A group of employees at embattled Kingfisher Airlines said that talks on Thursday between the company and pilots and engineers in Delhi had "ended in failure" as the company had not made a commitment on payment of overdue salaries. Earlier on Thursday, a company official had said that the airline, whose fleet has been grounded since Monday, expected to resume operations in four or five days after around 100 staff in Delhi had agreed to return to work.

"Employees demanded payment of long pending salary (7 months) prior to resuming operations. All employees expressed their keenness to resume work provided their dues are cleared expeditiously," the statement from a group of unnamed employees said.