Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines will resume operations before this weekend; the beleaguered carrier's chief assured the aviation regulator.

Kingfisher Chief Executive Sanjay Agarwal held a meeting with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) yesterday and assured the regulator that the carrier would restart operations by Friday.

In an attempt to alleviate concerns over the carrier's future, Mr. Agarwal said, "We will take a call on resumption of services on the October 4."

The carrier had cancelled several of its flights on Monday as engineers resort to strike to force the company to meet their demands.

In the meeting, Mr. Agarwal explained the recent strike by the carrier's engineers, and also expressed hope that the Income Tax department would soon defreeze its accounts.

Woes continue at Kingfisher Airlines as employees at the carrier have gone without salaries for more than seven months. If the Income Tax department defreezes its accounts, the carrier would be able to spend around Rs 60 crore, but this amount will be able to cover just a small part of the dues.

Meanwhile, the DGCA has declared that Kingfisher would not be allowed to resume operations until all safety norms are met.

Kingfisher Airlines has so far suffered losses of more than Rs 8000 crore, plus it is under the burden of a debt pile of Rs 7000 crore.