Kingfisher Airline’s management has failed to live up to its promise of paying employees their May 2012 salaries before Diwali.
Kingfisher employees told to Business Line late on Monday night that they had not been paid till 9 p.m. Kingfisher officials were not available for comment.
The airline has been grounded since October 1 this year after engineers refused to certify aircraft being fit to fly till they were paid seven months back wages.
Eventually the airline Chief Executive Officer, Sanjay Aggarwal assured the employees that they would be paid three months salaries — March salaries immediately, April salaries within a week and May salaries before Diwali. While the airline paid March and April salaries as promised, it had failed to pay May salaries till the time of going to press. Incidentally, the failure to pay back wages comes days after Kingfisher’s promoter, Vijay Mallya inked a deal with British liquor major, Diaego Plc. After an open offer, the deal will involve a total pay out of Rs 11,166.5 crore to Mallya’s United Spirits Ltd.
The airline has an accumulated debt of over Rs 8,000 crore and losses of over Rs 9,000 crore.
On October 20, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation suspended the airline’s licence till the time that it submitted a concrete and reliable revival plan ensuring safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable services.