Facing its worst ever employee unrest since its inception seven years ago,Kingfisher Airlines has since Sunday night grounded all its flights and operations,as striking engineers refused to certify airworthiness of planes,forcing Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to declare that the airline will not be allowed to fly if safety rules are not followed.Kingfisher,which operates around 80 flights per day with nine aircraft (as per the schedule given to the regulator),was forced to cancel all its flights across its network after its engineers refused to certify aircraft demanding that at least a part of their sevenmonth pending dues be paid immediately.Labour troubles have been the nemesis for many carriers in the world (most recent example being Australian airline Qantas).
The airline declared a "partial lockout with immediate effect" late Monday evening,ascribing the move to a series of "protracted and unabated incidents of violence,criminal intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint" by a section of non-management engineering staff.An email from CEO Sanjay Agarwal,sent out at 10 pm to his colleagues,said the "illegal actions",including the strike,has forced the airline to ground all its aircraft.'Won't Suspend KFA Licence Over Internal Matters' "The partial lockout is declared with immediate effect in respect of the nonmanagement employees belonging to the engineering and flight operations departments," Agarwal said in his email.The company management will review the situation on Thursday or the day on which this illegal strike is called off,whichever is earlier,he added.The internal mail was followed by a press statement that read: "Kingfisher Airlines has more than sufficient number of staff to safely operate its current schedule of flights as per the holding plan."
Earlier on Monday,Kingfisher Airlines appeared to be on the brink as operations came to a standstill after striking engineers refused to certify the air-worthiness of its planes.Singh,in a conversation over phone to ET,acknowledged that the refusal by Kingfisher engineers to certify the safety of its planes was a first of its kind in the history of Indian aviation.In the past,there have been disruptions (at Kingfisher) and even Air India has faced such schedule disruptions due to unrest by its pilots,he said."But engineers refusing to certify aircraft becomes a safety issue and under no circumstance will the civil aviation regulator allow aircraft that have not been certified to fly," the aviation minister declared.The minister,however,said the latest episode did not merit a suspension of the airline's licence."As long as they have five aircraft and fly them safely,we will not look into internal matters of that airline i.e.if they pay salaries or not," the minster said.Arun Mishra,head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,said he had "summoned" the Kingfisher CEO for a meeting on Tuesday."We want to know the plans for the airline." Mishra said the basic concern of the regulator was safety."If they (KFA) do not have engineers to certify flights,how can they ensure safety," he said.
Both Singh and Mishra were interviewed for the story before Kingfisher announced the partial lockout.At least two meetings between the management and representatives of pilots and engineers failed to end the impasse.The pilots met a team of senior officials led by Kingfisher's executive vice-president,Hitesh Patel."We were told the airline has no money to pay salaries and,therefore,no such demand will be met," an employee who attended the meeting said."It is a deadlock.We have conveyed to the management that we want at least four months' salary to be paid immediately and will not report to work unless this demand is complied with.We have been patient and working under a pseudo lockdown.
Now it is the real thing," rued one of the pilots emerging after a meeting with the management of the airline.The deputy director-general civil aviation,western region,RK Khanna,said the situation was being monitored."Till late evening,there were no indications that the airline would be able to start operations.Kingfisher said in the morning that it would fly four of its seven operational aircraft with the help of executive pilots,but that has not happened so far." A senior Kingfisher official,however,said that if the pilots and engineers stuck to their demand of payment of four months salary,there can be no headway as it would be impossible to garner funds to pay these salaries."At best,a month's salary will be disbursed.If they do not take it,then a final call must be taken," the official said,not wanting to be identified.Kingfisher did not respond to queries.In a presentation made to lenders last week,Mallya failed to convince them to lend more money."We have a personal guarantee from Mallya which we can invoke if need be," said a senior bank official of a public sector bank.
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