MUMBAI: The civil aviation minister, Ajit Singh, on Tuesday warned Kingfisher AirlinesBSE -4.89 %that the regulator cannot ignore frequent cancellationof flights due to employee agitation in the first sign that the government is getting increasingly irritated with the rising number of disruptions in the airline's schedule.
"Disruption of (flight) schedule has become an issue with Kingfisher Airlines. While the issue of passenger safety is paramount and cannot be jeopardised and DGCA needs to be satisfied that there are no safety concerns, Kingfisher has to also ensure that they operate flights as per the schedule they have submitted to the DGCA," Singh told ET over phone.
"Minor disruptions do happen. But with Kingfisher, the regulator does not even know when they are likely to cancel flights," Singh rued. Some sections in the industry believe the ministry has been lenient with the debt-laden airline.
"Kingfisher will have to ensure it maintains schedule sanctity as the passengers are being inconvenienced when flights are getting cancelled. There is an issue of salaries because of which employees also suffer," Singh said.
Kingfisher Airlines, once India's second-largest airline, has been plagued by frequent cancellations caused by striking pilots and engineers, citing unpaid wages. The cash-strapped airline's employees, including its CEO, have not been paid since April. Banks have stopped funding the Vijay Mallya-promoted airline and lessors have taken away a number of aircraft, reducing its fleet to a minuscule size.
A day after announcing a partial lock-out at Kingfisher Airlines, CEO Sanjay Aggarwal's meeting with the Director General of Civil Aviation did little to placate the regulator.
"Disruption of (flight) schedule has become an issue with Kingfisher Airlines. While the issue of passenger safety is paramount and cannot be jeopardised and DGCA needs to be satisfied that there are no safety concerns, Kingfisher has to also ensure that they operate flights as per the schedule they have submitted to the DGCA," Singh told ET over phone.
"Minor disruptions do happen. But with Kingfisher, the regulator does not even know when they are likely to cancel flights," Singh rued. Some sections in the industry believe the ministry has been lenient with the debt-laden airline.
"Kingfisher will have to ensure it maintains schedule sanctity as the passengers are being inconvenienced when flights are getting cancelled. There is an issue of salaries because of which employees also suffer," Singh said.
Kingfisher Airlines, once India's second-largest airline, has been plagued by frequent cancellations caused by striking pilots and engineers, citing unpaid wages. The cash-strapped airline's employees, including its CEO, have not been paid since April. Banks have stopped funding the Vijay Mallya-promoted airline and lessors have taken away a number of aircraft, reducing its fleet to a minuscule size.
A day after announcing a partial lock-out at Kingfisher Airlines, CEO Sanjay Aggarwal's meeting with the Director General of Civil Aviation did little to placate the regulator.
The CEO reiterated that the promoter is in talks with a few banks for releasing some funds. This will enable the airline to arrange for disbursement of March salaries for employees by October 4.
Aggarwal also conveyed to the regulator that it is looking to restart operations by October 8 and is hopeful that by Thursday, the employees will start reporting back to work. He said the management is in constant dialogue with the agitating workforce.
Kingfisher engineers had demanded pay for at least four months before reporting to work. Pilots joined the agitation on Monday morning and the airline was forced to cancel all of its 65 flights it operates using seven aircraft. This was the first full-fledged shutdown by Kingfisher.
"I had a long meeting with the Kingfisher CEO. Aggarwal informed me that they are in constant discussion with the employees and the airline would be able to put a plan for starting operations by Thursday and start flights by Monday (October 8). They informed they are in discussion with some foreign airlines for possible equity infusion but the process will take a few months," Arun Mishra, DG, civil aviation, told ET. Mishra said Kingfisher will also aim at getting some of its accounts that have been frozen by government authorities active.
Aggarwal also conveyed to the regulator that it is looking to restart operations by October 8 and is hopeful that by Thursday, the employees will start reporting back to work. He said the management is in constant dialogue with the agitating workforce.
Kingfisher engineers had demanded pay for at least four months before reporting to work. Pilots joined the agitation on Monday morning and the airline was forced to cancel all of its 65 flights it operates using seven aircraft. This was the first full-fledged shutdown by Kingfisher.
"I had a long meeting with the Kingfisher CEO. Aggarwal informed me that they are in constant discussion with the employees and the airline would be able to put a plan for starting operations by Thursday and start flights by Monday (October 8). They informed they are in discussion with some foreign airlines for possible equity infusion but the process will take a few months," Arun Mishra, DG, civil aviation, told ET. Mishra said Kingfisher will also aim at getting some of its accounts that have been frozen by government authorities active.
The regulator had summoned the airlines' top executives to get the "operational preparedness" of the airline to resume daily flights. "But if such a situation persists at Kingfisher, then we will have to take a view," Mishra said.
Mishra would be submitting a full report on the matter to the civil aviation minster by the evening or on Wednesday. Kingfisher's promoter and Chairman, Vijay Mallya, is reportedly not in the country and has not spoken on the matter so far.
Meanwhile, the tussle between management and the employees worsened as the Chennai faction of engineers wrote to Aggarwal and said they were pained that their non-management counterparts at Mumbai and Delhi were being held responsible for the situation at the airline.
"The mail sent by you has an opaque view about the engineers, which we highly oppose," the engineers wrote, adding they would now join their colleagues at Delhi and Mumbai and not certify a single aircraft from Chennai.
Eager to restart operations, the management has initiated attempts to woo the employees once again. "The management has sent us feelers that they want to talk," said a Kingfisher employee not wanting to be identified.
The employees, however, said they would not relent on their demand of being paid dues of at least four months.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/aviation-minister-ajit-singh-warns-kingfisher-airlines-over-frequent-cancellations/articleshow/16647058.cms?curpg=2Meanwhile, the tussle between management and the employees worsened as the Chennai faction of engineers wrote to Aggarwal and said they were pained that their non-management counterparts at Mumbai and Delhi were being held responsible for the situation at the airline.
"The mail sent by you has an opaque view about the engineers, which we highly oppose," the engineers wrote, adding they would now join their colleagues at Delhi and Mumbai and not certify a single aircraft from Chennai.
Eager to restart operations, the management has initiated attempts to woo the employees once again. "The management has sent us feelers that they want to talk," said a Kingfisher employee not wanting to be identified.
The employees, however, said they would not relent on their demand of being paid dues of at least four months.
It is beyond our imagination how Kingfisher is running in loss. Mr Malya, you have money for everything else, except paying salary to your employees... What a shame. Why government cease all his other companies and pay the salary to the employees.
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