About Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle (East), Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red.

Kingfisher Airlines is one of the only seven airlines awarded 5-star rating by Skytrax along with Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Hainan Airlines Kingfisher operates more than 375 daily flights to 71 destinations, with regional and long-haul international services. In May 2009, Kingfisher Airlines carried more than 1 million passengers, giving it the highest market share among airlines in India. Kingfisher also owns the skytrax award for India's best airliner of the year 2011.

Kingfisher Airlines is also the sponsor of F1 racing outfit, Force India, which Vijay Mallya also owns.

History

Kingfisher Airlines was established in 2003. It is owned by the Bengaluru based United Breweries Group. The airline started commercial operations in 9 May 2005 with a fleet of four new Airbus A320-200s operating a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. It started its international operations on 3 September 2008 by connecting Bengaluru with London.

On 7 June 2010 Kingfisher became a member elect of the Oneworld airline alliance when it signed a formal membership agreement. A firm date to join the alliance will be announced once the implementation process is underway, it possibly may take 18 to 24 months.

Destinations
Main article: Kingfisher Airlines destinations

Kingfisher Airlines serves 63 domestic destinations and 8 international destinations in 8 countries across Asia and Europe. Kingfisher's short haul routes are mostly domestic apart from some cities in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Western Asia. All short haul routes are operated on the Airbus A320 family aircraft. ATR 42s and ATR 72s are used mainly on domestic regional routes. Kingfisher has its medium, long-haul destinations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Its first long haul destination was London, United Kingdom which was launched in September 2008. It has plans to launch new long haul flights to cities in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania with deliveries of new aircraft. All long haul routes are operated on the Airbus A330-200.