Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews June 6, 2013 As some 70 employees of the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderbad prepare to spend a second (protest) night at Kingfisher Airlines House in Mumbai alongwith their families tonight, the liquor tsar,Vijay Mallya is preparing to head for Formula One in Montreal. We are hearing Mallya might meet a handful of his employees tomorrow who are hoping (against hope) to get their owed salaries, before he takes off for a few weeks- far away from this madding crowd. We are also hearing CEO Sanjay Aggarwal has done his utmost to communicate with his employees. For the sake of humanity and good karma, we hope something comes off this elusive meeting should it take place.

Neelam Mathews Oct 3, 2012 A meeting held with some 1000 Kingfisher Airlines employees in Mumbai ended some time ago with both sides - engineers and management- refusing to give in, Aerospace Diary learns. "It was inconsequential,"  an engineer told us. "The CEO has told us to wait for another three months till cash comes in," he said. It is believed the CEO Sanjay Aggarwal stalked out of the meeting. We could not confirm this. However, an official from the management told us on anonymity: "This is India..such things are bound to happen (no salaries for 7 months) . It will get sorted out once business plans are nailed." He also viewed the meeting with the CEO as "successful." "Looks like people will be back to work in 3-4 days," he added. Meanwhile, we are wondering what happens to the promise of Oct 4 made to the DGCA by the airline? Backgrounder:

Neelam Mathews March 4, 2012 I cannot but help compare the plight of Kingfisher’s unfortunate employees to the French phrase " Qu'ils mangent de la brioche "-  Let them eat cake-  supposedly uttered by Queen Marie Antoinette upon learning that the peasants had no bread during a famine, reflecting her obliviousness to the condition of the people. Take our own King of Good Times. Even as his people bleed with no salaries for at least three months, Vijay Mallya after spending a stressful week in the corridors of Delhi, hopped into his private jet headed to the plush confines of his Goa property where Aerospace Diary learns his CEO Sanjay Aggarwal  has been summoned- probably to make some hard, harsh decisions. Before tweets fly out, please get me, nobody resents anybody’s well-earned lifestyle. Its just at times like these, it doesn’t hurt to be a bit more sensitive to people who have sweated and worked hard for you to earn that lifestyle. Consider this- at least sev...