Kingfisher to fly to Lanka soon

Shirajiv Sirimane in UAE

Kingfisher Airlines, India's first and only five star airline, is planning to fly to Sri Lanka at end of the year.

Regional Manager Trade Sales, of the airline, Ritam Saha in an exclusive interview told the Daily News Business that they hope to initially operate three frequencies per week to Sri Lanka.

Business tycoon Dr. Vijay Mallya ranked among the richest businessmen in the world owns the airline and he recently acquired Air Deccan. Saha said the airline has become stronger and has been growing very fast. "We would be flying to Bangladesh, Huston and New York by end of August. Sri Lanka has been in the list of Kingfisher expansion of horizons for a long time," he said.

Asked if they would look for a partner in Sri Lanka he said "We would be going on our own when we fly Colombo," he said. "Sri Lanka has tremendous growth potential since many Indians travel to Sri Lanka," he added. Commenting on speculation that the airline was keen to purchase Emirates airline shares he said this was not something in the pipeline. "We want to consolidate our Indian operations and moving into another country is not in our agenda right now," he said.

Besides being the first and the only airline to offer in-flight entertainment on every seat in the domestic skies, Kingfisher Airlines is the only one to offer LIVE TV with 16 channels of live and exciting content.

Kingfisher Airlines has received 30 awards for innovation, customer responsiveness and was voted the Best New Airline of the Year within months of its launch. Kingfisher Airlines is part of The UB Group, which is one of India's largest conglomerates with diverse interests and a global presence.

The UB Group is also the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol (beer and spirits) and the third largest drinks Group in the world. With the merger of Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan, the airline covers all segments of air travel from low fares to premium fares and offers the maximum number of flights offered by any single airline network in India.