Kingfisher Airlines of India has officially confirmed that it will be undertaking minor restructuring of its entire route network for the upcoming winter season which include few changes. The main highlights are as follows:
BLR/LHR - all flights suspended from Sept 15th.
BLR/CMB - all flights suspended from Sept 16th.
BOM/SIN + BOM/HKG - two new nonstop routes to be launched from Sept 16th using an A 332.
In addition, the airline has applied for permission from the Indian DGCA to launch other routes which are as follows:
DEL/LHR - daily nonstop flights using an A 332.
DEL/BKK - daily nonstop flights using an A 320.
DEL/DXB - daily nonstop flights using an A 320/321.
BOM/CMB - daily nonstop flights using an A 320.
BOM/BKK - daily nonstop flights using an A 320/321.
BOM/DXB - daily nonstop flights using an A 320/321.
Comments:
The BLR LHR BLR flight timings were not attractive for onward traffic with other airlines to USA. This route too was launched with only a 3 week notice in Sept 2008 which was suicidal. They only had decent domestic connections to South India and CMB via BLR where as they should have done more by flying A 320s / A 321s from BLR to SIN and KUL to further support this flight. The 2 A 332s currently being used for BLR LHR BLR are scheduled to be used on BOM-HKG and BOM-SIN. All these 3 routes are very overcrowded and face stiff competition so it will be interesting to see how long these routes last for KF or who will they make suspend flying here as their BOM-LHR flight definitely seems to have played a part in VS suspending their own LHR-BOM services. One really hopes that KF at least make a creditable hub at BOM and DEL which would allow their Middle East and LHR bound flights to connect with SE Asia and Indian subcontinent routes.
KF's 4th A 332 will be used for new daily DEL-LHR services where as the 5th one has not been allocated to any route as yet but it should be used on the upcoming daily BOM-DXB route as the in-flight product is amazing in both J and Y classes + there is big demand for J class on this sector + the A 332 can carry 8 tons more cargo than the A 320 can on this medium haul sector.
1 comment:
The 5th A332 appears to be stuck at Bengaluru International Airport due to a payment dispute with Hindustan Aeronautics. As I am given to understand, KFR used to park its aircraft at HAL airport in Bangalore and accumulated a large overdue. On the pretext of taking it on a demo flight they took the aircraft and then landed it at BIA and have not fully paid HAL. Now every time they file a flight plan, HAL ATC denies the flight plan so the aircraft is effectively grounded. I have a photograph of VT-VJP nice wrapped up and stored.
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