---

=bloomberg
June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Air India, the national carrier, will pay 31,000 employees two weeks late as the carrier runs short of cash because of falling travel demand.

Employees will get their salaries for June on July 15 instead of the first of the month, Jitender Bhargava, a company spokesman, said in a phone interview today.

“The national carrier is facing perhaps its toughest ever crisis,” said Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer, India unit of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “Air India doesn’t have a viable business plan, and it can never be viable with more than 30,000 people.”

---