The Kingfisher Airlines fiasco resumes haunting its owner and employees even a decade later. An Indian airline has gone from promising 5-star service to passengers to operating out of funds to pay its employees. Its owner, Vijay Mallya, who is now in the UK, is often in the information at court trials, and every time a new sentence is declared, he scratches the wounds of several former workers who are still waiting for their dues to be paid.
Kingfisher Airlines
Vijay Mallya is the owner of a defunct Indian full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines – who has been living in the UK for the past few years when cases have been piling up against him for non-payment of dues to various interested parties.
Supreme Court of India
Now the Supreme Court of India has sentenced him to four months in a contempt case. Mallya refrained from telling much about the verdict, but expressed his disappointment to the Press Trust of India, saying:
The 66-year-old businessman appears in the case of non-payment of a loan of more than one billion dollars. The court also ordered him to deposit $40 million with interest within 4 weeks to avoid seizure of his assets.
Over the years, when creditors came to Malli, they worked to recover some of the funds by seizing some of his assets. But several former Kingfishers workers are still awaiting payment for their airline services even after ten years of ceasing airline operations.
Former staff of Kingfisher Airlines is waiting to be paid for all the months they operated for the airline during the challenging time. They appealed to the court and were required to return to Malay India that justice was deserved. Many also believe that Mallya’s lifestyle hasn’t changed much since fleeing to the UK, while they restart to suffer the effects of the Kingfisher debacle.
Another staff– a pilot – says that sending Malay to prison is not an option. Instead, he should be permitted to pay his dues so that staff and other stakeholders can finally be paid.
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When an airline goes bankrupt, ex-employees are often far down the list of those who need refunds. Until that happens, Kingfisher workers find it difficult to get proper closure.
Kingfisher Airlines started operations
Kingfisher Airlines started operations in 2005 as a luxury carrier in keeping with the glamorous image of its industrialist owner Vijay Mallya. The airline boasts modern aircraft, in-flight entertainment, and a loyalty schedule.
There were even orders for large aircraft such as Airbus A380 and A350, as it sought to aggressively expand its international footprint. But competition from the country’s fast-growing low-cost market and poor business decisions began the carrier’s downward spiral.
In 2008, Kingfisher merged with the low-cost carrier Air Dean, which turned out to be a big mistake. The carrier has hard work to maintain both a full-service airline and its low-cost subsidiary. As detailed by the reporter, Kingfisher Airlines ceased operations in 2012 after massive losses.
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