Wings of change

At a time when most carriers are facing low passenger traffic on the international network, private carrier Kingfisher Airlines said it has received approval from the Indian government to operate flights on nine international routes. Kingfisher has received approvals to operate Mumbai-London, Kolkata-Dhaka, Kolkata-Chittagong, Mumbai-Hong Kong, Mumbai-Singapore, Chennai-Colombo, Bangalore-Colombo, Bangalore-Bangkok and Mumbai-Bangkok flights. At present, the airline operates daily flights between Bangalore and London, which the airline claims has a passenger load factor of over 70%.A spokesperson for the airline said, “The time frame for launch of these services will be announced progressively.” He did not specify if the flights would operate on a daily basis. “The details are being worked out,” he said. The news of the airlines spreading it wings in the international skies sent its shares spurting as much as 5.74% to close at Rs 28.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Wednesday. The civil aviation ministry had given the nod for Kingfisher to operate in international routes in August this year.
The airline is likely to use the A-330 aircraft for flights from Mumbai to London, Hong Kong and Singapore, while ATRs will be used on Kolkata-Dhaka and Chittagong sectors. The A-320 will be utilised for the Bangalore-Bangkok, Dubai, Colombo and Male flights. The airline is in talks with some private equity players for infusion of funds, and plans to take two more A-320s on lease for the new services. Kingfisher has been aggressively expanding in the domestic market and recently announced plans to enter into an operational alliance with rival Jet Airways. It is however, making losses due to high fuel price, excess capacity and predatory pricing.