It is 11 in the morning on a sweltering June day at Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, but workers of Cambata Aviation – from loaders to supervisors and technicians to duty officers – are twiddling their thumbs and milling around the canteen near the police station. In dire straits, they might as well be singing Telegraph Road – “I got a right to go to work but there’s no work here to be found”.

Cambata Aviation has not paid its employees in nearly three months. There are fears among the workforce that the company might be going belly up by the end of this month, and also that its top executive will flee the country and never return. The company’s chief operating officer said on June 27 that he couldn’t confirm whether or not the company will fold up on June 30. If there’s one thing that’s clear about the state of Cambata Aviation’s affairs, it is that the company is not flying high.

It’s been a rough ride for the company. Founded in 1954, Cambata Aviation Private Limited went on to become India’s first private ground handling company. Its founder, Kershi Cambata, passed away in May 2008. After the demise of Cambata Aviation’s founding patriarch eight years ago, two of his sons were locked in a legal battle at the Company Law Board. Cambata Aviation’s tale of woes sounds a bit like a mash-up of the infamous nosediving of an airlines with a hint of a much-publicised succession battle. With other members of the owning Cambata family in the US and elsewhere (Albert was found guilty of tax fraud after he moved to Switzerland, renounced his US citizenship and became a St Kitts and Nevis national), the person captaining the ship in India is Irish national Pat Casserly.

Workers allege that in the past few years, ground services of the few flights that are still handled by Cambata Aviation have been given to rivals. “We’ve been here since 6am,” said a worker Newslaundry met at Delhi airport and who did not wish to be named. “They are giving it to BWFS and Celebi,” he alleged, naming competing firms.

Casserly vehemently denied this charge, but accepted  there is a financial crisis underway at Cambata Aviation. July is just around the corner, but employees of Cambata Aviation are still waiting for their March pay cheques. “We cannot speak for the management-level employees,” said Ramesh Gupta, president of Cambata Aviation Workers’ Association (CAWA). “But among us workers, there are around 850 of us who have been affected because of this delay.”

Before the salaries stopped entirely, workers claim they’d been paid late and in weekly installments. Provident fund deposits were allegedly erratic until they finally stopped – employer contributions have been non-existent since April last year. “Bonuses and allowances such as medical and LTA (leave travel allowance) have not been paid in two years,” said Gupta. “While those employees whose services were terminated received their full and final settlement, several who quit of their own accord did not.”

However, what’s really giving the workers jitters is the prospect of Cambata Aviation shutting shop on June 30. While they have not been told anything by the management, workers claim security staff has told them they will not be allowed to enter the terminal come July 1. Other “sources” have told the workers that the company will wind up operations by the end of July. Workers, especially those who have been with the company for a long time, fear that they will end up losing retirement benefits, such as the gratuity accrued over many years. There is also a worry that Casserly, the company’s Chief Operating Officer in India, will pull a Vijay Mallya.

When contacted over the phone by Newslaundry, Casserly dismissed those fears. He pointed out that if he had wanted to, he could have left the country “on October 7 (last year)”. For the uninitiated, that date seems to have been pulled out of thin air, but is actually the day after the Irishman was released on bail after spending 60 days in Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail for evasion of service tax to the tune of Rs 19 crore. Workers allege Casserly’s passport is still with authorities in Mumbai because dues are still pending. Casserly rubbished both claims: “My passport is with me. And the service tax dues have been cleared for quite some time now.”

Casserly said he would be staying put, but there was a caveat – “as long as there is no threat to me or my family.” “I don’t mind speaking to anyone as long as we’re talking in a business-like fashion,” said the COO. “But the moment there is any threat or innuendo, I’ll pack up my bags and leave.” This potential threat is also the reason why neither he nor any of his colleagues from the company’s management are present at the labour commission hearings.

Recalling an incident from a couple of years ago when Casserly was “held back against my will after the meeting” by union members, he said, “We’re not hiding from the labour commission. But why would I put myself or my management in such a (risky) position?”

The next hearing is on Wednesday, June 29. The workers, who plan to stage a demonstration prior to it, do not expect anyone from the company’s management to show up. But they don’t mind that as long as they get their long-pending dues. Meanwhile Casserly said he remains “hopeful of a positive response in the coming days.”

But there are no certainties. Cambata’s COO said quite bluntly that the company was “not earning enough revenue to meet its expenses”. While admitting that Cambata Aviation is not handling enough flights and that “customers have been leaving us because of our instability”, Casserly was unclear as to why the company’s performance has deteriorated in recent times after five successful decades of operation.

Crucially, while insisting Cambata is not shutting shop, Casserly did not say with any amount of certainty that the company would not cease to exist three days later.

In the meantime, hundreds of workers wait for what is rightfully theirs.