Kingfisher management to meet with engineers and pilots

MUMBAI, India – Grounded and tethering on verge of bankruptcy Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines has called for a meeting with its engineers and pilots from across its operating bases for what is being seen as a make or break meeting for the struggling debt ridden carrier at its Mumbai headquarters on Monday.

In an email to employees written on Friday company’s executive vice president Hitesh Patel asked one representative each from the engineering and pilot divisions for the meeting the time and venue of which has not been conveyed to the employees till now.

Time is running out for the airline as it has to submit a viable business plan to the civil aviation regulator if it wants to start flights by October 21 as Kingfisher has opened sale of inventory from this date onwards subject to regulatory approval. Unless deadlock with employees over salaries is not resolved the management would fail to stick to that deadline.

Kingfisher employees struck work since October 1 on account of non-payment of dues demanding seven months of unpaid salaries to be cleared before the staff report back to work. The move by the employees forced the airline to declare a partial lockout till October 4 that was subsequently extended twice till October 20 now.

It is learnt that Kingfisher management that till now was handling the crisis and attempting a solution is likely to side step and the meeting will be addressed by daft UB Group top brass and Mallya’s trusted lieutenants like Sammy D Lalla and Subhash Gupte.

While Lalla, it is said, knows the pulse of employees and has carved most of Mallya’s spirit deals and has spent more than 25 years with UB, Gupte is an experienced old hand who was also an acting chairman and managing director at the state owned Air India. They are likely to convey what Mallya would want to communicate with the employees.

Importantly, Mallya himself has not commented till now on the worst ever crisis faced by the his airline and some say he would only come out in the open once he has figured the future course of the airline which has liabilities of over Rs 15000 crore and has an investor to back him up .f. Mallya had said he is in discussion with a foreign airline after foreign carriers were allowed to invest in Indian airline companies by a change of regulations last month.

Apparently the past few meetings between the airline’s CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and the engineers in the beginning of the stir did not go well as the airline head tried to play hard ball and lost his cool in one of the meetings. Aggarwal also wrote a mail during the middle of the crisis which the employees opposed strongly as it called a section of the employees criminals.

Employees at the airline do not see any promise in the meeting and said that it will be another sham as all the meetings till now have been. Employees at the Delhi base reportedly are planning to boycott the meeting.

“We do not trust any of the top management and especially the CEO. They all have lied to us for seven months and sent mails promising salaries will be cleared soon. None of the promises have been met with. So what is the guarantee that this meeting will be any different? And why have they called only two representatives? And even these people have not been allowed to speak. They are briefed only to listen,” said one of the pilots who refused to be identified.

Sources in the know of the development said the UB Group top brass is likely to convey what as the Chairman and promoter of the airline Vijay Mallya wants to convey to the agitating employees. It is understood that on offer to the employees would be part payment of dues for two to three months.

“We are asking for our living and that is not negotiable. We are not going to agree to any negotiations with the management on part payment of salaries for two, three four months. We have stuck with the airline and Dr Mallya promised us that we would be rewarded for staying back with the airline. Now we have been called criminals. We do not think anything acceptable would come out of the meeting,” said an employee who did not want to be named.

Kingfisher has to answer to a showcase notice by October 20 that has been sent by the civil aviation regulator that needs to explain why the license of the airline should not be cancelled despite the airline not adhering to schedules and cancelling flights.

“Kingfisher has not come up with a response yet,” the director general of civil aviation Arun Mishra said.

The airline has to submit a business plan to its lenders by October end. Kingfisher loans are already classified as nonperforming asset and the airline has been trying to raise funds for over a year now.