Mumbai: A section of pilots of the near-bankrupt Kingfisher Airlines went on strike on Sunday to protest against non-payment of salaries for the past five months, forcing the airline to cancel its ATR-operated flights.
Following the strike, the airline management has deployed executive pilots to carry out truncated operations, sources in the airline said.
An airlines spokesperson confirmed this development, but did not provide any other details. "More than 200 pilots, including captains, are on strike as the airline has once again failed to pay salaries to the staff. The employees had a meeting with the airline chairman Vijay Mallya on the issue, but after he failed to commit anything on the salary payment, the pilots decided to stop work," an airline official said on Sunday night.
A meeting of all employees, including pilots, engineers and cabin crew, has been convened in Mumbai tomorrow morning to chalk out further course of action, they said.
"The airline, which is facing funds drought, has not paid the employees since February," he added. Earlier also some of its pilots and engineers had gone on strike, but returned to work after the management assured them of remitting the salaries. The assurance had come along with some tough talk by Mallya.
The cash-strapped airline has neither been able to pay salaries since February nor has it managed to pay its dues to oil companies and airports. It has also defaulted on payment of service tax and TDS to the government.
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