Kingfisher Airlines lenders will meet promoter Vijay Mallya on December 17 to decide the way forward for the grounded airline which has defaulted on Rs 7,000-crore debt. 

The meeting may seal the fate of the struggling company as the matter had dragged on for more than a year without any concrete plan for revival, said two people familiar with the matter. "The lenders have decided to take a final call on the fate of the airline," said a banker who did not want to be identified. 

The meeting is crucial for Kingfisher Airlines whose flying licence has been suspended since October 20 due to safety reasons and has been seeking financial support from lenders for over a year to revive the company as per an ET report.

Mallya has been struggling to revive the airline that has not turned in a profit since its inception. The delay in the government approving a 49% foreign direct investment in aviation also contributed to the financial woes of the company. Now that the government has given its nod to FDI, the airline is looking for investors, but analysts believe it may be elusive. 

Incidentally, even as banks have lent over Rs 7,000 crore to the airline, the collateral is not enough to recover their dues. Mallya has pledged the Kingfisher House located in Mumbai and a Goa villa with the banks. 

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