Kingfisher Airlines to extend lockout

Kingfisher Airlines,promoted by liquor-baron Vijay Mallya,has been grounded since October 1 after its engineers and pilots went on strike for non payment of salaries since March. Last week,the airline had said that it had suspended operations till October 20. The talks on Wednesday too remained inconclusive as the employees continue to demand full payment of salaries.

The management has said that they can only clear one month salary and following that they will pay each months salary on the 7th, said one of the employee representatives. But we havent dropped our demand and we will only return to work if all our dues are cleared. The staff,however,is scheduled to meet the management again next week although the date of the meeting has not yet been decided.

Kingfisher Airlines was once Indias second largest airline by passengers carried. It has never posted a profit since its launch in 2005 and has defaulted on payments to airports,tax authorities,banks and hasnt paid its staff for the last seven months.