Struggling Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines has seen its shares rise in value for the first time in three years. The 20 per cent hike comes as the airline announces that it is having meetings with a number of interested investors. The carrier has been struggling for months now against heavy debts.

Kingfisher has been in talks with the Indian government about changing the foreign investment laws. It is hoping that the rules will be changed to make it possible for a foreign carrier to acquire 49 per cent of the company. The airline was set up by drinks magnate Vijay Mallya whose United Breweries has also seen a share surge of 39 per cent.

Kingfisher is struggling to keep customers as it is having to continually cancel services as employees, some of whom have not been paid sing February and March, refuse to turn up for work. The airline has already cancelled all of its international services and suspended orders for new aircraft until after 2016.

For the quarter ending in June Kingfisher said it had made a 6.5 billion rupee net loss. This was down on the 11.5 billion rupees the company lost in the first quarter of the year but up on the 2.6 billion rupees Kingfisher lost during the same three months last year.

Kingfisher is currently operating 20 aircraft on around 120 flights daily. This is compared to last March when the carrier had 340 flights a day in the air with more than 60 aircraft.