New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Employees of cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines Wednesday decided to move court, asking for disclosure of the passenger carrier’s future plans of restating operations and payment of dues, falling which they will also demand for the company’s formal closure.
The decision to move court was taken by members of one of the airline’s unions — Kingfisher Airlines Maintenance Engineers Association — who met here Wednesday.
According to the unions members, they have also sent their representation to the aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), informing it about the employees’ decision to move court and to seek its intervention in the issue.
The employees have not been paid for the last many months. Some cadres of employees are still to receive dues pending for the last eight months.
Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had said that a complete shutdown would cause collateral damage to many stakeholders.
“(I) sympathise with (the) employees of Kingfisher,” said the minister about the airline staff whose salary dues have accumulated for several months.
The airline’s flying licence expired Dec 31, 2012 and a revival plan it submitted to the DGCA was rejected due to the lack of more ‘credible restart’ details in the plan.
The airline’s licence was suspended on Oct 20 following a strike which crippled the carrier’s operations.
The Vijay Mallya-promoted airline has two years to renew the licence to fly.
The airline has a cumulative loss of Rs.8,000 crore and a debt of over Rs.7,000 crore from a consortium of banks.
