Kingfisher plans to order five A340s

While shoring up its domestic presence with its pending acquisition of Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines has big long-haul plans as well, including a possible alliance tie-up, Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said at this week's IATA AGM in Vancouver.
"The delivery of our long-haul fleet of five A340-500s will be starting in February 2008," he said, which will lead to the launch of daily nonstop flights from Bangalore to San Francisco in April and New York JFK in June. "Our [A340-500] will have a very luxurious configuration and thoroughly spectacular service, including a bar for our economy class passengers," he said.
A source close to the airline told ATWOnline that Kingfisher will add to its long-haul fleet with an order for five A340-600s that will be announced at this month's Paris Air Show. "We need more widebody aircraft for 2009-10 because of the late delivery of our A380s," Mallya explained. The carrier has A330s, A350s and five A380s on order. The latter are expected to operate daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi to JFK starting in 2011.
Last week, Kingfisher parent United Breweries Group announced the acquisition of 26% of Bangalore-based LCC Air Deccan parent Deccan Aviation, plus the promise to purchase an additional 20% (ATWOnline, June 4). With a combined 71 aircraft and a 33% market share, Mallya said the airlines will carry 17.9 million passengers this year and dominate the Indian market along with the merged Jet Airways/Air Sahara and Air India/Indian Airlines.
06/06/07 Kurt Hofmann/ATWOnline, US

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2007, Kingfisher Jun 2007