Kingfisher Airlines faced the combined wrath of passengers and the government as the fifth day of flight cancellations on Monday prompted travel firms to shut their doors on the airline, snapping a key lifeline and dimming prospects of an early revival.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country's top aviation regulator, summoned the airline's boss for an emergency meeting on Tuesday and said the company was not following the revival plan submitted to the regulator.

"Clearly, Kingfisher has not been able to implement the recovery plan that they submitted last month. I have called Sanjay (Aggarwal) tomorrow to ask him why this is so and why have flights been cancelled another time without information. Then we'll decide what can be done," said EK Bharat Bhushan, director-general of civil aviation.

Some of the big-ticket travel operators, who advise corporate and business travelers, have dumped Kingfisher and told customers to look for alternatives when they travel for important business meetings as per an ET report.

"Kingfisher today is not an airline of choice for either travel agents or passengers and loss of confidence in the airline is the gravest challenge it faces today. Everybody is hesitant to book the airline as passengers are not refunded for a failed takeoff and this is the reason we are advising not to book Kingfisher," said Ajay Prakash, president, Travel Agents Federation of India.

The federation accounts for 70% of the entire ticket inventory sold in the country. The airline has pulled out inventory on various routes from travel portals like makemytrip.com while firms such as Travelocity are not selling Kingfisher tickets to avoid compensation to passengers.

A severe cash crunch, caused by high debt and intense competition, has forced the country's third-largest airline to cut operations. It is now operating 160 flights versus the normal schedule of 260 flights every day.

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