MUMBAI: Kingfisher AirlinesBSE -3.57 %will continue to stay on the
tarmac, as the meeting between the management and the employees on
Monday failed to end the deadlock. The airline's chief said there will be an
extension of the date for restarting flights (slated to resume on October 21)
without giving any specific date of this further extension.
Kingfisher Airlines grounded by its striking employees due to non-payment of salaries for the last seven months, has not operating flights for the last 16 days, as the airline declared a partial lockout on October 1, which has been extended till October 20.
Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer of Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher, remained non-committal when asked by ET if the lockout will be extended. But, airline sources say, in all probability, they will have to extend the lockout and management might make an announcement to this effect soon.
"We are not saying that the lockout will be extended further. That decision has not been taken," Aggarwal said, after he came out from the meeting with the employee representatives at the UB's office in the posh Ballard Estate area of Mumbai. Apart from Kingfisher Airlines' top brass, which included executive vice-president Hitesh Patel and the CFO, senior UB officials and Mallya's trusted aides Sammy D Lalla and Subhash Gupte were also present.
On the question of a show-cause notice issued by the aviation regulator that the airline has to respond to by October 20, Aggarwal said, "We will have to see."
Aggarwal further added, "We would be meeting them again soon for a second round of talks," without specifying a timeframe for the second round of such a meeting.
Sources within the airline said that the management has offered to pay a month's salary by October 25.
"We have rejected that demand at the meeting. We have told them we want the salary for the full seven months before we join back. There will be no compromise on that. The next round of talks will be somewhere next week. But the talks are heading in a positive direction," said Vikrant Patkar, a pilot with the airline.
"They want us to join immediately and pay for just a month. The backlog of dues will be cleared every month. This is not acceptable. We will be willing to come back if they at least pay 50% of our dues," said an engineering division employee not wanting to be identified. It was the refusal by the engineers to certify aircraft as fit for flying that actually has resulted in grounding of Kingfisher. Both the pilots and engineers of Kingfisher are on strike.
Kingfisher Airlines grounded by its striking employees due to non-payment of salaries for the last seven months, has not operating flights for the last 16 days, as the airline declared a partial lockout on October 1, which has been extended till October 20.
Sanjay Aggarwal, chief executive officer of Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher, remained non-committal when asked by ET if the lockout will be extended. But, airline sources say, in all probability, they will have to extend the lockout and management might make an announcement to this effect soon.
"We are not saying that the lockout will be extended further. That decision has not been taken," Aggarwal said, after he came out from the meeting with the employee representatives at the UB's office in the posh Ballard Estate area of Mumbai. Apart from Kingfisher Airlines' top brass, which included executive vice-president Hitesh Patel and the CFO, senior UB officials and Mallya's trusted aides Sammy D Lalla and Subhash Gupte were also present.
On the question of a show-cause notice issued by the aviation regulator that the airline has to respond to by October 20, Aggarwal said, "We will have to see."
Aggarwal further added, "We would be meeting them again soon for a second round of talks," without specifying a timeframe for the second round of such a meeting.
Sources within the airline said that the management has offered to pay a month's salary by October 25.
"We have rejected that demand at the meeting. We have told them we want the salary for the full seven months before we join back. There will be no compromise on that. The next round of talks will be somewhere next week. But the talks are heading in a positive direction," said Vikrant Patkar, a pilot with the airline.
"They want us to join immediately and pay for just a month. The backlog of dues will be cleared every month. This is not acceptable. We will be willing to come back if they at least pay 50% of our dues," said an engineering division employee not wanting to be identified. It was the refusal by the engineers to certify aircraft as fit for flying that actually has resulted in grounding of Kingfisher. Both the pilots and engineers of Kingfisher are on strike.
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