Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines has once again suffered a record loss, but the news has hardly caused any stir. In fact the investors are perplexed to the fact that the one who is the owner of a Formula One racing team, a 311 yacht and a cricket club, has still managed to keep up his cash strapped carrier flying.
Mallya is a flamboyant billionaire liquor baron and the member of India’s upper house of parliament and enjoys a high political power. A head of a competing airline said, “If market forces were allowed to operate in India I can guarantee you that Mallya would have shut down ages ago”.
Kingfisher Airlines has never turned a profit since its inception in the year 2005. The market share of the airline has also shrunk from the second largest to the smallest among the six carriers in the country.
Some of the friends of Mallya say that he has performed a miracle while keeping the airline aloft considering its net debt of about USD 1.5 bn. He has managed to do it by scaling down its fleet and concentrating on the handful of profitable links between the major cities. Despite all the hardships Mallya has some how managed to keep up the airline flying.
