'Kingfisher's Singapore flights may resume on March 25'

Singapore: Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines, which has disrupted its flights between India and Singapore over the past few weeks, may resume services to Mumbai later this month, according to media reports here.

The airline has stopped its daily Mumbai-Singapore service, The Straits Times reported today. It cited a Kingfisher counter employee at Singapore's Changi Airport as saying that the flights would resume on 25th March.

[caption id="attachment_246544" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Kingfisher suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore."][/caption]

But the daily also had a source saying that the troubled Indian airline was unlikely to fly so soon, if at all. Kingfisher, began flying to Singapore in September 2009, has been rescheduling flights and routes as it continues to struggle with operating costs amidst rising debts.

Kingfisher, which suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a debt of Rs 7,057.08 crore, posted a Rs 444 crore loss in third quarter this fiscal. It has held several rounds of discussions with lenders without success so far. The Singapore-Mumbai route is also served by Air India, IndiGo and Singapore Airlines.

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Competition among airlines has forced airlines to halve the usual SGD 1,000 fare for a returned trip on Singapore- Mumbai and Singapore-Delhi during off-peak and promotional periods, said aviation sources, estimating that Indian

airlines would lose up to $3 billion during the current financial year.

Industry estimates put Indian airlines' debts at $20 billion for the fiscal ending March 31, 2012.

PTI