Weeks after the aviation regulator warned Kingfisher not to compromise on aviation safety, its promoter Vijay Mallya on Wednesday met DGCA top brass here and discussed the financial and operational recovery plan of the cash-strapped airline.

"He (Mallya) has a recovery plan. It is up to us to see that he keeps to the plan," said DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan after over an hour-long meeting. 

Sources said the airline's plans for its recapitalisation, restoring its curtailed services and the steps being taken by it on safety issues came up for in-depth discussion as per a PTI report.

The summer schedule of Kingfisher is also understood to have been discussed at today's meeting, with the airline believed to have informed the regulator that it would operate 40 planes out of its 64-strong fleet, implying curtailment of the number of flights to be operated by it.

In the Winter Schedule which is in operation till March end, DGCA withdrew as many as 157 slots of Kingfisher which it was not operating as 21 of its planes were grounded.

Earlier this month, Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal had met Bhushan after the airline was asked to submit a time-bound plan on safety issues, on how it would restore its flight schedules curtailed since November and proposals for its recapitalisation.

After a financial surveillance audit which had found widespread sickness in the sector that was seriously impacting safety, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had warned Kingfisher that "a reasonable case exists for withdrawal of their airline operator permit (licence) as their financial stress is likely to impinge on safety."

The audit, carried out by DGCA over three to four months since September last year, found Mallya's airline not flying almost one-third of its scheduled flights, permission for which had been granted by DGCA, due to lack of aircraft.

DGCA also identified safety issues like lack of proper maintenance of aircraft, shortage of commanders, pilots and cabin crew, lack of adequate training, scarcity of aircraft engines and components and crucial spares, Flight Operations Quality Assurance monitoring and delayed disbursal of wages.

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