Kingfisher headcount falls 22 pc; more HR optimisation on card

New Delhi: Debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines saw its headcount fall by over 1,600 people or 22 per cent in the last fiscal and the carrier is planning further measures for optimising its "human resources utilisation".

The airline had a total of 5,696 employees for the year ended March 31, 2012, down from 7,317 employees in the previous year, Kingfisher said in its annual report for 2011-12 released on Monday.

Costs towards employee remuneration fell by one per cent to Rs 669.5 crore during the year ended March 31, 2012, even as the pay package of its CEO Sanjay Agarwal rose sharply by about 90 per cent from Rs 2.12 crore to Rs 4.01 crore.

Debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines saw its headcount fall by over 1,600 people or 22 per cent in the last fiscal.

Besides, Agarwal is entitled "to free use of company car and telephone", the company said, while adding that the remuneration of Rs 4.01 crore in 2011-12 excludes accrued leave encashment and gratuity.

No payments were made to Chairman Vijay Mallya, while non-executive directors were paid sitting fees for board and committee meetings attended by them.

In the previous year 2010-11, Mallya was paid 'guarantee and security commission' of about Rs 51 crore,, but the airline made a "write back" of Rs 14.03 crore in 2011-12 regarding such commission paid to the Chairman.

The airline said that the payment of such commission, earlier accrued as payable in books of account to guarantors for issuing guarantees at the request of the company to lenders, has been withdrawn after directions from a consortium of its lenders, as per RBI's guidelines.

"Further, for the same reason, no provision has been made in the books of account for commission payable in respect of guarantees issued by the guarantors to the company's bankers/others for the year, estimated at Rs 110.93 crore."

"The company has communicated the matter to the concerned guarantors and their response is awaited," it added.

Kingfisher further said "there were no material developments as regards human resources/industrial relations front" and its "employee relations remained cordial".

In recent months, there have been various reports about Kingfisher staff abstaining from work due to non-payment of salaries on time, thus affecting the airline's operations.

Listing out the measures proposed to be reviewed and undertaken to maximise its profits and cut losses, Kingfisher said it would be "optimising human resources utilisation".

Other such measures include phased capacity re-induction, transitioning to a single brand offering, strengthening route structures and reconfiguring aircraft for productivity, revising sales and distribution reach. Improving aircraft utilisation and schedule efficiency, focusing on driving revenue premium through yield management and a comprehensive review of costs across key functions are also proposed.

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