The management of struggling carrier Kingfisher finally reached an agreement with striking employees on Thursday, putting an end to the 25-day-old lockout.

The employees agreed to resume duty after the management agreed to pay employees four months salary dues by the end of December, and clear March salary dues within 24 hours of resuming work.

Subhash Chandra Mishra, representative of Kingfisher Airlines' engineers, said, "We are joining duty from today. We have accepted the proposal for a staggered payment of four months salary dues by December."

Vijay Mallya welcomed the development, and thanked all Kingfisher team members for their continuing commitment to work.

The agreement was hit after protesting employees threatened that they would stage protests during the upcoming Formula One Grand Prix, in which Kingfisher Airlines' chairman Mallya is participating.

Kingfisher Airlines has not been operating flights since the end of September. Aviation regulator Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already suspended the carrier's flying license.

As employees have finally agreed to return to work, the carrier's management is expected to meet DGCA to convince it to withdraw suspension of the license. However, it could take the carrier three to four weeks to resume flight operations as the aviation regulator will satisfy itself on safety issues and the viability of the carrier's financial plans before revoking the suspension of its flying license.