Pilots return to work after Mallya promises salary by Aug 13

Mumbai, Aug 9: The striking

pilots returned to duty on Thursday after chairman

promised to pay their pending salaries by August 13, a report said. A section of the pilots called strike on Wednesday as a result of which, the airline had to cancel 31 flights. Shares of the airline went down by nearly 1 per cent as a result of the strike, the fourth one since February.

According to a Business Standard report published on Thursday, bankers and aircraft lessors to the airline have invoked corporate guarantees worth Rs 835 crore, outing much stress on United Breweries (UB) Holdings, Kingfisher's primary promoter-vehicle.

The company's exposure to the airline, as on June 30, "include investment in equity of Rs 2,114.28 crore, corporate guarantees to banks/aircraft lessors of Rs 8,919.86 crore, loans and advances of Rs 1,814.14 crore and other receivables of Rs 165.62 crore. Certain corporate guarantees have been invoked and Kingfisher Airlines is under negotiations in this regard with the beneficiaries," the newspaper report quoted from a UB Holdings statement.

Kingfisher Airlines has been facing funds-crunch for almost a year and have failed to pay salaries to the staff for some time now. ("Can't work without being paid for such a long time")

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