With no signs of revival, the grounded Kingfisher Airlines is witnessing an exodus of employees. In the last four to five months, 500-550 people have quit the airline, two informed sources told FE. Managerial staff, ground staff, engineers and pilots are among employees who have put in their papers.
?There is no guarantee the airline will resume flying, so a lot of us have left for other opportunities,? said a former managerial level employee. ?Me and some former colleagues will get the full and final settlement from the airline. The good thing is, we have found jobs in other industries.?
Kingfisher Airlines declined to comment on the story. An email questionnaire sent to the Vijay Mallya-promoted airline remained unanswered.
However, while managerial-level staff and ground support staff have found new jobs, the situation is not the same with engineers and pilots. ?There are fewer exits among engineers and pilots,? said a former Kingfisher engineer. ?The industry has more engineers and pilots than available jobs.?
Out of its total staff strength of 4,000 in October, 500 were engineers and pilots. Less than 50 of them have quit since then. While most of the exiting ground staff have found jobs in other airlines, the managers have shifted to other industries.
?Perhaps with the entry of AirAsia and expansion of IndiGo, more jobs may come up. However, as of now, things look bleak,? said the engineer quoted above, who is looking for jobs in domestic and middle-east airlines.
Kingfisher has been grounded since October 1, 2012 and its scheduled operator’s permit expired on December 31. The civil aviation ministry and the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation remain unconvinced with the airline’s revival plan.
?They (Kingfisher Airlines) have to satisfy a lot of conditions before they can fly again,? said Arun Mishra, director general of civil aviation. ?Salaries haven’t been paid and there are dues to lessors and banks. Even if they can’t satisfy all of them, they need to clear some of their dues. The revival plan does not clarify on any of these issues.?
Meanwhile, the DGCA is ready to cooperate with Airports Authority of India (AAI) and lessors to facilitate unpaid lessors take back their planes from Kingfisher. Kingfisher owns three planes and has leased the rest of the 28 planes registered under the airline’s name.
?We will de-register the planes as and when we get a request from the lessors,? said Mishra. ?We will also talk to AAI to help lessors take their planes back as that is the international convention.?
The Bangalore-based airline owes its lenders Rs 8,630 crore, including around Rs 7,000 crore in loans and interest. Lenders have already decided to start recovery proceedings.
During the third quarter of 2012-13, the airline did not report any revenues and had a net loss of Rs 755.17 crore.
On Thursday, Kingfisher’s shares closed down 3.04% at Rs 9.57 on the BSE.
Strap on your Parachutes
* Kingfisher Airlines has between 3,000 & 3,500 employees after the recent exits
* The airline’s 450 engineers & pilots have been paid only up to July 2012
* The engineers and pilots went on a 25-day strike due to unpaid salaries in Oct 2012
* Jobs not available for many engineers; pilots may be able to replace 239 foreign pilots in other airlines
* AirAsia India is on a recruitment drive for 300 people & Kingfisher employees could find jobs there
