The Indian carrier outlined its plans on board one of its new Airbus A330-200 aircraft at the Farnborough International Airshow this week, as chairman Vijay Mallya insisted Kingfisher was able to weather the current volatile climate.
”We have been compelled to raise prices because of fuel costs, but surprisingly we have not seen any reduction in load factors. There is a large number of Indians who will pay for quality and service,” he said.
Kingfisher has managed to secure two slots at London Heathrow from, according to speculation, Brazilian carrier Varig, with Mallya telling ABTN that he had been fortunate to have them. ”When we applied, some other South American airline stopped flying and we got a little lucky,” he said, noting that a second pair of London slots was also a possibility.
The carrier will start Heathrow operations between August 31 and September 3 from Bombay and Bangalore, with daytime flights from India and overnight services from the UK.
Configured in two cabins ” Kingfisher First (business) and Kingfisher Class (economy)” the A330-200 onboard service features several innovations such as a bar and lounge area for the 36 premium passengers, who also enjoy fully-flat beds in a 2-2-2 arrangement, an in-seat massage facility, a chef and a jacket-ironing option. The 231 Kingfisher Class passengers will have in-seat chargers, USB connectors, mood lighting, and a web-chat and email facility in a 2-4-2 cabin.
Kingfisher”s in-flight entertainment features AVOD touchscreen controls (17-inch screen in Kingfisher First and 10.6 in Kingfisher Class) with a total of 357 hours of programming across 36 channels. Seat pitch is 78 inches in Kingfisher First and 34 inches in Kingfisher Class.
Mallya is also evaluating one-stop or non-stop US services, possibly using ultra-long range A340-500 aircraft ” which would also feature an economy-section bar. He said: ”We are looking very closely at New York [and] there is a lot of demand for the Bangalore-San Francisco route.
”The largest software companies in the San Francisco area have important operations in Bangalore and there is a huge amount of traffic ” people are looking forward to the convenience of a non-stop service.”
The Kingfisher chairman equally had some harsh words on the Indian government”s taxation policy, maintaining that it should do more to reduce the burden. Mallya said: ”The real reason for airline woes in India is the sales tax on aviation fuel. It is aviation tax that is killing the industry, not fuel. There is no respect for the airline industry, which is vital to the Indian economy ” we have been lobbying hard to have the tax reduced to four per cent immediately.”
Because of the domestic tax levy, Mallya also revealed that Kingfisher was looking at launching mid-range international services from India to destinations such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Saudi Arabia using A320 family aircraft.
For more information visit flykingfisher.com.
Report by Simon Warburton