Debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines hurtled towards a dead-endFriday as the carrier grounded its fleet for another week and the aviationregulator sought legal opinion on cancelling its flying licence.
Late Thursday night, the airline said it was extending toOct 12 the lockout declared Oct 1 after negotiations with the strikingemployees failed amid reports that airline is not in a position to pay the fullsalaries to its employees since the lenders have refused fresh funding.
Spelling more trouble for the beleaguered airline, CivilAviation Minister Ajit Singh said the carrier will not be allowed to fly if itfails to satisfy mandatory safety norms.
"In order to give them (Kingfisher Airlines) permissionto fly again, they have to satisfy the DGCA (Directorate-General of CivilAviation) on all safety issues and get all their employees back," Singhtold IANS.
"We will have to see the legality of the move tosuspend or cancel their licence," the minister said, adding that theregulator could send a showcause notice to the airline.
Singh has said the ministry would consider both the financesas well as the employees' views before allowing the airline to function."There are a lot of factors involved... the salaries of the employees andother issues. If the employees are disgruntled, there is an issue ofsafety."
In Mumbai, the agitated employees, including pilots,engineers and technicians took out a procession Friday morning to the airline'soffice,insisting that their pending salaries and other dues be immediatelypaid.
"We are making three demands - salary, salary, salary.Everything will be normal as soon as the management clears our pending duessince we are not able to run our households," a pilot taking part in theprocession told IANS.
On Thursday, an airline staffer's wife committed suicide inNew Delhi, citing economic woes.
The situation at the airline has not improved even after theregulator hauled it up after it cancelled all 50 flights Monday as employeeswent on strike Sunday, demanding payment by Oct 5 of their salaries, pendingsince March.
Key personnel like aircraft maintenance engineers, whoseaircraft airworthiness clearance is mandatory for any flight to take off, alsostruck work.
The employees claim that non-payment of salaries hasaffected their morale and built up stress levels that can also affectoperational safety.
The airline had the lowest market share in August, whichstood at 3.2 percent. The airline has a total debt of Rs.7,000 crore from aconsortium of banks.
According to a report by the Centre for Asia PacificAviation (CAPA), Kingfisher Airlines may have to shut down operations if $600million is not infused in it in the next two months.
The company reported a net loss of Rs.650.78 crore ($117million) for the quarter ended June 30.
Currently, the airline has only 10 operational aircraft froman earlier strength of around 66 planes a year ago. It was also the country'ssecond largest airlines by passenger traffic.
The company's scrip at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fellby 4.68 percent and stood at Rs.13.25 Friday from its previous close atRs.13.90.