Kingfisher Airlines? woes seem to have no end. After facing cash crunch, 80 engineers have resigned since January as it could not pay them salary and nearly 350 pilots have quit since November 2011.
?A number of my colleagues have been looking for new jobs since the start of the year,? said an airline executive involved in route planning for the airline. ?We have had some offers but, the bad state of the airline is one of the reasons other employers are unsure of hiring us.?
?For us, it?s now a question of disassociating ourselves from the airline as soon as possible, or our careers in aviation are in jeopardy,? the executive added. Due to staff exit, Kingfisher Airlines? employee costs came down 20% in the last fiscal?s fourth quarter to R137 crore from R172 crore in the same quarter last year.
More engineers are planning to quit the airline. ?Already close to 80 engineers have quit this year,? said a person familiar with the development. ?Another 30-40 could quit in next few months. The engineers are not highly paid and they need salaries on time to meet their expenses.?
Around 200 engineers called in sick in April to protest delays in salary payments. ?There are jobs available for engineers abroad and in India,? the person added. ?IndiGo and GoAir are expanding their fleet, and they would require more engineers.? The airline, flying one-third its flights since last year, says they have enough employees to fly without operational disruptions. ?We have sufficient number of engineers and pilots to maintain our schedule,? said a spokesperson for the airline. The airline did not comment on the exits by its executives.
Kingfisher defaulted on payments to the income tax department and had its accounts frozen in February. The accounts were reactivated after it agreed to clear the dues in monthly installments.
Kingfisher owes R60 crore to Mumbai International Airport. Its fuel supply has been frequently disrupted by the oil companies as the airlines failed to pay them on time.