Kingfisher renting out planes to foreign carrier

New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, will rent out at least two of its five long-haul A330-223 aircraft to Nigerian carrier Arik Air Ltd for two years from the third quarter of 2009.
This indicates that the Mumbai-based carrier’s expansion plans into Europe and the US remain uncertain. It sold two of its long-haul, Airbus SAS-made A340s to Arik Air late last year when it was scheduled to take deliveries of 10 other aircraft to start international operations.
Kingfisher Airlines, India’s largest private carrier by passengers, launched only a few international flights with five of the A330s deliveries it accepted.
“All it says is that Kingfisher will not expand in the long-haul sector for at least two years,” a London-based analyst said on condition of anonymity. “It will continue to expand in the region and I expect flights to start to Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu and the Middle East in the next 18 months.”
The analyst added that the leases were an indication that Kingfisher may expand regionally unless there are drastic changes in the international market.
This year, Kingfisher has started flights to Colombo and Dhaka using its domestic fleet of ATR planes. It also has government approval to fly to Chittagong, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and plans to start an all-economy service between Bangalore and Dubai from 25 June using an Airbus A320.
The Arik Air lease will start almost a year after the two A330s, valued at list prices of $180.9 million (Rs862 crore) each, have been grounded.
Rival domestic carrier Jet Airways (India) Ltd has given nine wide-body aircraft on lease to West Asian carriers but for much shorter time.
21/05/09 Tarun Shukla/Livemint

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign May 2009, Kingfisher May 2009