Kingfisher operations hit for 2nd day, shares down by 5%

Passengers booked on Kingfisher faced a harrowing time. Heated exchanges took place between them and Kingfisher staff at several airports, including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

Over 50 flights out of major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore to and from various destinations, including Pune, Srinagar, Jammu, Imphal, Dehradun and Dharamsala, were cancelled.

On its part, Government made it clear that the airline will not be allowed to operate flights if safety was jeopardised.

As per DGCA norms, an aircraft cannot take off unless its airworthiness is certified by the airline engineers.

Concerned over the situation, aviation regulator DGCA has summoned the airline's top-brass in Delhi tomorrow to discuss the situation, including the issue of payment of salaries, civil aviation ministry officials said.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said if the DGCA report finds that Kingfisher was not sticking to its schedule or violating safety norms, action would be initiated.

"We can't allow them to fly until their aircraft is certified. Their engineers (who are on strike) are not certifying the aircraft. They can get the planes certified by other certified engineers also," he said.

"If they are not paying somebody, they (protesters) have the option to leave or take the necessary industrial action," he said.

Soon after opening of trade, shares of the airline tanked 4.78 per cent to touch the lower circuit limit of Rs 15.35 on the BSE.

In Mumbai, a team of engineers and pilots had a meeting with Executive Vice President of Kingfisher, Hitesh Patel, who, according to the employees, said it would be difficult to pay salaries till some restructuring happened and new investors, including foreign ones, showed interest.(MORE)