With its pilots’ strike disrupting Kingfisher’s flight schedules, the airline’s promoter, Mr Vijay Mallya, today asked the agitating employees not to talk to the media or “disgrace” the company saying it would affect the recapitalisation efforts.

Mr Mallya, however, gave no assurance that by when the agitators’ salary dues would be cleared.

“I really hope that good sense will prevail. I am doing my best. If some of you think that cancelling flights, speaking to media, or disgracing our Company will produce cash and salaries, you are wrong”, Mr Mallya mentioned.

“This only makes my recapitalisation efforts more difficult by causing concern and apprehension among our potential investors,” Mr Mallya said in an open letter to all staffers on a day when the airline pilots struck work to protest non-payment of salaries, leading to cancellation of over 30 flights across its network.

While a spokesperson said the salaries to the unpaid staff would be paid by next Monday, there was no mention of this in the letter.

“The media will disgrace us and our flights going forward will be empty leading to further loss of income as our guests will not select Kingfisher if they are doubtful about the integrity of our schedule,” Mr Mallya said.

Maintaining that “damaging the future of Kingfisher in the public eyes is not going to produce cash”, he said, “It only makes it more difficult to recover.”

“We struggled immensely and I personally have devoted more time to our airline than to any other UB Group Company, in addition to investing over Rs 4,000 crore into Kingfisher Airlines since we started,” the airline Chairman said.

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