Over 30 flights of Kingfisher were cancelled today due to a strike by pilots to protest non-payment of wages for almost five months. At least 12 flights out of Delhi, 18 from Bangalore and four from Mumbai, besides several others from other cities, were cancelled.
Meanwhile, Vijay Mallya, Chairman of Kingfisher, has written to his employees requesting them to not cancel flights, citing that it will only make recapitalization efforts more difficult.
Here is the full text of the letter.
Dear Colleagues,
Today is an important day in our history. Unfortunately a sad one.
Several of you have been in dialogue with our CEO and also Hitesh Patel. The commitments made by them have been met to the extent of 75 percent as of yesterday.
We struggled immensely and I personally have devoted more time to our Airline than to any other UB Group Company in addition to investing over Rs. 4,000 crores into Kingfisher Airlines since we started.
We worked hard to gain the trust and confidence of our guests. Today, by forcibly cancelling several flights we have lost most of that.
The media will disgrace us and our flights going forward will be empty leading to further loss of income as our guests will not select Kingfisher if they are doubtful about the integrity of our schedule.
Damaging the future of Kingfisher in the public eyes is not going to produce cash. It only makes it more difficult to recover.
I really hope that good sense will prevail. I am doing my best. If some of you think that cancelling flights, speaking to media, or disgracing our Company will produce cash and salaries, you are wrong. This only makes my recapitalization efforts more difficult by causing concern and apprehension among our potential investors.
One of the main reasons that has motivated me into investing more money to keep Kingfisher flying is that I see light ahead. I invite you to share my confidence and work towards realising that light.
I sincerely hope that all of you will listen carefully to my appeal and work together to restore Kingfisher to its rightful place in the Aviation industry.
Regards,
Vijay Mallya,
Chairman
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