It looks certain that high fuel costs will
force Kingfisher to drop plans to operate non-stop between India and the US. Instead Kingfisher is tipped to
make Amsterdam
its European hub and operate these (and possibly other services) with a stop en
route.
The privately-owned Indian airline had been
planning to fly non-stop with Airbus A340-500s between Bangalore
and San Francisco with another service to New York (see online
news July 15). Services were expected to start in the coming months.
But as Business Traveller has previously
reported (see online news, June 9) the cost of operating very long-haul flights
like these (Bangalore-San Francisco, for example, is a flight distance of
between 7,600 and 8,500 nautical miles) with A340-500s is uneconomical in these
days of costly oil. That’s because the extra weight of the fuel means that an
airline has to burn fuel just to carry fuel.
It means such flights are now unprofitable unless most, if not all passengers
are seated in first or business class, and it’s not clear whether flights
between India and the US are yet able to support such a configuration.
So instead, Kingfisher is expected to serve New York and San Francisco
by way of an en route stop in Amsterdam.
According to reports in the Indian business
press, government approval is being sought by Kingfisher to operate further
routes from India to Amsterdam with onward
connections either with itself (Kingfisher) or with Dutch airline KLM and
members of its fellow Skyteam alliance.
A similar set-up is currently being operated by
rival Jet Airways at its hub in nearby Brussels. Kingfisher was unavailable for comment, but an
official announcement is expected soon. Visit flykingfisher.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
