The crisis at India's ailing Kingfisher Airlines deepened on Wednesday, its third straight day of grounded flights, after the firm failed to persuade striking employees back to work, a staff source said. With fears mounting for its future, the airline held emergency talks with workers but said they would be unable to pay the full seven months salary owed to some employees, a pilot at the meeting told AFP, declining to be named.
"They have also not committed on when they can pay us. Until we get our salaries, we will continue with the strike," he said. The airline's shares closed 4.89 percent down to 14.6 rupees, after India's civil aviation regulator said the company cannot fly again until it submits a revival plan and meets all safety norms. Kingfisher shares have fallen 9.42 percent this week. With talks failing, it is unclear if Kingfisher will be able to resume operations on Friday, as initially indicated when the company declared a partial lock-out on Monday night, blaming unrest by striking workers. The Bangalore-headquartered airline said a minority group of "recalcitrant employees" had forced a "complete paralysis" of operations, leading to the cancellation Monday of all flight operations initially for three days.