Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, the burden of most of your press conference seemed to be that you are a victim of what has happened in the aviation industry, that you are being singled out. But would you concede that you have handled the aviation crisis not as well as the rest?
Vijay Mallya: No, I think Kingfisher is as affected as any of its competitors but you know different airlines have their own models and consequently the impact of the environment is different. But it's clear that all airlines in India are making losses because of various factors. Kingfisher had been managed better. I think we're doing everything that it takes to run an efficient airline, I think Sanjay Agarwal, CEO, made a presentation demonstrates how our margins are better than our peers. We were profitable in 5 out of the last 6 quarters and one of the initiatives that was recently taken was dicontinuation of heavily loss making routes.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, you do have airlines like IndiGo, which have reported substantial profits. Did you simply get your business model wrong?
Vijay Mallya: I won't go down that path. I want to know how much each airline made flying an airline and operating an air transport company rather than making money on sale and lease of aircraft. I think apples should be compared with apples.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, but you did say in your press conference itself that you could have handled the situation better. Should you not, for example, have said sorry to the numerous passengers who faced inconvenience by the abrupt manner in which you cancelled flights?
Vijay Mallya: You know the media portrayed it as being extremely abrupt. It wasn't as abrupt as you made it out to be Rajdeep. We did reach out to each of our guests. We offered them alternative bookings on other carriers. We offered refunds, we offered to take them on later Kingfisher flights. Yes, we could've handled it better but the hindsight is always a good thing. If we caused unnecessary inconvenience we're truly sorry and we apologise.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, your executives claimed these were planned cancellations, but cancelling 100 flights without informing the regulator and passengers is surely more than just a planned cancellation.
Vijay Mallya: I'm quite prepared to apologise Rajdeep. No quesiton about that. We value our guests. We are very grateful to those who fly on Kingfisher and if we have done anything to dissatisfy them, I'd personally apologise. Absolutely. But you know it's about the reduction of 50 flights in the schedule. As I said, some for financial profitability reasons. But we have taken care to ensure that where we fly exclusively and there's no other carrier operating, we maintain connectivity.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, you don't like the word bailout but at no stage in your press conference did you indicate just how you will get the necessary working capital to sustain your existence?
Vijay Mallya: In the absence of the working capital we have pumped in the money and continue to do so. As I say we have lots of friends, associates, business partners who I have created a lot of wealth for over the past 30 years. They are willing investors and co-investors. But we're also in dialogue with the banks who appreciate the seriousness of working capital increases due to the heavy cost push. So it's not a bailout. I'm not asking the government for any tax payers' money at all.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, the MD of SBI had come on record to say that they will not lend any more till the parent company UB Group infuses capital into the airline again.
Vijay Mallya: The fact that we have provided almost Rs 800 crore to Kingfisher Airlines in 2011 speaks about our commitment, but as I have said earlier I can't be speaking to our lead bankers SBI via media. We will speak directly to them and do what they want
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, there is talk of your selling UB assets, including property. Is there any possibility that you will put in UB assets to save Kingfisher?
Vijay Mallya: Why should I sell anything of the UB Group? Why should people be jumping to such conclusions? One particular media house suggested it. I said I did not even think of it. They printed it and then carried the denial of my CEO. This sensationalism is completely unnecessary.
Rajdeep Sardesai: You also said that you don't need government financial support, yet you have asked the Civil Aviation Ministry for help. Can you be specific? What help are you looking for from the government?
Vijay Mallya: Let that stay between the union government and us. At the end of the day, there are several policy initiatives, there should be reviews to make Indian aviation more vaible than it currently is, taking advantage of the huge passenger growth forecast, but also maintaining critical connectivity which goes hand-in-hand. So, I have multiple requests to the government
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, is the help in terms of getting the government to allow foreign airlines to invest in domestic carriers, is it about importing fuel, is it about being allowed to reduce sales tax on ATF?
Vijay Mallya: Certainly I've asked for all the three you've just mentioned. I'm a strong advocate of allowing FDI by strategic investors. It'll do a world of good for the Indian aviation industry. I'm a strong advocate for the rationalisation of state sales tax on fuel because I don't think states should be making windfall profits as international crude oil prices rise.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Are you also looking at a route rationalisation where you no longer have a social obligation to fly on non-profitable routes?
Vijay Mallya: I don't think that affects us as much because funnily enough what was considered unprofitable in the past is performing pretty well in the last two years.
Rajdeep Sardesai: You've also spoken of getting in a strategic investor. How long before this strategic investor comes in and how long can you survive without a strategic investor coming in?
Vijay Mallya: Rajdeep, I mean I would sort of like to ask you why you question the survival of Kingfisher Airlines all the time. It looks like you want to write the epitaph in advance. Well then you should do it. As far as I'm concerned we have provided the necessary resources for Kinfisher to fly and fly confidently. There are several initiatives including discussions with investors, not just strategic investors which will start only after government announces its FDI policy and you know at the end of the day one can't possibly put timelines on any one of these issues.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, there are those who also say that Vijay Mallya got into the aviation sector with his eyes open, then if you made mistakes like the Air Deccan buyout or if your costs of operation for high end travel is much higher than competition, then you must pay for it.
Vijay Mallya: You know, the acquisition of Deccan has been some debate but don't forget Deccan gave us the capacity, scale, a lot of prime departure and arrival slots, parking slots, otherwise we had to send our planes to Abu Dhabi for maintenance. So let's not just be frivolous about the benefits that came with Deccan.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, in your tweets, you seem to suggest that you are a victim of a media campaign. Do you sometimes feel that your lifestyle makes you a particularly soft target for those who feel that Vijay Mallya squanders money on expensive toys but doesn't do enough to run a tighter ship when it comes to Kingfisher?
Vijay Mallya: Well, at the end of the day, everybody's opinion is their opinion. Yes there is a lot of jealousy, there are lot of people who want to put me down. This is not something new.
Rajdeep Sardesai: But will your lifestyle change in any way as a result of the losses which Kingfisger has suffered? Will we see a more cost conscious Vijay Mallya in the future? Someone, maybe, who even thinks twice about investing in Formula One or an IPL team?
Vijay Mallya: Well Rajdeep, if you're asking me that I should get rid of this suit and dress and wear Khadi, I don't see how anything's going to change. I am what I am. I'm straight and honest. I do things that I believe in quite transparently and openly and it's for others to judge. As far as all our businesses are concerned I think my track record is quite good. Yes, Kingfisher is going through stress right now. But we'll fix it.
Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Mallya, what then is the biggest lesson that the king of good times has learnt from the not so good times?
Vijay Mallya: The lesson that I have learnt is to bow down to the media and to make sure that things are presented in the correct fashion rather than getting sensationalised and getting wrongly interpreted on an hourly basis.
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