Kingfisher Airlines Says Spice Jet Workers Damaged Airbus

It's one thing for a new industry to see stiff competition among new companies. It's something else when one of those companies accuses the other of deliberately damaging aircraft.

India liquor mogul Vijay Mallya (below, with his company's new aircraft and a couple of flight attendants) says workers for Spice Jet intentionally busted up the vertical stabilizer of his Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320 -- a new aircraft that had just been delivered a week before.

The incident supposedly happened on Sunday evening at New Delhi's IGI Airport. According to a police report filed by Kingfisher, a Spice Jet tug towing a ladder made an especially sharp turn at the rear of the A320. The ladder toppled and crashed into the vertical stab.

Authorities at the airport, perhaps taking a more rational view, said the ladder was toppled by strong winds. But Kingfisher executives were adamant that the incident was a deliberate attempt to hurt the new airline.

Spice Jet workers now say the whole incident has been smoothed over and, after a chat between CEOs of both airlines, the police complaint has been dropped.

"The step-ladder was faulty and while we were removing it from the apron area, it scraped the aircraft body damaging it slightly. It was not intentional and we apologised to Kingfisher officials for the incident," a SpiceJet official told the Times of India.

Welcome to the world of direct competition.

FMI: www.flykingfisher.com