Kingfisher brand can fly with Deccan licence

New Delhi: The Union civil aviation ministry has allowed Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to merge its operations under the operating licence of low-cost carrier Deccan Aviation Ltd, granted in 2003, allowing it to fly overseas using its own brand as also continue with the Simplifly Deccan brand name until the technology platforms of the two carriers are integrated, a senior ministry official said.
Bangalore-based UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines had bought a majority stake in Deccan last year and later announced a merger of the two. By bringing them together, Kingfisher, which would have completed five years in 2010, gets to piggyback on Deccan’s right to fly international routes from later this month when the low-cost carrier completes five years of continuous domestic operations, a requirement defined by the government for an airline to be eligible to fly overseas routes.
A request by Kingfisher to run its services brand together with the Simplifly Deccan brand was turned down in February but, on Thursday, the ministry official said that decision would not have been fair, given that the government had allowed state-run National Aviation Co. of India Ltd to run the Air India and Indian Airlines brands under separate so-called air operator’s permits (AOP), or airline licences, even after the firms’ merger.
“We can’t have one set of rules for national carrier and another for them,” this official said, asking not to be quoted. The merging of airline technology platforms, which are critical for bookings and route sharing, can take months. The integration of Air India and Indian Airlines’ systems, for instance, is still not complete—a year after the process of legal merger.
“As far as the ministry is concerned, we don’t have any issue...they have to meet the DGCA (rules) now,” civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Thursday when asked if there was any hurdle left for Kingfisher to fly international.
15/08/08 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

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Categories: Deccan Aug 2008, Kingfisher Aug 2008