Cashstarved Air Pegasus suspends ops indefinitely

NEW DELHI: Regional airline Air Pegasus cancelled all scheduled flights on Wednesday, causing inconvenience to passengers and sending alarm bells ringing in the aviation ministry.

The Bangalore-based airline has decided to cancel flight operations indefinitely following a severe cash crunch, sources said. Decor Aviation-promoted Air Pegasus operates to 16 sectors with Bangalore as its hub, and has a fleet of three ATR 72 aircraft. It launched operations in April last year. “The airline has defaulted on payments to aircraft leasing companies who want take back their planes. We are closely monitoring the situation,” a senior ministry official said.

While Air Pegasus refused to comment, a senior airline official said: “The cancellations are due to a technical glitch.” The airline, he said, was trying to arrange for “fresh equity infusion”.

HT first reported on May 13 that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had carried out a full-fledged safety audit of Air Pegasus in April, which had thrown up serious findings. Following the audit, the DGCA sacked the airline’s flight safety chief and suspended five pilots.