Kingfisher and global alliance oneworld have set a date for the Indian carrier to join the alliance. But there still appear to be many hurdles that must be surmounted for that to actually happen. Assuming everything goes as planned the join date is February 10, 2012.
But that’s a rather significant assumption given the way things are going for the carrier lately. They’ve been slashing routes, struggling to pay fuel bills, seeing flight cancelations and otherwise having trouble running their operations. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it was reported today that the company has not been paying its taxes. They’re in the hole $25MM – two years worth of payroll tax withholding – to the Indian government, on top of all the private debt they’re holding. Supposedly there are investors looking to offer a new loan but they’re awaiting reports on the viability of the company. This latest news certainly won’t help those reports.
Not good news at all, either for the airline or the alliance. Oh, and for oneworld there are also the issues of the American Airlines bAAnkruptcy, Air Berlin’s financial struggles and new ownership stake from Etihad and the labor strife at Qantas. Really a lot of uncertainty in that alliance these days.
Related Posts:
- Etihad invades Germany, buys controlling interest of airberlin
- Kingfisher looking even more shaky; I’ll book elsewhere
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Just something I found that you might like Seth. http://smashvid.blogspot.com/2011/12/airline-spoofs-compilation-part-one.html
Oh, and Malev is on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s not that long since the government restructured JAL. And Mexicana is still listed as a oneworld member – hah!
Indeed, Gary, things are might grim. I was trying not to rub it in too much. 😉