The Hindu Business Line : Kingfisher may be first to fly non-stop to US West Coast

The first flight: Kingfisher and Jet Airways aircraft which made a smooth landing at the Rs 2,478-cr Rajiv Gandhi International Airport promoted by the GMR group in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Shubhra Tandon

Mumbai, Feb. 12 Kingfisher Airlines could be the first airline to offer non-stop connectivity from India to the West Coast in the US.

With its operations commencing on the Bangalore-San Francisco sector by end-August, UB Group’s airline is likely to beat the national carrier Air India, eyeing the same route with non-stop flights.

While Kingfisher is looking at August 27 as the launch date, a spokesperson from Air India told Business Line that the carrier would commence operations mostly by the end of the year. Kingfisher plans to deploy Airbus 340-500 for connecting the two big silicon destinations.

Kingfisher would be the first carrier from India as well as from the US to offer direct connectivity to the West Coast.

However, Jet Airways could be the first to connect to San Francisco from Mumbai with a stopover at Shanghai. The private carrier recently got permission to fly to China.

On going international, Mr Hitesh Patel, Executive Vice-President of Kingfisher Airlines, told Business Line, “We are keeping August 27 as a soft date and would be looking at commencing bookings three months prior to that.”

Currently, as per Government norms an airline can operate on international routes only when it has serviced the domestic market for five years. Mr Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher does not fulfil that criterion, but would be eligible to fly abroad if it completes the merger process with Deccan Aviation before August 23, which is when Deccan completes its five years.

Earlier, it was reported by Business Line on January 9 that Kingfisher would be leasing out its first Airbus 340-500 aircraft acquired by it in March-April to an airline till such time as it becomes eligible for international flights.

The airline had mentioned that a decision on the lessee would be finalised in a month’s time.

However, when enquired on the issue, Mr Patel said that the airline is still evaluating that option and no decision has been made so far.

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