Mallya: no lay-offs in Kingfisher soon

Defending the decision of his alliance partner in sacking 1900 employees, Mallya said his company's re-constituted board had discussed potential redundancies in the event of selling of aircraft.

Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya early Thursday ruled out lay-offs among the carrier's cabin crew for the time being.

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"As of today, we have no surpluses and certainly our cabin crew is intact and will retain jobs. But what is relevant today may not be so over a month. If we decide to get rid of more aircraft, because we find synergistic benefits, we will take it as it comes," Mallya told reporters after a marathon board meeting in the wee hours of Thursday.

Defending the decision of his alliance partner Jet Airways in sacking 1900 employees who were temporary or on probation, Mallya said his company's re-constituted board had discussed potential redundancies in the event of selling of aircraft.

"If we get rid of aircraft, there will be redundancy. There is no point in hiding the fact. These are commercial necessities every company has to take if it wants to be successful. We have no surplus cabin crew. And therefore there will be no redundancy whatsoever in our cabin crew side," he said.

Mallya said that the airline had sold five Airbus 340-500 aircraft recently. As a result, about 300 employees were laid-off as they were not required.

"Other than those associated directly with the operation of Airbus 340, we have no surpluses," Mallya clarified.