Vijay Mallya, the chief executive officer of Kingfisher Airlines stated "Now that I have secured all the necessary clearances, I am planning to convert the options to confirmed orders".Kingfisher has been given clearance to fly overseas later this year. "We will be operating all non-stop flights to international destinations," Mallya stated.
Kingfisher, the only Indian customer for the A380, could not immediately be reached for comment.Under India's civil aviation rules, only airlines which have flown for at least five years can fly international routes. Kingfisher will complete five years in 2010. But the airline can start flying foreign routes after its parent UB Group acquired a controlling stake in another carrier Air Deccan, which completes five years in the air in August 2008. The two carriers, Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines, have announced plans for a merger this year.
The Deccan brand, synonymous with no-frills travel in India, is also retained. This reinforces the segmentation trend in the Asian airline sector and use of multiple airline brands, including a "fighting" brand underpinned by a low cost operating model.
The merger will create an airline with around 80 aircraft, challenging Air India and Jet Airways for dominance of the high-potential Indian aviation market. It also takes advantage of Deccan's right to fly international routes from Aug-08, with the budget unit set to launch services to the Middle East with A320 equipment and Kingfisher utilising widebody aircraft to launch long-haul services, initially to the US.
Airbus is hoping to persuade Air India to buy the A380 too (reportedly 12 of the model), but the flag carrier has yet to make a decision, with another very large order of up to 100 aircraft imminent.Kingfisher expects deliveries of the five A380s it had previously ordered to start in 2011-12.
Development work is progressing well on IGI Airport's third runway in Delhi; which will be one of the longest runways in Asia. This 60 m wide, Code F runway will cater to new generation large aircrafts such as the Airbus A380.