Kingfisher Airlines, once again, failed to honour its commitment that its pilots will be paid salaries by Tuesday. It has been five months since the airlines paid pilots their salaries despite repeated assurances from the top brass.
The ground staff and cabin crew were paid in the second week of August. The company which runs a wage bill of `40 crore per month, has defaulted payments since March which resulted in pilots resorting to ‘mass sick leaves’ as they cannot legally, conduct a strike.
KF chairman Vijay Mallya had sought cooperation from the striking pilots and assured them that the company would be recapitalised, irrespective of whether FDI was approved by the Centre.
Sources said the pilots consumed over 60 per cent of their wage bill and they had not yet been paid. Doubting whether they would be paid, pilots said, “If the money does not come in today, then we do not expect it for at least the next couple of days due to bank strike.”