After licence suspension, the grounded Kingfisher Airline (KFA) faces the prospect of its licence not getting renewed and expiring.
Highly-placed government sources said licence of KFA will expire on December 31 and it cannot be renewed unless the management is able to get the suspension revoked by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before that.
Revalidating a lapsed licence is a very difficult task, though licence cancellation is preferable in which an airline would need to start from scratch to fly again. "An airline operating permit (AOP, read licence) that is suspended cannot be renewed.
A suspended licence must first be revived and only then can it be extended," former DGCA chief Kanu Gohain said. So now, KFA chief Vijay Mallya has to prepare a revival plan, raise funds and convince DGCA to lift suspension in time to get a renewal.
Or else, KFA faces three options - remaining grounded for a long time, shutting down or a new investor restarting operations possibly under a new name by reviving the lapsed licence. India has seen examples of each of these three options.
Many airlines like EastWest that started in late 1990s have shut down. Paramount and MDLR airlines had their licences suspended over three years back and are yet to restart operations.
Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines today said it is working on a comprehensive revival plan which will be given to aviation regulator DGCA in the next few weeks.
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