Kingfisher Air hints at salary cuts

Flamboyant Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines appears set for pay cuts amid a crisis that finds private airlines finding it difficult to juggle debt, equity and passenger traffic, reports Lalatendu Mishra.

Flamboyant Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines appears set for pay cuts amid a crisis that finds private airlines finding it difficult to juggle debt, equity and passenger traffic.

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Jet Airways, with an estimated yearly loss of Rs. 8,000 crore, targeted mid and senior employees two months back. Now, Kingfisher’s chairman is sounding similar. “Every employee, be them pilots, engineers, accountants and every one, must be aware of the current economic reality and be prepared to face it,” Mallya told journalists in Mumbai.

He was commenting on the reported move of a section of Kingfisher’s pilots to sue the airline to court for violation of their service contracts, after their salaries got reduced when Kingfisher adopted performance-linked pay.

“They (pilots) are most welcome to do whatever they want. I will do what is good for the company’s interest. We have to be aware of the current environment,” Mallya said, adding Indian companies faced constraints in laying off people, unlike their Western counterparts.