Chairman of Kingfisher Airlines and liquor baron Vijay Mallya has written to his visibly annoyed staff about their undue salaries. He has assured that the cash-strapped airlines will resume paying overdue payments starting this week.
"All junior staff will be paid before Easter i.e on Wednesday April 4th. All pilots and engineers will be paid on Monday April 9th and Tuesday April 10th," Mallya said in a letter to Kingfisher employees.
Meanwhile, employees of debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines had dashed off a letter to the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise to boycott the Indian Premier League (IPL) so that they might get their salaries. It is also reported that the unpaid pilots and staff might protest outside the Kingfisher office in Mumbai, as they want immediate payment of their salaries.
Mallya in his letter had said that bank accounts of Kingfisher airlines had been unfrozen after clearing Rs 44 crores to the Income Tax and Rs 20 crores to the Service Tax, this fiscal year. He added that his only focus now is to settle all outstanding salaries of the Kingfisher staff.
The Kingfisher Airlines incurred a thumping loss of Rs 6, 000 crore in last fiscal year, beside having debt of about 7, 000 crore. The ailing airline is pulling down the shutters of its offices across the country owing to the massive curtailment in flight operations. Kingfisher currently operating only 16 of 64 aircrafts and had completely stopped all international flights.
(With inputs from Reuters)
