Battling a crisis of survival, Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya today sought help from banks to raise short-term funds to the tune of 700 to 800 crore rupees as working capital and interest concession and ruled out its closure.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai today, Mallya said, he has not asked for a bailout from the government or for restructuring of loan from banks.

On a day his company reported a deepening loss figure of 469 crore rupees for the second quarter of this fiscal, he asserted that “to write the epitaph of Kingfisher constantly is not fair.”

In a bid to shore up its financial position, the company has filed a 2,000 crore rupees rights issue with market regulator Sebi to raise capital.

It has also applied to Directorate General of Foreign Trade, DGFT, for direct import of jet fuel to reduce fuel costs drastically.

Jet fuel costs are almost 50 per cent of the total operating costs of the airline.