Kingfisher Airlines charts Maldives flight

Kingfisher Airlines has plans to fly to Maldives as seven grounded aircraft of the A320 family are set to return to its fleet by March. The airline has applied for permission to launch a daily flight from Mumbai to Malay (Maldives) from mid-March.

At present, Air India has a daily Malay flight from Thiruvananthapuram and a five-days-a-week service from Bangalore, but there is no direct service from Mumbai by any Indian carrier. 

Last year, low cost carrier SpiceJet had received clearance to fly to Maldives. However, the airline did not make use of this permission as it was focused on other destinations in South East Asia.  

Kingfisher is also considering leasing eight additional aircraft from the market next fiscal.

This means it will have 15 additional aircraft—13 of the A320 family and 2 wide-body A330s - by the end of FY12.

By the end of the next fiscal, the airline’s fleet is expected to comprise 40 A320s, 28 ATRs and seven A330 aircraft. This, in turn, would mean more domestic and international routes for the airline.

When contacted, a Kingfisher spokesperson said, “Yes, we have applied (for permission to fly to Maldives from Mumbai) but the start date will be announced once we get the approvals”.

The airline’s plans to expand overseas come in the wake of Jet Airways’ recent announcement to expand its international destinations.

Jet recently added Milan to its destinations, has secured permission to fly to Amsterdam and is awaiting clearance to launch a daily service to Paris.

It has also sought clearance to launch non-stop flights to the US.