The Hindu Business Line : Kingfisher Air to fly to more south Indian cities from Dec

KINGFISHER Airlines is to launch flights between Bangalore and several south Indian cities including Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Pune from December.

"We will get the Airbus A-319 in December. We will launch flights from Bangalore to several south Indian cities," the Chairman of the UB Group, Mr Vijay Mallya, said during an informal meeting with newspersons on Wednesday.

The airline is to also launch regular flights between Delhi and Bangalore from June 6. At present, it operates twice a day on the Mumbai-Bangalore route.

Kingfisher has also entered into a "comprehensive agreement" with Indian Airlines to fulfil its obligations of flying on largely uneconomical category II and III routes.

Since Indian Airlines' operations on these routes are in excess of stipulated norms, Kingfisher would "buy out" the extra operations from the national carrier. Besides, the "comprehensive agreement'' would also see IA undertake other operations for Kingfisher.

"The total package that we have with Indian Airlines is worth about Rs 120 crore annually to them. I though that in this day and age of outsourcing it was a good idea to have such an agreement with Indian Airlines. The agreement, valid for two years, is a win-win situation for both the airlines," Mr Mallya said.

The UB Group Chairman added that the airline would look at flying on international routes at an appropriate time. "We would certainly like to fly on international routes. However, we will consolidate in the domestic sector first before looking to expand into the international operations," Mr Mallya added.

With a rapid expansion plan that is to see the airline acquire 33 aircraft by 2008, the airline will also look at tapping the capital market. However, when questioned on the timing of the entry into the market, the UB Chairman merely said that "entering the market is a possibility in 2006 and a strong possibility in 2007."

Commenting on poaching of technical staff from other airline, Mr Mallya said that he would not take people from the State-owned airlines. The situation was different when it came to private sector airlines, he added.

Referring to space constraints at the various airports, the UB group chairman said he had suggested to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India that they consider moving out "junk" aircraft that are parked in Mumbai to get over this problem.

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