NEW DELHI: Crisis-ridden Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya on Thursday issued a veiled threat to shut down the airline because of employees — who have not been paid since March and some since February — going on strike every now and then. The tone of the letter has not gone down well with the unpaid employees and they are planning some steps to somehow get the government’s attention to their plight, something which may put a further question mark on the airline’s ability to maintain its schedule.

“Why should I spend everyday to keep our airline afloat if the actions of our own colleagues lead to loss of guest confidence and lower income by cancellation of flights or low load factors that result from uncertainty? What is the confidence that I can give to investors who I am in dialogue with?” the letter says, adding, “If some colleagues feel that I will be pressurized by flight cancellations, they are wrong. Instead, I will stop my own support as a few are effectively holding the entire company to ransom.”

For the first time, Mallya admitted he had trouble running the airline in his letter. “I appeal to all of you to try and understand the extreme hardship that I am going through to keep our airline flying to the highest safety standards. Every day, I have to write cheques … irrespective of the revenue inflow. We have continuing issues with the tax authorities with frozen bank accounts. As if that is not bad enough, some of our own colleagues are ensuring, by their actions, that our revenue prospects fall down further,” he says.

Mallya asks the unpaid employees to quit if they cannot work without resorting to industrial action. “If a section of our colleagues feel that their actions are justified and that they know best, they can elect to leave our company.”

Mallya had told TOI on Tuesday that he would recapitalize the airline “FDI or no FDI”. Referring to the TOI story, he wrote: “As you may have read in the media, I have said that our company will be re-capitalized whether the government changes the current FDI policy or not. I have also expressed my anguish and sadness publically about unpaid salaries. I am making arrangements, once again, despite several handicaps” Employees are skeptical. “The promise to pay salaries is now made only when there is a threat of a strike and mostly it turns out to be a false one,” said a pilot.