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So, the king of good times, Kingfisher Airlines, is seeing bad times and the government could be in a dilemma if it tries to bail out the airline.

On one hand, it may be looked upon as the duty of the government to help provide relief to a private airline, while on the other, this move by the government (if it goes on to rescue Kingfisher) may come under intense rap as politicians may argue that the Centre is trying to keep an airline afloat whose owner, Vijay Mallya, leads a flamboyant lifestyle.

But the government may be in trouble on another front. Public sector banks own 20 per cent of Kingfisher’s shares and also a part of the $1.3 billion debt.

Kingfisher is in such dire straits that it needs fresh equity worth Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 crore before it can seek more funds from banks, State Bank of India, which is the top consortium lender to the airline, said.

A team of 18 bankers, including 14 PSU banks along with four private banks, provided astronomical amounts to the airline, which has debt of over Rs 7,000 crore.

Moreover, the company’s net loss swirled to Rs 444 crore during the previous quarter, owing to high fuel costs and weaker rupee.

Kingfisher is grappling with fewer flights, pilots and staff who have been demoralised owing to unpaid salaries and outstanding dues. Aircraft lessors, oil companies, airports and tax authorities have to also be paid.

But Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya has written a missive to his employees where he promised them that he is willing to clear their salaries and other dues.

Mallya is, however, banking heavily on foreign direct investment or FDI in the airline sector to mop up funds.

The government does not seem to be keen to give a go-ahead to FDI in aviation now as it may be greeted with protests (like FDI in retail). The government may lose face again.

Ever since it started, Kingfisher, which was the favourite airline of many air travellers (many even swore by Kingfisher), had never ever made profit.

This could be mainly due to its pricing policy (or overpricing policy) in a highly price-sensitive market like India.

Kingfisher later introduced Kingfisher Red (the airline it formed after taking over Air Deccan from Captain Gopinath).

Even after making Kingfisher Red a low-cost carrier, Kingfisher could never make its fortunes fly mainly owing to two reasons: despite being a no-frills aircraft, the airfares weren’t really cheap enough and Red had a deplorable track record so far as flight timing was concerned (unlike IndiGo, which has been impeccable with its timing).

So, the road ahead for Kingfisher is not to put the government in a dilemma by seeking funds or FDI, but to use its own resources from group companies, like United Breweries, by selling stake in brands like Whyte and Mackay, which the group is planning to do so soon (for a whopping $4 billion?).

The king of good times Vijay Mallya has fallen into bad times with the grounding of Kingfisher Airlines and will he fall like a pack of cards now? It seems likely.

Almost 40 per cent of Kingfisher employees left since March and the airline has held up salaries of its staff from the beginning of this financial year.

When asked whether Kingfisher will ever fly again, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, in an interview to a television channel, said, “Probably not.”

What this implies is that Mallya could declare a shutdown of the airline soon, putting into jeopardy the lives of thousands of his staff who have been left in the lurch for the last eight months.

Mallya is slated to attend the Indian Grand Prix in Greater Noida this week even as his employees wait to meet him to resolve salary issues.

The airline owes debt to the tune of about Rs 7,000 crore, and unless it repays the amount, the licence to fly may not be renewed (the licence was revoked a few days back by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA).

Kingfisher had started operations in 2005 and soon turned out to be the favourite airline of its guests (that is the name the airline had given to its passengers).

It pampered its passengers and became a status symbol. But slowly, the airline’s fortunes began heading south until it became grounded.

There is buzz that with the cancellation of  Mallya’s licence, permission to fly his private jet may also be scrapped.

So, Mallya and his reputation have been grounded, literally. For how long can he carry on his current lifestyle?

Mallya may plan to shoot for his high profile Kingfisher calendar with celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar next year.

However, shooting for the calendar may evince media glare and many may frown at this, arguing that how can Mallya throw away money for his calendar when he can’t even pay his staff?

Mallya’s IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore or RCB can also face an uncertain future like Deccan Chargers, which ceases to exist today as its promoter Deccan Chronicle could not bail it out. If RCB faces the axe, the IPL league could plunge into uncertainty.

Mallya is also the co-owner of the Force India Grand Prix team and his men would obviously not be in high spirits (high morale) during the Noida Grand Prix.

If his team’s performance is poor, it may have a disastrous effect on the Force India brand name and Mallya may have to quit another arena.

Mallya is the owner of United Spirits, which achieved the feat of becoming the largest spirits company in the world in terms of volume once.

But his spirits company may also be in low spirits and see a ripple effect of his other businesses.

Therefore, unless Vijay Mallya goes all out to revive Kingfisher Airlines, he may not only have to stop the pocket money of son Siddharth but may see himself fall like a pack of cards.

GoAir, of the Wadia Group, is eyeing to fly high in India’s civil aviation space, both in domestic as well as foreign skies, with the airline placing orders for 72 Airbus A320 neos aircraft in a deal worth $7 billion.

“The new aircraft will join our fleet in about five to seven years,” said GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia. From 2015 onwards, the airline hopes to induct up to 15 aircraft every year. Quite an ambitious target though!

Another low-cost carrier, IndiGo, ordered 180 A320 neos for $15 billion last year, leading to the biggest order in the history of Indian aviation.

GoAir seems to be bullish at a time when the aviation industry is striving to control rising costs of fuel as well as higher input costs. This could dent bottom lines in the forthcoming quarter.

GoAir is planning a brand uplift and appointed Giorgio Di Roni as new CEO to spearhead its ‘Vision 2020’ plans. Like other budget carriers — SpiceJet and IndiGo — the Wadia airline is eyeing an aggressive growth.

While the aviation industry has grown at about 36%, GoAir, which flies to 18 destinations with 133 flights a day and 931 every week, has grown 257% over the last three years.

GoAir, which has a clinched market share of 6.4%, operates 10 Airbus A320s only. It wants to grow manifold with this order.

International Air Transport Association or IATA, which is the industry body for civil aviation, had whittled down its forecast for the industry’s earnings to $4 billion for 2011 in June owing to swirling fuel prices and other costs.

Wadia said, “We are looking at a combination of debt and equity but we have not decided on any option as yet. Some aircraft from the order will be funded while others need to be funded.”

As rising costs could hit future earnings, this possibility could create problems when the airline goes to the market to raise funds.

But experts are gong-ho, saying funding is unlikely to be a major hindrance as airlines do not make entire payments in one go. According to them, 2 per cent of the amount has to be paid at the time of placing the order.

GoAir’s earlier bid to raise funds from private equity players turned out to be a dud.

Though GoAir ordered 20 Airbus A320s in 2006, it only took delivery of 10 aircraft as the global meltdown of 2008 took a huge toll on the aviation industry.

Wadia said the airline will fly into the buoyant Tier II and Tier III cities. To counter GoAir, rival SpiceJet will launch Bombardier Q400s (small aircraft) for flyers from small cities.

An upbeat Wadia said, “I take a mid-term and long-term opinion on the industry. I think this (oil pricing) is short term volatility.”

In the days to come, the slugfest in the aviation industry is set to intensify with more players coming in and fuel and input costs will burgeon. So, can a $7-billion purchase of 72 Airbus 320 aircraft help GoAir become one of the dominant players in India’s aviation market?

It wouldn’t be a long wait if you want a rerun of the journey Captain Spock took in Star Trek, as Airbus is coming up with an aircraft (currently at the concept stage) that is entirely transparent. Although, the look is imposing, the aircraft would definitely not be for the faint-hearted.

Airbus wants to build the concept plane using what it calls “a bionic structure” that is conceived from the bone structure of birds. So, with the entire plane being transparent, there will be no need for windows.

This concept will not only pare weight and fuel costs but also revolutionise even the interiors, which will see gigantic transparent doors.

The cabin’s bionic structure will have a coat of biopolymer membrane in order to control natural light, humidity and temperature. Even the degree of transparency can be varied.

This transparent set up could pose a problem during bumpy flights, especially for the faint-hearted, and for some, it could result in nausea in case of a steep climb or a free fall of the plane.

The composite materials used in the making of the new plane could be radically different from what you see currently.

The interesting thing is that materials that are likely to be used may not be solid at all and, believe it or not, could be a combination of liquids or gases! This was revealed by the French aircraft maker.

Well here’s something that can unseat you. Materials that can change shape and go back to their original form could be used to make seats on the plane. These materials are supposed to be “intelligent” and can adjust themselves according to passenger requirements (the seat inclination, for instance).

Some elements in the cabin are likely to be created using additive layer manufacturing. In this process, very thin layers of material on top of each other are “printed” (like in a laser printer) until they become a solid object. This helps when complex shapes need to be formed and the technique is being tested for making small aircraft parts.

So, can Airbus put this concept to commercial use. May be not, as a passenger list of say 300-400 could have children, the aged with heart ailments and of course the faint-hearted, who will not be suitable candidates to travel on this plane and the design could only be suitable if the aircraft maker wants to keep it as a showpiece rather than for regular use.

But, as said earlier, the level of transparency can be varied. If this can be done till the extent of making the Airbus plane opaque, it could be suitable for even the faint-hearted but what is the use of the new design as all the fun of having a transparent plane will be lost.