Kingfisher to suspend 2 international flights

Kingfisher Airlines is all set to expand its global network with the launch of flights on eight international routes this year. The airline will start flying on the Mumbai-Singapore and Mumbai Hong-Kong routes in September, a spokesperson said. The remaining six routes are Delhi-London Heathrow, Delhi-Bangkok, Delhi-Dubai, Mumbai-Bangkok, Mumbai-Dubai and Mumbai-Colombo.

“The plan to launch these new services is consistent with our goal of redeploying capacity on routes with better yields as compared to domestic sectors. Our assessment of travel behavior in these markets, flyer preferences and projected demand indicates promising potential on these eight new international routes,” the spokesperson added.

The move comes close on the heels of plans by Jet Airways to launch four new routes from Dubai in the next two months. Jet, which launched operations to the UAE last year with daily direct flights to Abu Dhabi in April, followed by Dubai in August, recently said it was planning to launch flights to Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore.

The airlines has decided to suspend flights on the Bangalore-London-Bangalore route and its feeder service on the Colombo-Bangalore-Colombo route with effect from September 15.

This has been done to ensure optimal and efficient utilisation of fleet and looking at the booked loads and yields during the September-November period. All passengers booked on the flight during this period will be accommodated on the London-Mumbai-London flight now.

Kingfisher Airlines was originally scheduled to launch the Bangalore-Dubai routes earlier this year but deferred the plan following the slowdown in air travel and declining airfares. However, analysts say despite a downturn in air travel across the globe, the Gulf sector is doing well and is considered a gateway to European and other international routes. Hence, there is a huge traffic from India to these destinations. Also, Gulf regions have huge Indian population. “Kingfisher Airlines wants to cash in on the huge air traffic between Indian and Gulf and will keep its fares competitive compared to Gulf-based carriers like Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways,” said an industry observer.

Source: The Hindu Business Line