Kingfisher Airlines sacks 30 engineers

Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines, saddled with huge losses and debts, is learnt to have sacked 30 engineers last month.

The sacking, company sources said, comes at a time when the airline is consolidating operations, and did not rule out the possibility of more technical staff being pink slipped in the coming months.

The Vijay Mallya-led airline hasn’t made a profit since its inception in 2005. “Decisions made in the day-to-day running of the airline are not communicated, shared or discussed externally,” Kingfisher said in an email reply to the questions from HT.

“With the Indian air transport market undergoing upheaval and changes, we shouldn’t be surprised to see more engineers or flight crews leave Kingfisher,” said Saj Ahmad, a London-based aviation analyst. “If, engineers have been asked to leave, one has to ask what is happening to the eventual fleet size at Kingfisher? The real question is whether this new direction Kingfisher heads-in, actually delivers any benefits?”

“There exists some excess technical staff in Kingfisher because of reduction in fleet by 20% in last 2-3 years and since Kingfisher is consolidating operations and not expanding, allowing engineers to leave is in line with their current operational requirements,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consultancy and research firm.

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