Kingfisher Airlines, which is not in good times owing to a host of issues ranging from striking employees, freezing of accounts to facing difficulty in getting working capital loan, on Tuesday was rapped by DGCA for not adhering to its flight schedules. The aviation regulator has given time till Wednesday to Kingfisher Airlines to revise the flight schedule.

DGCA Bharat Bhushan told reporters that the airline should get back on track in a realistic manner. The airline is operating about 175 flights daily and the DGCA is keeping a close watch on the operation of the company.

As the airline was feared to get a rap from the aviation regulator for cancellation of more than 100 flights over the past four days investore dumped its shares. The shares plunged nearly 20 per cent on Tuesday but finally it closed higher 0.75 per cent at Rs 26.80 on the BSE. Out of the total 64 planes in its fleet Kingfisher is now using just 28.

“Let us not talk of punitive action at the moment. We are more interested to see the airline back on its feet. Our priority is not to punish ... Because of the immediate difficulties the travelling public will have to face,” DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan told reporters after an almost two- hour meeting with Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and Executive Vice President Hitesh Patel here.

Bhushan was asked whether DGCA would consider action against Kingfisher for flouting Aircraft Rules by not taking its prior approval for drastic curtailment of its flights.

The airline’s top brass were summoned to explain the large-scale disruptions in the operations and the reasons.

“We have had a good meeting. Some more information has been sought by DGCA which will be provided in the next 24 hours,” Aggarwal said after the meeting.

DGCA asked the two top officials to provide a “realistic” flight schedule the airline can operate with 28 planes.

Sources said the airline’s explanation that flights were affected due to freezing of its bank accounts by the Income Tax authorities cannot be accepted.

Bhushan said he would submit a report on the discussions to the Civil Aviation Ministry this evening. “I will also submit a separate report on the closure oftheir Kolkata operations as Kolkata is the gateway to the Northeast.

The Government has issued directions that flights to that region should not be affected,” Bhushan said.

Kingfisher, which stopped all operations from Kolkata since Friday night, informed DGCA that they would resume flights from there in the “next two-three days”.

Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said, “We have to hear out Kingfisher. We don’t know what their plans are, how they are going to restore normal schedule. Then there are safety issues which they have to answer”.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines said it has alloted equity shares against optionally convertible debentures (OCDs), a development that will help in saving interest outflow on such instruments.

In a filing to the BSE, Kingfisher said, it has issued 7.98 crore equity shares to three entities -- LKP Securities Ltd, Redect Consultancy and Star Investments -- at a price of Rs 25.01 per share, in lieu of conversion of debentures.