Kingfisher Airlines to pay three months' salaries, asks staff to join work

Kingfisher Airlines, in an attempt to resolve the 23-day-old impasse with its striking employees, has offered up to three instalments of their salary dues before Diwali.

Employees of the cash-strapped airline have been demanding payment of pending salary dues of at least four of the seven months before they resume work.

The offer was made to the employees' representatives after a meeting with the management at the Kingfisher House in Mumbai.

The agitating staff, however, insists on a written assurance, alleging that the management has backtracked in the past.

"There has been no written communication from the management in this regard. We don't know about any such offer," a pilot, who was part of the meeting, told PTI when asked whether the management had offered to clear two-three instalments of salary dues before Diwali in November.

"We cannot trust their word. They have gone back on their verbal promises earlier. We need a clear-cut written assurance," he said.

Airline sources, however, said such an offer was made to the employees during the discussions on Monday.

The meeting came in the backdrop of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspending the airline's licence to fly on Friday, capping three weeks of lockout in the beleaguered carrier.

Ahead of the talks, a company spokesperson had said: "It is our endeavour to restart operations at the earliest and we assure you we are working towards achieving this."

"We have in any case always maintained that once the issues with the employees are resolved, we will first present our resumption plan to DGCA for review, before resuming operations," he had said.

Kingfisher Airlines' staff plans to hold demonstrations during the upcoming Formula One motor race, in which UB Group Chief and Kingfisher promoter Vijay Mallya is involved.

With inputs from PTI