Boss doesn't want us back, say Kingfisher pilots

A confrontation between pilots of Kingfisher Airlines and its management intensified today, as the aggrieved steerers alleged top boss Vijay Mallya did not send anyone from the management to negotiate on the contentious issue of paying their salaries.

“Not a soul from the airline side has contacted us. No one has engaged us in any dialogue,” said a senior commander with the airline, who did not want to be identified. “It seems the management does not want us to join back; instead, they blame the problems of the airline on us.”

The pilots were responding to a statement made by chairman Mallya, also a Rajya Sabha MP, outside Parliament today that he had spoken to the pilots and the matter was being sorted. “We spoke to our pilots. We are sorting it out,” Mallya said. With the pilots not returning for duty on the second day, third of the 180 flights of the ailing airline were grounded or merged today.

This is more than the 45 flights that were grounded yesterday as a result of the pilot agitation.

That is because pilots say they are not reporting to duty. In fact, today around 50 more pilots joined the agitation. “We have not been paid our salaries for the last four months,” said the senior commander. “But our chairman is spending £40 million (Rs 312.42 crore at Rs 78.12) in formulae one. All the same, one expects us to work without salary. That money would have taken care of our salary for six months,” he added.

An SMS that Business Standard sent to Kingfisher Airlines spokesperson did not elicit response. The airline has said it had to merge or operate 45 flights due to employee agitation and low loads.

On his part, Mallya said the management was facing a “serious handicap” as their accounts are frozen. “We are not asking for bailout from the government. But we hope for help from the banking sector to de-freeze our accounts,” he added.

Both service tax and income tax department have frozen over 40 accounts of Kingfisher Airline due to non-payment of dues. The airline owes more than Rs 300 crore to both the departments.

Mumbai-headquartered Kingfisher Airlines, which recorded a loss of Rs 1,027.40 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 1,175 crore for the first three quarters of the current financial year, has already accumulated losses of around Rs 6,000 crore. It also has a debt of over Rs 7,000 crore on its books.

Owing to cash troubles, the airline, a UB Group subsidiary, has been consistently trimming operations since November. The 2005-operational airline that plied over 400 flights in November, cut it down to 180 flights a day by last month.