Kingfisher Airlines faced fresh turbulence today when a section of its pilots in Delhi reported sick leading to cancellation of 15 flights, adding to the woes of passengers hit by the stir by Air India pilots.
Hundreds have been stranded due to the ongoing trouble within the Indian aviation sector.
Crisis-hit Air India today stopped bookings for the US, Canada and Europe-bound flights till May 15 as it sacked nine more pilots on day three of their agitation which led to cancellation of over 20 flights and left hundreds of passengers fuming.
With over 200 pilots owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild refusing to join duty, Air India said it was suspending its international operations to New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Toronto, London, Paris and Frankfurt. Some other foreign destinations are also likely to be affected.
Meanwhile, the Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher could face more trouble as its Mumbai-based pilots have also decided not to fly from Thursday night, sources in the airline said in Mumbai.
The pilots of the cash-strapped airline are protesting the 'backtracking' by the management on its 'assurance' of remitting their January salaries from May 9.
The cancelled services from Delhi include flights to Shimla, Dehradun, Dharamshala and Jaipur--routes operated by turboprop aircraft.
"The management had said that it would start giving January salaries from May 9 onwards. However, it has backtracked on its commitment," Kingfisher sources said.
"So the Delhi-based pilots decided to report sick from today at a meeting last night," the sources said.
The Kingfisher Chairman Vijay Mallya had 'assured' the staff in his May 5 communication to them that their January salaries will be remitted from May 9. Last month also, Kingfisher management had said it would pay employees' December salaries between April 4 and April 9 in a phased manner, but some of the employees recieved their salaries as late as around April 24, the sources said.