India's Kingfisher cuts flights on 'labour unrest'

India's cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines cancelled several flights on Monday due to staff unrest, it said, fuelling more doubts about the private carrier's future and sending its shares plunging.

Kingfisher, which is desperately in need of capital to keep flying, said in a statement it believed some employees might not report to work after being threatened by other workers.

"A section of our employees have been threatening and manhandling other employees who are reporting to work. We are anticipating disruptions and delays of flights across our network," airline spokesman Prakash Mirpuri said.

"With a view to mitigate the impact of these anticipated disruptions, we are proactively cancelling several flights across our network for October 1," he said in the statement, adding the firm would talk to employees on the issue.

Mirpuri could not be reached by telephone and the statement did not specify how many flights were affected, but according to domestic media reports Kingfisher's fleet has fallen to seven planes from 66 last October.

Separately, the Press Trust of India news agency reported some Kingfisher engineers had gone on strike to demand wages unpaid for seven months.

Kingfisher shares were down 4.78 percent at 15.35 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange following the news.

The airline has faced a series of strikes by pilots and engineers over delays in salaries, and has scaled down its operations dramatically in recent months to curb costs -- halting international operations completely.

The company was India's second-largest airline until a year ago but now has a market share of just 3.2 percent, the smallest of the country's carriers.

Owner Vijay Mallya, a billionaire liquor baron, last week said he was in talks with foreign airlines to sell a stake in the firm after the government relaxed foreign investment rules.

Also last week, local banks -- which own a quarter of Kingfisher -- rejected a request from the company for another loan.

Kingfisher has never made a profit since its creation in 2005 and is now at least $1.3 billion in debt. It has been hard hit by over-rapid expansion, intense competition and high fuel prices.

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