I am sitting on my air seat and watching the movie namesake. The red clad women wearing fitted skirts and smart red blouse suddenly asked me ma'am what would you like to have in the dinner? Vegan or non-vegan? I went for the first option. The ambience is captivating, service flawless and the air hostesses have got pretty faces , moreover they are impeccable at service not like the ones in Air India. Pilots are handsome and they tour around to see the passengers comfort level every time. Precisely, my journey to Vienna was splendid.
Literally, I was in a state of awe when I came to know that Mr. Mallya is going through heavy debts and the flying license may get ceased too ,crores debts in foreign banks adds to his trouble. What went wrong with the airlines? Where were the loopholes in the management? Why couldn't Mallya resolve the mystery around? These questions haunted me and through the news papers and internet I got the basic idea and intention that Mallya's airline dream is falling like cards. I could not ingest this fact without a hitch as I loved kingfisher airlines and the epitome of mallya's king size style completely.
With losses of about 5 crore a day,Rs.6250 crore debts, bank accounts almost freezed by the tax authorities , everything is on the verge of collapse. It seemed, the wings of Mallya in the aviation sector are being slaughtered bit by bit. Acceptance is hard but u can't drift from the bitter truth, turmoil is everywhere around. Mallya's flying empire is collapsing and the worst part; he can't recollect the falling bricks of his flying empire.
Is it Mallya only who could not cope with the problems plaguing this industry or it is the whole aviation sector of India? Sectors other than aviation are accelerating at a fast pace but the growth in aviation sector is still less that 3%.We all are aware of the fact that GDP won't grow and the economy wont prosper if aviation would not be a part of it. Air fuel is very expensive and then at the same time government has imposed so many heavy taxes on the imported aircraft's and other aviation imports(spare parts etc). It became challenging for the company to administer everything at the same time. And at this instant only, if there occurs a single fault the whole hierarchy dismantles and outcome is trashes and that airline meets it's ends.
Mallya's case was alike,still he did some greater blunders which later added to his agony.Actually, Mallya is a versatile man, he had, hands into so many places like-
1. He is the liquor Baron and UB group is the second largest liquor company in the world by volume. Brands like bagpiper whisky, kingfisher beer are under this flag. Acquisitions made under Mallya are Whyte & Macky.
2. Formula One, Mallya and a Dutch family bought the spyker F1 team for 88 million euros in 2007.
3. Football, he invested in the football clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.
4. Cricket, Royal Challengers Bangalore cost him $111.6 million in 2008.
5. And other expenses like, 26 properties across the world, owns cars, sword of Tipu Sultan worth Euro 175,000,bought the personal effects of mahatma Gandhi for $1.8 million, owns luxury yacht and more.
That is why Mallya got deflected into so many path's and invested more and more in spite of going through heavy losses in Kingfisher Airlines. As stated by: The Week Magazine,Mallya knew how to become big, global but he didn't take care of revenue generation and cost control.Also,G.R Gopinath,founder air Deccan said that Mallya chose a model where cost is more than revenue(His model was hub and spoke where small towns are connected with the large metros and then connecting them to larger destinations across India and abroad during the air deccan times).
Lastly,I would say that the airline business is really intricate and very cutthroat. Also we can term it as dog eat dog types which is capital intensive with a very low profit margin. As the air traffic in India is prospering at a large scale,in the same respect government should reduce the taxes on the air fuel imported and all the other aviation things that includes aircrafts,air parts etc.Because if the aviation sector does not grow hand in hand with the GDP and the economy in general,India cannot keep pace with the other fast growing economies like China,Brazil and more.
A simple yet a captivating quote by Claude Grahame White ,which will add a fuel to my thought of engine:-
First Europe, and then the globe, we will be linked by flight, and nations so knit together, that they will grow to be next-door neighbours .What railways have done for the nations, airways will do for the world.
KRITI RATHORE
Allahabad
Uttar Pradesh
211002
India
