Kingfisher Employees To Get One Month’s Salary In 24 Hours; 15 Aircraft ‘Unfit To Fly’

In a desperate attempt to break the impasse, the management of Kingfisher Airlines is holding talks with its employees Monday evening.

The management of the private airline in India has reportedly offered to pay a month’s salary in next 24 hours, another month’s salary will be paid in a week’s time and the third month’s salary will be paid before the Diwali festival in November, the Business Line has reported.

The employees of the airline have refused to resume work until the salary dues are paid and the management gives commitment about the timely payment of future salaries. The employees and the management are having the second round of talks to resolve the impasse.

Meanwhile, spelling fresh troubles for the grounded private airline, a leasing company sources told the IBN Live that at least 15 aircraft leased to Kingfisher had been declared not fit to fly.

According to the sources, an inspection of the aircraft has found that at least 15 of them had been stripped of crucial parts rendering them unfit to fly.

Two of the planes in New Delhi have the cockpit and passenger interiors cleaned out, report said.

Meanwhile, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) said that Kingfisher would lose the two hangers currently occupied by it.

The AAI said that it would move the aircraft to grass fields in the airports if it could not come up with a revival plan or pay the pending dues to them. However, it said that the leasing companies would not be allowed to take possession of the aircraft until the dues were paid to it, the Times of India reported.

"One aircraft has already been shifted to a grass field at Chennai airport. We have locked the hangars and will not allow Kingfisher Airlines to take away anything from the hangars. Two more hangars are with the airline and after a while we will vacate them too so that they can be rented out to others. The aircraft will not be allowed to be repossessed by lessors unless we get about Rs 15 crore per plane," a senior official of the AAI told the Times of India.

Liquor Baron Vijay Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Airlines license was suspended Saturday by the aviation regulator after it failed to come up with a satisfactory plan to resolve its problems and ensure a trouble-free service.

All its flights have been grounded since Oct.1 following the labor unrest over the unpaid salaries. The airline has a total debt-cum-loss burden of Rs. 160 billion and has not made any profit since its inception in 2005.