Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Oct 1, 2012 It is interesting to note that  after we published our blog on the mishandling of a manager at Mumbai airport by engineers not paid their salaries, the  PR division of Kingfisher woke up to the fact that the  " inconvenience that may be caused to our valued guests on account of this unprecedented action."  The press release of Kingfisher says: "   A section of employees of Kingfisher Airlines has not been reporting to work over the last fortnight and over the past 2 days, they have been threatening and even manhandling the other employees who are reporting to work as usual." So if they knew this was happening for two days, why did the airline not find the need to inform their "valued customers?"   "We are doing our best to minimize the impact of these anticipated disruptions," says the release. Really? Pray, tell us how. Now we're hearing the mantri (minister) talk of revoking Kingfisher's licen...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Letter written by Vijay Mallya to the people who have kept his airline going. Dear Colleagues As you may have read in the media, I have said that our Company will be re-capitalised whether the Government changes the current FDI policy or not. I have also expressed my anguish and sadness publically about unpaid salaries. If I was not confident about the future of our Airline, I would not make public statements nor arrangements to raise funds. I appeal to all of you to try and understand the extreme hardship that I am going through to keep our Airline flying to the highest safety standards. Every day, I have to write cheques to various vendors and service providers irrespective of the revenue inflow. We have continuing issues with the tax authorities with frozen bank accounts. As if that is not bad enough, some of our own colleagues are ensuring, by their actions, that our revenue prospects fall down further due to shaky guest confidence a...

Neelam Mathews Feb 29, 2012 It’s that time of the month again. Aerospace Diary learns pilots of ailing Kingfisher Airlines have threatened not to come to work from tomorrow March 1, if the backlog of their 3-month salary is not cleared. We also hear the airline is caught again with dues yet to be paid to IATA. This follows a recent default when Kingfisher had come close to being blacklisted by IATA for non payment. Bad luck seems to come in 3 or 4s for the airline. An official told Aerospace Diary lessors are demanding the return of two AOGs, not under proper care. It is not clear if they are A330s or A320s. If the former, it could be likely the carrier’s operations to London and Hong Kong could be hit badly. Already, Kingfisher counters are manned with a skeleton staff taking care of a handful of passengers. Is the media to blame for this as Vijay Mallya’s recent note to his employees claim, one wonders.