The employees of Kingfisher Airline are hopeful that Vijay Mallya’s company will be back in business even though its flying permit was cancelled last year. The optimism of the employees received a boost after Vijay Mallya, in a letter to his employees on Thursday, promised to restart the airline. “I can still say that all is probably not over for Kingfisher Airline. It is true that the scheduled operators permit (SOP) was suspended and has still not been renewed. However, we are praying for its revival and hoping for some positive news soon,” said an aircraft maintenance engineer.
According to some employees, the company was one of the best places to work in while it was doing well and that the brand helped them get better opportunities professionally. “It is because of this that we got a lot of job offers in the past but still preferred to work in
Kingfisher,” said a senior pilot on the condition of anonymity. He added that if the airline was revived, the industry could see some of former pilots return to the airline.
Mallya’s letter said, “We have submitted a detailed restart plan to the DGCA which is in two parts. The first part deals with a limited re-start utilising 7 aircraft ramping up to 21 aircraft in 4 months. The second part is a full scale rehabilitation of our Airline growing to 57 aircraft within 12 months of recapitalization. Both plans contain detailed information on key assumptions and funding requirements including payment of outstanding salaries to employees.” Mallya has also said that the management is taking all possible steps to convince the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on the revival plan, which includes submitting no objection certificates from vendors and other trade partners. The liquor baron has promised that the airline will get a funding of Rs 650 crore, an estimate required for starting the operations, from UB group and its associates.
“If we could wait so long, let us wait for some more time to see Kingfisher fly in a few months’ time. We nurtured our professional dream and reared our family based on hopes. Plans change as per the situation and hopes never die. That is what life is all about,” said an emotional employee after reading the letter.