Kingfisher operations crippled as engineers go on strike

Mumbai: Kingfisher flight operations were crippled on Sunday with the airline engineers going on strike protesting non-payment of salary since March.

"The flight operations have come to a halt as no engineer reported for duty to protest non-payment of salary," airline sources said here tonight.

As per the DGCA norms, an aircraft can't take off unless its air worthiness is certified by the airline's engineers.

Meanwhile, two of the airline managers were allegedly manhandled by the striking engineers at Mumbai and Delhi airports, sources said.

The Vijay Mallya-owned airline, which is facing financial crunch for almost a year now, has not paid salary to most of its employees for the past six months.

The airline is saddled with bank loans of Rs 7,000 crore which it has not serviced since January.

The representatives of various employees, including pilots and engineers had a meeting with management last week, but failed to get any firm commitment on when their dues will be cleared.

Because of the non-payment of salaries, the engineers and pilots have been striking work at frequent intervals since April this year.

Kingfisher officials were not available for comments.

PTI