The Fall of King of Good Times: Reasons behind Kingfisher Crisis

Abstract

Kingfisher airline was a former airline group headquarter in India. From a distant view, with growing market share in aviation sector, increasing number of destinations and a series of awards showed a very glamorous picture for the company. However by the end of 2011, a huge financial crises was uncovered from the books of the organisation. Starting in 2005, Kingfisher airlines had a short but lasting imprint in the history of Indian aviation sector. Debates followed of another case of window dressing to wrong strategic moves adopted by its overly ambitious owner Vijay Mallya. This paper is an attempt to highlight the reasons behind the financial debacle of kingfisher airlines from the point of view of mistakes in strategic decision making. The research methodology has largely been secondary in nature. After collection of factual data and the strategic decisions that followed since its inception, a methodological analysis revealed several strategic mistakes in the financial as well as managerial structure of the kingfisher airlines. The paper also discusses the significance of this particular case study for the aviation sector and proposes future scope of actions and learnings for the management.