Kingfisher to start BLR – DXB

Kingfisher has announced that it will begin its Bangalore-Dubai flights starting June 25 with an Airbus A 320. This flights was originally planned to start in March 2009, but has been delayed due to poor economic conditions.

“The conditions have improved now. It is a good time to connect Dubai and Bangalore with the summer travel season starting,” said Vinay Nambiar, Kingfisher’s area manager for the UAE, Qatar and Oman.

Kingfisher also plans to start flights to Abu Dhabi and a couple of other destinations in the Gulf region, he said.

The daily Dubai services will be operated using an A320 aircraft. Flights from Bangalore will depart at 6.30pm and land in Dubai at 8.55pm local time. The return flight will leave Dubai at 11.30pm and reach Bangalore at 4.45am.

Kingfisher Airlines defers Dubai launch until June

Kingfisher Airlines has put off its plan to launch Dubai services until June, according to an airline source and Dubai-based travel agents. 

The Bangaluru-based airline had earlier decided to launch Dubai route on March 7, but has now deferred it given the current slowdown in air travel and declining airfares. 

“We would be launching a daily Bangaluru-Dubai service now sometime in June, though no specific date has been decided yet. The reason for deferring the launch is the current situation wherein airfares have dropped to very low levels,” the airline source told Emirates Business. 

At present UAE carriers such as Emirates and Etihad Airways are offering return airfares to India at below Dh1,000 levels, according to travel agents, who pointed out that Etihad Airways’ India fares recently went down to as low as Dh530. “We would have also had to join the bandwagon had we launched as planned, on March 7. There has been a drastic change in air travel in the region. So we took a decision to defer it until June when it would be a peak travel season,” said the airline source. 

He said the airline would launch one more destination out of India in June, besides Bangaluru, connecting to Dubai. “We are currently studying various options including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Kingfisher team is working on the feasibility of the routes, after which we will decide one of these four cities to connect to Dubai.” 

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines has plans to launch three to four new global destinations this year from Bangaluru, despite the economic downturn. 

Also, this is the second time Kingfisher has deferred its Dubai launch. The earlier plan was to launch flights between Bangaluru and Dubai in February 8 this year. The airline had said in January that it will fly the Airbus A320 aircraft for its daily Dubai flights with a single-class economy offering. 

“With Dubai’s daily service, Bangaluru will become Kingfisher’s new hub in India with seamless transit without any change of airports to directly connect to over 26 cities in India,” the airline said this in a memo to one of the Dubai-based travel agents. 

Kingfisher launched its international operations in September 2008, connecting Bangaluru with a daily non-stop London flight, followed by a Mumbai-London flight that commenced in January this year.

Jet Airways relaunch Bengaluru – Pune

Jet Airways on 11SEP08 relaunched Bengaluru (Bengalore) – Pune service

9W445 BLR1130 – 1255PNQ 738 x6
9W459 BLR2130 – 2250PNQ 73G D

9W460 PNQ0620 – 0740BLR 73G D
9W446 PNQ1340 – 1455BLR 738 x6

American Airlines codeshares with Jet Airways

American Airlines has issued a notice that it’ll codeshare on Jet Airways’ new Brussels – Bangalore route when the latter launch the service at the end of October.

Doubling Bangalore airport capacity may start by July ‘09

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) is moving fast to build a second terminal, the work for which is expected to start by July next year.
This additional unit will be able to handle close to 14 million passengers on a yearly basis, the same as the existing first one.
The cost for the second one is expected to be close to Rs 3,000 crore, around 20 per cent more than the first. It is expected to take three years for completion and will also include the second runway as part of expansion of this airport.
The going may not be as easy for BIAL, as there is stiff resistance for the second runway from the defence aviation. BIAL officials maintained that these issues are being aggressively sorted out and hoped that a solution will be reached pretty soon.
Detailing these expansion plans, Albert Brunner, CEO, BIAL said that the existing terminal will be at full capacity in another 18 months. “Since the second terminal will take three years to complete, we are simultaneously pushing for an express terminal, which will be built on a faster pace of around 15 months to accommodate the increase in capacity,” he noted.
This stripped down terminal will be a bridging one during the time the second one is built and may be used for ‘special purposes’ after the second terminal is ready. This airport, which on Monday, completed 100 days of operation has so far seen 2.42 million passengers, 29446 aircraft movement, and the handling of 44,357 metric tones of cargo besides seeing a 30 per cent increase in international airlines and air freight carriers into the city.

Jet Airways to begin Bangalore-Brussels flight on October 31

Jet Airways to begin Bangalore-Brussels flight on October 31 with a brand new Airbus A330-200.

The schedules  Starting Oct 31 are as follows:

9W 132 BLR – BRU DEP 0135 ARR 0755
9W 131 BRU – BLR DEP 1005 ARR 0005

Flights to be operated by an A330-200 daily.  This move seems to be a direct competition to Kingfisher’s launch of Banglaore-London from September 3.

Kingfisher gets govt nod to fly abroad

Kingfisher Airlines has secured permission to fly abroad starting with flights to London.

The civil aviation ministry granted the traffic rights to Deccan Aviation in which Kingfisher Airlines merged in 2007, to operate services to London and other global destinations.

The airline, which has already firmed up plans to launch its Bangalore-London (Heathrow) flight from the first week of September, would be starting its international services on the rights granted to Deccan Aviation on the India-UK sector.

The mnistry on Mondayconveyed its approval to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for granting traffic rights to Deccan Aviation, an official spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Traffic rights of seven services per week have been granted with effect from August 26 between Bangalore and London and the airline permitted to utilise a large aircraft, Airbus A-330 for the long-haul operation.

The ministry has also advised DGCA to grant operating clearance to Deccan Aviation after due diligence of the airline’s ability to operate on the long-haul sector, the spokespersons said.

According to guidelines an Indian carrier can fly abroad only after serving the domestic market for five years and having a fleet of 20 aircraft.

First Kingfisher international flight on Sept 3

Kingfisher Airlines plans to launch its first international flight on September 3 with a direct Bangalore-London flight. “The countdown has begun. We are all set to fly to London from Bangalore on September 3,’’ a Kingfisher Airlines official said here. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had last month granted permission to Deccan Aviation to fly to 13 countries from August 26, the day the airline will complete the mandatory five years of domestic operations to become eligible for overseas operations. Kingfisher and Deccan Aviation have now merged. Under normal circumstances, Kingfisher would have to wait for two more years to complete the five-year term mandatory to become eligible for overseas flying. But now the government has let Kingfisher fly overseas under both brands—Deccan and KF.