Kingfisher Airlines will take a call on lifting a partial lockout on October 4, chief executive Sanjay Aggarwal said on Tuesday. The airline is engaging in talks with employees, Aggarwal told reporters after a meeting with the country's aviation regulator. Kingfisher declared a partial lockout and cancelled all of its flights through Thursday, as labour unrest exacerbates troubles for the debt-laden company.

Earlier, Kingfisher said the lockout followed "unabated incidents of violence, criminal intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint and other illegal acts" by some employees.

Not a single flight took off on Monday as pilots joined engineers, who have been on strike since Saturday. Kingfisher has been hit by repeated strikes for close to a year now.

Aviation minister Ajit Singh said Kingfisher would not be allowed to fly if safety rules were not followed.

(With Reuters and HT inputs)