An Indian court yesterday ordered the arrest of the highflying owner of Kingfisher Airlines for bouncing cheques, adding to the beleaguered airline's woes as it struggles to resume flights that have been grounded since the start of the month.

The cash-strapped airline has stopped selling tickets on its website through October 20 and is still trying to convince pilots and engineers who haven't been paid for months to return to work. The airline had promised to resume flights yesterday.

A court in the southern city of Hyderabad issued an arrest warrant for Vijay Mallya on charges his airline bounced four cheques worth more than 103 million rupees ($1.9m) to the consortium running the airport in the city.

The money was meant to cover landing, parking and navigation fees at the airport. – TradeArabia News Service