press trust of india
MUMBAI, 2 JUNE: Troubles mounted for beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines with three more senior executives, including its chief information officer, quitting even as a section of its pilots threatened to restart their agitation over non-payment of salaries for last 10 months.
“The airlines’ chief information officer Saurav Sinha, flight operations head Capt. Ronald Nagar and cabin crew head Ajit Bhagchandani have put in their papers recently,” Kingfisher Airlines sources said.
Their resignations come close on the heels of Kingfisher’s executive vice-president Hitesh Patel and ground handling chief Murali Ramachandran reportedly parting ways with liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s grounded airline.
The private carrier, which has not paid its employees since August last year, has been grounded since October. Its air operations permit or the flying licence lapsed on 31 December last year, although it can be renewed within two years.
Last month, Kingfisher Airlines had submitted a fresh revival plan to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), seeking permission to resume operations. But it has not yet been accepted by the regulator. “Besides these executives, a few pilots and engineers have also quit the carrier in the last one month as they did not see any hope of its revival,” the sources said.
Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines’ Mumbai-based pilots are planning to revive their agitation over non-payment of salary and are likely to hold a meeting here tomorrow to chalk out their action plan, sources said.
“Our July 2012 salary was paid in March and since then we have not received any payment. The management is keeping quiet on when it will pay our dues. We have called an internal meeting on Monday to chart out our course of action,” an airline pilot said.
Saddled with an over Rs 7,000-crore bank debt, besides dues to various stakeholders, the airline reported net loss of Rs 2,141.80 crore for the March quarter of the previous fiscal. For the entire fiscal 2012-13, the net loss stood at Rs 4,001.12 crore.
Vijay Mallya, UB loss `225 cr commission
NEW DELHI, 2 JUNE: Industrialist Vijay Mallya and his UB Group’s holding company have failed to get commissions worth about Rs 225 crore for providing guarantees to the lenders of Kingfisher Airlines, as its lenders asked the carrier not to make any such payments. These commissions pertain to the aggregate payments for a period from 1 January 2011 to 31 March 2013.
The disclosure has been made by the grounded airline itself.
“The consortium bankers pursuant to the RBI’s guidelines directed the company (Kingfisher) not to make payment of commission and reverse all entries relating to commission to the guarantors for issuing guarantees at the request of the company to its bankers with effect from 1 January 2011,” Kingfisher said. pti