Senior officials said the state government had recently received Mallya’s proposal and it would come on the discussion board shortly. The proposal had come a few days ago from Mallya — promoter of Kingfisher Airlines — in view of airlines, both public carriers and private ones, bleeding heavily due to fluctuations in fuel prices.

Justifying the proposal, Mallya had said it was a common practice in Europe to underwrite seats on flights.

It may be recalled that accumulated losses of Kingfisher had already crossed Rs 4,000 crore. This might help airlines to reduce their losses to some extent as they might come up with some concession on bulk bookings on a daily basis.

State Tourism Secretary Vipul Mittra confirmed that a proposal had been received from Mallya’s side.

“We have forwarded the proposal to the Finance Department where it would be discussed by senior officials,” Mittra said