Kingfisher Airlines Grounds 15 Aircraft



Kingfisher Airlines

 With no sign of the financial trouble ending for the beleaguered, Kingfisher airlines, the carrier group has decided to ground more than 15 aircrafts from amongst its fleet of 60 Aircrafts. There have also been huge attrition of the pilots and till now more than 100 pilots have left Kingfisher airlines services. On Financial front the lenders have refused bailing the airlines out, till they clear all current dues. There have been frantic efforts on the part of Kingfisher to arrange the working capital to run day to day airlines operations such as Airport levies and even employee salaries.

In the midst of all these the airlines has announced that it will join the Oneworld alliance in February 10, so that there are some collateral benefits on its frequent flyer program due to alliances with other airlines. There are more troubles in the offing for Kingfisher though. According to statement made in the Indian parliament, by the state minister of Finance there have also been issues of Tax Irregularities on part of the airlines wherein it has not submitted the amount, it deducts from the employee's TDS, to the tax authorities. The airline has already shut its Budget operations on various routes.

Kingfisher Airlines Regains the Second Largest Carrier Tag

Kingfisher Airlines Booking

Kingfisher airlines is on the move with the January aviation figures pointing towards the fact that Kingfisher has again captured the Second largest carrier tag. Indigo airlines has climbed the graph pretty well in recent time and has pipped Air India from the third position recently and even Kingfisher from the second slot with a robust enhancement in domestic passengers growth.

 As per the data of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation the aviation market  witnessed an increase of 20.7 per cent in passenger traffic during this period on Y-O-Y basis.The total market share of Kingfisher Airlines stood at 19.5 per cent for the month of January followed by IndiGo Airlines at 19.2 per cent. Also both the airlines carried 18.6 per cent of the total passengers each in December 2011.

At the same time the Air India is on market losing curve with declining route operations and passengers flown. The market share of Air India stood at just 15.8 per cent of the total domestic passengers while in December 2011 it stood at 17.1 per cent of the total.

The January share for other airlines in India Stood as: Spice Jet at 14.3 per cent and GoAir 6.4 per cent

 In keeping with the past year trends, Jet airways retained the Top slot with overall market share 24.8 per cent. This figure include its subsidiaries Jet airways and Jet lite (The LCC model) — The former accounting for 17.3 per  and  the latter 7.5 per cent.

Kinfisher Drops AirBus 380 Acquisition Plans

Owing to changes market priorities and compulsions the Kingfisher Airlines has decided to change its Aircraft acquisition plan with emphasis now on less bigger aircraft. Due to changed market circumstances the Airlines has decided to double its fleet size from 66 to 137 aircraft by the year 2015-16 but this has to be implemented sans the much publicized Airbus 380s induction.During the 2011-12 financial year the Kingfisher airlines  plans to add nine aircraft - six A320s, two A330s and one ATR. Of these Aircraft, the airline will take eight directly from the market. It plans to add 14 aircraft in 2012-13, 20 in 2013-14, 16 in 2014-15 and 13 in 2015-16.

At present the Kingfsiher Airlines is the the second-largest airline in India in terms of passengers carried and operates around 375 flights a day to 71 destinations in India and worldwide. But it is the lone listed carrier that has not turned even with reporting a net loss of around Rs 1,647 crore year ended March 2009.Hence the airlines is on damage control mode by phasing out Food Options In LCC model Kingfisher Red and also aims to phase out highly paid foreign pilots in the  coming financial year. and operate leased aircraft besides outsourcing maintenance functions.

Kingfisher Airlines Announces New Flights

Kingfisher Airlines has announced New Flights connecting many new cities in India. Anticipation of the new flights were high following the induction of five new aircraft to the kingfisher stubble earlier this month. The new cites added to the kingfisher itinerary are Belgaum and Indore. The other flights will operate on the Jabalpur-Indore and Indore-Mumbai route. The new services are aimed at providing flight connections between the country's financial capital and important cities and facilitate greater economic activity.

There has been growing demand from the Non metropolitan cities to have flight connectivity with the rest of the countries , especially metros and kingfisher move is in the direction of encasing on the growing demand For this India Flights sector. Already There has been growing demand for Low cost Air ticket in the domestic flights sector and it is to be noted that India is fast emerging as top International Holidays destination further fueling airlines demands.

Air Asia Direct Flight to Bankok

Thai Capital, Bankok is the place which is getting attention if the steps of most of the Airlines in India are an indication. With Air Asia deciding to Launch daily flights  between Kolkata  and Bangkok and the future plan of  increasing the frequency to twice daily in six to eight months, it looks certain that other airlines are sure to offer similar steps.

Besides Air Asia, Thai Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India Express are already operating direct flights between Kolkata and Bangkok. The Air Asia step would be the perfect background for a fierce competition for garnering both Out Bound and Inbound travelers, it will also lead to slashing of prices for Air tickets by the major airline and thereby reducing their profit margins.

East Asia has been the center of attraction of most International airline due to increasing visitors to these countries for both leisure and corporate travel driven by the robust economic performance of the Asian countries. India in particular has seen not only increased tourist inflow but also seen a major rise in out bound tours to bot US  as well as major Asian countries. The move by the private airlines assumes importance also because Air India Express  has recently announced withdrawal of flights from any international sectors. Indian Airlines have been on an overdrive due to their rising operating profits and increasing consumer demand.