PTI New Delhi: Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has paid Rs 15 crore as service tax dues in April this year but is still to pay up Rs 54 crore arrear, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman SK Goel said on Monday.

PTI Mumbai Last Updated: May 21, 2012 | 00:00 IST Resentment is brewing in a section of Kingfisher Airlines employees over the non-payment of dues despite its chairman Vijay Mallya's "assurance" of remitting January salaries by May 15.

The ailing Air India (AI) has been displaced by low-cost carrier SpiceJet as the country's third-largest domestic airline by market share.

Kingfisher Airlines has paid Rs 15 crore dues to the Income-Tax Department and has still to pay them Rs 50 crore, say CNBC-TV18 sources.

The promoter of Kingfisher Airlines , Vijay Mallya, has written to the cash-strapped company's employees promising them their salaries, due for about three months for which payment was likely to begin from today.