The case is based on Kingfisher Airlines, the brainchild of Dr. Vijay Mallaya. It made a grand entrance into the Indian aviation industry as a single-class, all-economy air carrier in 2005. The company shortly turned its focus to becoming a premium service operator offering high-class inflight services and unrivalled luxuries. Subsequently, it took numerous measures to distinguish itself from other airlines, while also embarking upon an ambitious expansion plan. Its acquisition of an ailing airline, Air Deccan, together with rising fuel costs and a rapidly changing business environment made its survival challenging. The organization 's bank accounts were frozen several times by the Income Tax Department along with the Service Tax Department due to defaults on tax payments , leaving it cash dry.
The battered airline had to provisionally postpone its process from a number of cities and deal with a astounding debt load that had arrived at Rs. 7,000 crore by March 27, 2012.The staff was demoralized and some employees left the company due to the non-payment of wages. The firm had to tackle the problem of raising funds to satisfy its day to day expenses, keep the current number of flights and maybe also run a comprehensive review of its previous policies and strategies and try to learn from the competitors that had managed to weather the storm and still remain profitable in the most unfavourable of business surroundings.
PUBLICATION DATE: November 30, 2013 PRODUCT #: HEC069-HCB-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE
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