Kingfisher Airlines' license suspended

The Indian DGCA announced today, that it has suspended the license (AOC) of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines (IATA: IT).
The airline was asked by the regulator earlier this month to submit an explanation on why its AOC should not be revoked, after its engineers and pilots went on strike in late September. The airline is several months behind in its salary payments and had had the majority of its fleet repossesed earlier this year.
Following the strike action of its staff, the airline announced a partial lockout - that has since been extended till 23rd October.
While its AOC has not been revoked yet - the airline's inability to provide a satisfactory plan for resumption of operations within a reasonable timeframe may very well lead to that happening.
The Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya led Kingfisher had been operating for several years without a named CEO, till it appointed ex SpiceJet chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal in late 2010. The airline which operated over 60 aircraft an year ago, is now down to ten aircraft - and had suspended all of its international operations earlier in 2012 following the repossesion of a vast majority of its fleet by the lessors. Kingfisher began operations in 2005, when the Indian government's liberalisation of the aviation industry was launched under then Civil Aviation minister Mr. Praful Patel.