Kingfisher Airlines may cut its fleet from the existing 64 planes as it struggles to stay afloat.

Kingfisher runs a mix of Airbus A320, Airbus A330 and ATR type planes and 90 per cent of them are on lease. The lease terms of about 20 Airbus A320 planes are due for renewal in the next three-four months. Some of the Airbus and ATR lessors are now trying to repossess their planes, as some of the grounded aircraft have been stripped of components to keep other planes flying.

In November, leasing company AerCap took back two leased planes from the airline as per a report in Business Standard by Aneesh Phadnis & Raghuvir Badrinath.

“Kingfisher is seeking 15-30 per cent discount in lease rentals. It has also asked the lessors to release security deposits amounting to $200 million. The lessors are unlikely to accept all the requests and eventually its fleet size will shrink if the leases don’t get renewed,” an airline insider said. The airline says it will use the money parked with lessors to repay its debt.

The airline posted losses of over Rs 700 crore in the first half of financial year 2011-12 and has debt in excess of Rs 6,000 crore. 

“We have begun returning leased planes. The management is also in dialogue with other companies to take on lease one or two planes but it all depends on the availability of funds,” sources in the airline said.