Kingfisher Takes Flight

First Aircraft Inducted Amid ‘Good Times’ Achal Dhruva - Toulouse

“My vision is to make Kingfisher Airlines, India's largest private airline both in capacity and market share by the year 2010," was the emphatic statement of Dr Vijay Mallya, Chairman, United Breweries (UB) Group, at the delivery ceremony for Kingfisher Airlines' first aircraft, an A320. A large contingent of Indian media was flown to Toulouse by Dr Mallya to witness the delivery at the Airbus factory in Tolouse. Dr Mallya described the occasion not only as momentous but also an emotional journey towards the realisation of a lifelong ambition.

Dr Mallya also revealed that Kingfisher Airlines was set to launch on May 7 with commercial operations commencing from May 9 with two daily flights on the Mumbai-Bangalore sector. The flight schedule will be subsequently ramped up to three daily within ten days. "We plan to have three flights to Delhi from Mumbai by June in addition to the three flights to Bangalore and would look at increasing the frequency on the Delhi route thereafter. The key model of ours is to offer more frequency," divulged Dr Mallya. Kingfisher is the latest to join the recent clique of carriers keen to tap into the country's booming aviation sector and already it has notched up a number of firsts. It is the first Indian private carrier to start commercial operations with brand new aircraft and is also touted as having forged the first public-private partnership in the sector by entering into an agreement with Indian Airlines to provide all ground handling services at its exclusive terminals at Mumbai and Delhi. The partnership will encompass a host of areas like mutual assistance on account of cockpit commonality and over a period of time will expand to cover engineering and schedule co-ordination.

In keeping with its tagline, Fly the Good Times, Kingfisher Airlines opted for the A320-200 aircraft with capacity of 174 seats for its spacious layout with a wider 30-inch seat pitch and larger overhead bins, allowing for maximum passenger comfort. According to Alex Wilcox, president and chief operating officer, Kingfisher Airlines, A320 was the ideal choice given its versatility, reliability and comfort. He revealed that the airlines will induct 11 new Airbus aircraft in all by the end of the year and that the UB Group had pumped in US$ four million which, according to him, will sustain the airline's operation through to the end of December 2005.

"The delivery of our first Airbus A320 heralds a new era in which the Kingfisher lifestyle, which is already popular, will now takes to the skies. We have built the Kingfisher brand on values such as quality and reliability, all of which are echoed in our brand new fleet of modern Airbus aircraft. Kingfisher Airlines will offer a completely unique flying experience and many features on board will be much superior to the business class on offer in India today," said Dr Mallya.

The airlines will have a single-class seating, the K-Class with designer interiors, unique amenities like an advanced in-flight entertainment system offering a personal video screen at every seat with ten audio and five channels of video and outstanding service where customers will be called and treated as guests. While refusing to comment on the exact fare Dr Mallya informed that it would be somewhere between lowest apex fares and lowest business class fares of existing airlines.

"The new generation in India is going to demand world class product and so we have developed a world class airline. We are providing the best product at best value," claimed Dr Mallya. The Kingfisher Airlines fleet will feature an advanced Airborne Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACCARS) that will constantly monitor and keep watch over every aircraft even when it is in flight. The airline claims to be the first private carrier in India to be equipped with ACCARS system.

Commenting on the distribution model Wilcox said that the pricing is the same for all channels, ‘Kingfisher Price’. "We will be using a unique Airline Inventory Reservation System (AIRS) product of the Bird Group. It is for the first time this is being used in commercial service," informed Wilcox.

His revelation of a five per cent commission for travel agents and admission that in the Indian market travel agents provide value-added service and cannot be ignored, will be welcome news to the travel agents community. He also said that the airlines will have same fare levels and there will not be any apex fares and tickets will be fully refundable minus the normal 10 per cent. Answering the question of exploring possibilities of avenues of generating additional revenue, Wilcox said that the ticket is the main revenue stream for airlines,"but we may look at tying up with some hotels to offer some kind of packages along with car rental companies. Our key however will be low operating costs," he said.

Pics courtesy Shailesh Muley and Sherwin Crasto, Fotocorp