Kingfisher extends lockout, seeks time to respond to DGCA's notice

Aviation Min has made it clear that the airline will lose its license if reply doesn't satisfy DGCA

Kingfisher Airlines has extended lockout till next Tuesday  even as it failed to submit its response to the show cause notice issued by the civil aviation regulator.

The airline which has grounded operations from beginning of this month sent a three page letter to the Director General of Civil Aviation seeking more time and a personal hearing to explain its stand on the show cause notice.

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has made it clear that the airline will lose its licence in case it does not satisfy DGCA's concerns.and said  that there will be no compromise on safety of aircraft operations.

Director General of Civil Arun Mishra said the letter does not give  concrete details of the airline's business plans or revival and merely outlines the labour problems in the airline and efforts taken by management to resolve it.

" I am examining it,'' Mishra told Business Standard giving no further details. The DGCA can allow the airline more time to respond to its notice. The regulator had issued a notice on October 5 and sought reply by Saturday.

In a statement Kingfisher spokesperson Prakash Mirpuri said  " We had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17 and are hopeful of reaching common ground when we meet again next week.

Currently, we anticipate resuming operations on November 6th, subject to our resumption plan being reviewed and approved by the DGCA.'' He said the  airline had responded to the DGCA notice and said the airline was preparing to restart operations from November 6 factoring time required for operational readiness.

Within the striking employees opinion is divided whether to press the demand for seven months salary. " A section of employees feels that their fortunes are tied with the airline. The management too is impressing upon the junior staff and technicians as a way of pressure tactic that if Kingfisher shuts they will not get any jobs outside.

However there are others who feel that there is no realistic possibility of airline getting recapitalised soon and hence not to give up until there is a firm commitment on payment of backlog,'' a Kingfisher employee said.

Kingfisher employees have not been paid salary for last seven months and are demanding that they paid the full dues. The management has agreed to pay one months salary but gave no assurances of the backlog. Employee representatives met the airline chief executive officer Sanjay Aggarwal and other senior management representatives but the meeting failed to resolve the issue.

Mishra met Kingfisher CEO on October 2 and had asked him to submit an operational plan of the airline. In the meeting the DGCA also asked the airline to show their operational preparedness before DGCA could allow recommencement of its operations by fulfilling the following conditions:

Aggarwal  had assured to resume operations in next two-three days  but the airline has not been able to resolve its issues. The show cause notice was issued as the airline failed to submit an operational plan.