His debt woes may continue and losses double, but the King of Good Times was clearly in a defiant mood at a press meet in a packed venue in a suburban hotelĀ in MumbaiĀ on Tuesday.
Media was of course his centre of attraction.
"A lot has been said about Kingfisher. A lot continues to be said and speculated upon.
"I guess you have a job to do. I respect that. I hope you would similarly respect that we, too, have a job to do," Mallya set the tone upfront.
"To write the epitaph of Kingfisher Airlines constantly is not fair."
He sought to clarify all doubts or media queries, but it was quite clear from the onset that the constant comparison with fellow aviation peers had rubbed him the wrong way.
His message was clear: Judge Kingfisher and its peers only on operational parameters.
"In a difficult and tough operating environment, you can also show profits by sale and lease back of planes," he quipped.
His indirect reference to IndiGo, an younger and nimbler rival, which outmanoeuvred many industry heavyweights to emerge as a poster boy with Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.5 billion) in profits last year, was obvious to everybody.
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