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Thursday 24-Nov-2011

Kingfisher to shut its sales offices to save Rs 150 cr

The airline says its lessor Aercap to take back 2 planes

By  Traveltechie Bureau | Mumbai

Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines is gradually shuttering sales offices across cities, following a 30% cut in its domestic flights. The move is expected to save the airline around Rs 150 crore.

An email questionnaire on this subject sent to the airline yesterday, did not elicit any response.

Meanwhile, the airline which is desperate to control costs has more then one office in 20 cities including metro and non-metro cities. “The airline has already shut three offices in Kerala and only the sales manager has been retained. He has been provided with a laptop and asked to work out of home, and will be reporting to the airline’s sales office at the airport,” a source in the company told Moneycontrol.com.

The airline is on the verge of shutting its sales office at Nariman point in Mumbai—where office space costs around Rs 35,000 per sq feet. In Delhi, too the airline has an office in the plush Connaught Place which it is likely to close down soon.

By doing so, the airline will save on infrastructure costs as each office is not less then 225 sq feet with 8-10 employees working in it. However, the airline’s two guest care centers at Pune and Mumbai will not perish.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines said on Thursday one of its lessors, AerCap Holdings NV, would take back two of its aircraft in coming months as both the companies could not agree on extension terms.

The two jets were coming up for renewal in the next three months, a spokesman for Kingfisher said.

Kingfisher would add a new aircraft to the fleet in December to replace one of these two, he added.