It’s all
about the color RED! oops I mean KingFissured!
Red is hot
and red is strong, but how on earth does one plan to cut a Rs. 6000 crore debt?
We have all heard the chairman insisting that within a jiffy, his airline would
be back on track? It’s taken off into one crisis after another, including with the
DGCA, non payment of salaries and lots of dues besides improper erratic
schedules plaguing Kingfisher. Is it all about the colour Red?
The carrier
surely must not be surprised to see another exodus. It has also started
defaulting salaries, I’m told by a couple for friends who work in the airline. Some
say there are issues within the top management. There is barely anyone who
interacts or even boosts the sagging morale of these employees. Ill timed
decisions, overt flamboyance and maybe even a flawed business model, have
reduced the glory in red to a wingless bird without flight soaked in the blood
of its unforeseen injuries.
Now was that
a Boutique airline to customers? Was the concept Yachts with wings? The
precincts remained Red. Many such concepts were flying across meeting tables and
accordingly being translated into action! After all maybe an ill conceived concept , that ensured that in spite of 80-90 % carriage the red airline barely made
any profits.
The merger
with Air Deccan also backfired, somewhere in 2008. Around Rs.550 crores were
spent on Air Deccan for operations to start under the brand name Kingfisher
Red! The rebranding seemed a huge flop to me. Many ill informed passengers
assumed that the service would be just the one on board the boutique carriers
so ably designed by Mr Mallya himself. It sure felt well when he welcomed us on
board saying each one of us was his personal “guest” on board. It almost felt
like our own private carrier. Was it about the word Red?
The IT
department have frozen all the accounts from when I last read..oops did I say
red?
Is there
hope of revival? Is Rs.2000 crores from SBI down the drain? Or could that be
brought back and be trained again to fly? I am also told that about 40-50%of
the pilots have quit, so like the blue airways that currently Jets across the
skies, would it from be trainees who land us onto the tarmac? The inimitable
dad and son combo however, believe that the problems of the red air are surmountable.
Importing jet fuel seems a cruel joke and FDI in carriers cannot surely be the only panacea for an ailing airline. Just recently three dozen flights all over the
country were cancelled. At many airports I did see the plight of all the
passengers whose entire travel plans went haywire sometimes.
The
government surely would not bail the red airlines out. It is going to be one turbulent flight. The feel at home “guests” currently feel very threatened by
the choppy rides. The aviation sector as a whole is reeling under lots of issues.
The best option would be to cut down, revamp and work out better plans for the
future. Our honorable Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Ajit Singh says he has
allowed for foreign airlines to invest up to 49%in India. Passengers would only
continue to grow. Mr. Singh seems very confident of conquering the skies!
The
color Red always has always indicated Stop!
Maybe a range of seemingly conflicting emotions of love, lust,rage, violence and
warfare!
Would this time
around sighting a Kingfisher in the skies be rare? Surely, hope not!
Red is the color of happiness and prosperity in China, and may be used
to attract good luck….why not just this time,Cupid win the battle! Could Red
mean start all over again?
