Deccan 360 to deal with debt

AFTER being grounded for six months Indian air cargo business Deccan 360 is preparing for loan restructuring.

Gorur Gopinath’s venture is on the verge of referral to the corporate debt restructuring scheme formed under the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India, with close to US$100 million owed to lenders.

Deccan 360 started in mid-2009 but poor volumes spelled disaster and it stopped its services through three A310s, which have since been taken back by the lessors.

The carrier raised $22.9 million equity investment from Reliance Industries during early 2010, with a commitment to invest more as operations expanded. With the operations not going according to plan, RIL stopped its investments and wanted out.

As of May this year Deccan only has two ATRs. Close to 1,000 employees have since left the company.