Kingfisher Airlines joins ‘oneworld alliance’

India’s Kingfisher Airlines have joined the oneworld alliance to answer the rising demand of global travellers. “By becoming a partner of oneworld, we will be able to offer passengers more than 800 destinations in 150 countries on a network with the best coverage of the routes,” Kingfisher Airlines’ senior vice president Manoj Chacko said Monday.

Chief executive officer of British Airways, which sponsored Kingfisher’s bid to join the alliance, Willie Walsh praised the collaboration.

“We are pleased to have gained quick regulatory approval from New Delhi to add Kingfisher Airlines to oneworld. We intend to move ahead with its implementation.”

Oneworld governing board chairman and American Airlines chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey said: “The addition of Kingfisher Airlines is another key element in making 2010 even more of a breakthrough year for oneworld.”

He added that since oneworld remains the leading alliance in Latin America, it aims at expanding the market in other parts of the world.

Launched in 2005, Kingfisher Airlines has earned five-star ranking, rated by independent airline quality research body Skytrax. The airline served 11.6 million passengers in its 2009-2010 financial year and generated revenues totalling US$1.2 billion. It flies to 69 destinations — 61 of them in India. Kingfisher is oneworld’s 12th member, joining other big names such as American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas and Cathay Pacific.

In a separate development, Indonesia is studying the possibility of purchasing a number of Airbus A380s to provide more efficient service to haj pilgrims.

“We are interested to have the A380 but we will study the feasibility first. We can use the aircraft for haj and umrah [minor pilgrimage]. What matters is the continuity of the use [of the aircraft],” State-Owned-Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said during a visit to Airbus facility in Toulouse on Thursday.

“By using the Airbus, we can save up to 25 percent on operational costs. We have more passengers per flight, thus lowering the haj fee.”

Indonesia sends about 200,000 pilgrims on haj every year. Currently haj flights are run by Garuda Indonesia and Saudi Airlines.

Airbus vice president marketing Andy Shankland said in a meeting with the Indonesian delegates that based on the manufacturer’s studies, Indonesia would save $30 million annually if Garuda operates four A380s.

“Using the A380, [Garuda] can reduce the transportation time by two weeks from the current 70 days.

Meaning a $600 million cost reduction over 20 years,” he said.

Source: thejakartapost.com – 8th June 2010