The troubles for the beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) started mounting after the airline pilots in Delhi have begun calling in sick over non-payment of salaries. A section of pilots from Mumbai may join the strike by Thursday night. Nearly 15 flights to or from Delhi have been cancelled.
“The Mumbai-Chennai morning flight was cancelled from the Mumbai airport and it was for operational reasons,” said a Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd spokesperson. However, sources said that KFA flight cancellations from Mumbai are likely to happen on Friday.
December salaries for the pilots were last paid on April 18. However, the Kingfisher management could not keep its word on paying the January salaries by the end of April.
Worrying over the possibility of its employees dragging the airline management to the Labour Court over non-payment of salaries, the Chairman, Mr Vijay Mallya, had promised to pay the January salaries May 9 onwards.
The pilots had earlier given a deadline of May 8 to the management for paying January salaries and had threatened to go on strike.
The airline is operating a threadbare domestic flight schedule having terminated operations to 28 of its 56 destinations. It is currently operating only 120 flights with 16 aircraft.
Reports said that the Civil Aviation Ministry had initiated legal action against Kingfisher Airlines over non-payment of airport charges and "towards dishonour of the cheques submitted" by the carrier.