INDIA’S Kingfisher Airlines is set to join the oneworld airline alliance – subject to Indian regulatory approval – and could be operating as a member by the second half of 2011.
The airline has recently announced the launch of flights from London Heathrow to New Delhi at the end of March, joining its ex-Heathrow operation to Mumbai, and it will become oneworld’s 12th member.
Kingfisher operates India’s most extensive domestic network and will add 58 cities to oneworld’s global reach, taking it to 800 destinations in almost 150 countries.
Kingfisher Airlines chairman and chief executive, Vijay Mallya, says: “Becoming part of oneworld would be one of our most significant steps so far and is right in line with our vision to become one of the world’s top airlines. It will enable us to offer our guests a truly global network served by partners who include some of the best known and most admired airlines in the world, with frequent flyer benefits extended throughout this network.”
Mallya continues, “It will also strengthen us financially, through revenues from passengers transferring to our network from our oneworld partners and the cost reduction opportunities the alliance offers.”
Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, oneworld’s sponsor of Kingfisher Airlines, says, “Kingfisher Airlines is an ideal fit for oneworld. It has a strong focus on customer service and its network expands what the alliance currently offers. oneworld’s priority is the quality rather than quantity of our member airlines, which is why British Airways is delighted to be developing our relationship with Kingfisher Airlines further by acting as its sponsor into the alliance.”
