Kingfisher to double international flights

The UB Group-owned Kingfisher Airlines said on Wednesday the government had granted it traffic rights to operate on seven new international routes.

Four of these are from New Delhi to London, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Dubai. The remaining three are from Mumbai to Colombo, Bangkok and Dubai.

The commencement of flight services on these new routes will be announced at a later date. At present, Kingfisher operates on seven international routes - Bangalore-Dubai, Chennai-Colombo, Kolkata-Dhaka and from Mumbai to Singapore, Hong Kong and London.

Commenting on the grant of the new traffic rights, Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said: "I am delighted to announce that Kingfisher Airlines will soon be commencing flights from New Delhi to London Heathrow, along with six other new international routes.

The launch of these new flights will further enhance the international route network of Kingfisher Airlines. The addition of these new services will mean that we will now be able to further leverage our domestic route network of Kingfisher Airlines to maximise yields."

Mallya added that Kingfisher may even look at inducting new aircraft into its fleet sooner than planned, in an effort to capitalise on the upturn. Kingfisher has a fleet of 66 aircraft.

The flights on the New Delhi-London-New Delhi and New Delhi-Hong Kong-New Delhi routes will be operated on Airbus A330 aircraft.