprise value is less than its contractually required cash obligations, implying negative residual equity value for KAIR, as illustrated in Figure 1. (All USD amounts @1USD = Rs46.45, 9th September 2011).‖ Despite this situation, in the past five months, banks have done nothing to prevent Vijay Mallya continuing to burn cash as this rate, even to protect their own and ultimately taxpayers‘ money. So bad are Kingfisher Airlines‘ finances that they will drag down its parent United Breweries, too. But that is if Dr Mallya is ever made to pay and if banks are not forced to swallow his 4 losses. Veritas says: ―UB, which has marketable assets of Rs4713.40 crore ($ 1,037 million), compared to guarantees provided on behalf of KAIR of Rs16,853 crore ($ 3,638 million), is also staring into a black hole. We believe that the ill-conceived foray into the airline business has already cost UB shareholders dearly, and that their ownership of India‘s premier liquor and beer assets has been sacrificed at the altar of egoistic ambitions.