While the Kingfisher Airlines management has offered payment of three months of salary arrears to employees by Diwali (that falls around mid-November) in an effort to break the deadlock, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told this newspaper that “it is difficult but not impossible for Kingfisher to fly again”.
After talks between the two sides in Mumbai which lasted over four hours, Kingfisher CEO Sanjay Aggarwal was quoted by news agencies as telling reporters in Mumbai, “We had a fruitful discussion. We have given time to the employees to consider the proposal that we will clear three months’ salary dues by Diwali.” He added that the airline would “very shortly” submit a comprehensive and detailed revival plan to aviation regulator DGCA for its approval. But there seemed divergent views on whether this offer by the airline should be accepted by employees. A section of employees are demanding a minimum payment of at least four months of salary arrears before they return to work while there are some others who are considering accepting the airline’s offer.
“We will discuss it with all employees and get back to the management by Thursday,” an engineer, who attended the talks, was quoted as telling reporters in Mumbai. Employees have not been paid salaries by the airline for the past six to seven months.
The employees are demanding to negotiate directly with Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya and are saying he should return to India immediately in case he is abroad.
The DGCA had earlier suspended the operators’ permit of the airline. Only if the airline presents a concrete and convincing revival plan are there are any chances of the suspension being revoked.
But top civil aviation ministry sources said the DGCA cannot wait indefinitely and could cancel the licence altogether if the airline does not come up with a definite plan. Sources said if talks ultimately fail, it could be unrealistic to expect Kingfisher to fly again. Top government sources also said the management had been promising the employees their salaries for quite some time but that these assurances had not been met.
Speculation is rife that the airline has promised a month’s salary arrears to employees within 24 hours, a second month of salary arrears within a week and a third month of arrears by Diwali. The management still has time and has to get the employees to return to work.