Grounded deep: 3 senior Kingfisher Airline executives quit

Mumbai, June 2: Three more senior executives of Kingfisher Airlines, including its chief information officer, have quit the grounded carrier even as a section of its pilots are set to revive their agitation over non-payment of salaries.

"The airlines' chief information officer Saurav Sinha, flight operations head Capt Ronald Nagar and cabin crew head Ajit Bagchi have put in their papers recently," Kingfisher Airlines sources told PTI.

Their resignations come close on the heels of KFA's executive vice president Hitesh Patel and ground handling chief Murali Ramachandran reportedly parting ways with liquor baron Vijay Mallya's grounded airline.

The private carrier, which has not paid its employees since August last year, has been grounded since October. Its air operations permit or the flying licence lapsed on December 31 last year, although it can be renewed within two years.

Last month, Kingfisher Airlines had submitted a fresh revival plan to DGCA, seeking permission to resume operations. But it has not yet been accepted by the regulator. "Besides these executives, a few pilots and engineers have also quit the carrier in the last one month as they did not see any hope of its revival," the sources said.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines' Mumbai-based pilots are planning to revive their agitation over non-payment of salary and are likely to hold a meeting here tomorrow to chalk out their action plan, sources said.

"Our July 2012 salary was paid in March and since then we have not received any payment. The management is keeping quiet on when it will pay our dues. We have called an internal meeting on Monday to chart out our course of action," an airline pilot said.

Saddled with an over Rs 7,000 crore bank debt, besides dues to various stakeholders, the airline reported net loss at Rs 2,141.80 crore for the March quarter of the previous fiscal. For the entire FY13, the net loss stood at Rs 4,001.12 crore.

PTI