As KFA staff demand pending salaries, Vijay Mallya plans to fly to F1 venue in helicopter

New Delhi: This may raise hackles further. Troubled Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya will reportedly be flying to the Indian Grand Prix event at Greater Noida later this week in a helicopter, even as unpaid employees of the airline company plan to hold protests at the venue, demanding a meeting with him.

The employees of Kingfisher Airlines have been seeking to speak directly to Mallya regarding their issues, but have not been given permission to do so. They are seeking four months' pay by October 26.

Under fire over the crisis and with agitated employees asking where he is, Mallya broke his silence on Tuesday, slamming sections of the media for calling him an "absconder". "I travel 24x7 where my multiple work responsibilities take me. Sections of media call me an absconder because I don't talk to them," Mallya said in a tweet. Mallya's tweet came against the backdrop of his absence at the talks or negotiations the management of the debt-ridden private carrier has been holding with the employees over the past two weeks.

Kingfisher Airlines employees have not been given permission to speak directly to Vijay Mallya regarding their issues.

Speaking to IBN18 Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, Kingfisher employee Subhash Chandra Mishra said, "I believe in Dr Mallya, but not in Sanjay Agarwal (CEO) or Hitesh Patel, because many times they have gone wrong. In the past 13 months, we have got only five salaries. How can you trust them?" "Let Dr Mallya come and our representative will go and talk to him face to face. If he says something, then we may accept, but not Sanjay Agarwal or Hitesh Patel," he added. Mishra had earlier questioned Mallya's silence over the whole crisis.

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