Forget about BLR-SFO nonstop.... Kingfisher has withdrawn its application with US DOT for route authority!
All their 345's are re-sold... 3 to Arik Air and 2 to HiFly(yet tobe confirmed!)
Only long haul a/c they have is A332... that can only do one stop options! For some reason they seem to be not taking delivery of these.. some are piling up dust sitting in TLS!
Forget about BLR-SFO nonstop.... Kingfisher has withdrawn its application with US DOT for route authority!
All their 345's are re-sold... 3 to Arik Air and 2 to HiFly(yet tobe confirmed!)
Only long haul a/c they have is A332... that can only do one stop options! For some reason they seem to be not taking delivery of these.. some are piling up dust sitting in TLS!
Any Indian flyertalk people with inside info??
May be SFO-India route is not a money maker afterall.
In light of the suspension of Jet Airways BOM-PVG-SFO flight from Jan. 2009, perhaps Kingfisher is getting cold feet on flying to SFO or any city in US.
Their best hope is codeshares with VS or UA from SFO and other big US cities to LHR to connect to their LHR-BLR flight. They should explore frequent flyer program participation as well.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hyho61
May be SFO-India route is not a money maker afterall.
In light of the suspension of Jet Airways BOM-PVG-SFO flight from Jan. 2009, perhaps Kingfisher is getting cold feet on flying to SFO or any city in US.
Their best hope is codeshares with VS or UA from SFO and other big US cities to LHR to connect to their LHR-BLR flight. They should explore frequent flyer program participation as well.
A very good point that was hard for some to recognise. BLR-SFO is not route that would be lucrative or even viable under all circumstances.
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Aviation Daily reported today that the DGCA has threatened Kingfisher with the suspension of all international flights since they haven't operated an adequate number of flights on domestic 'non-viable social sectors,' whatever that means. Vijay Mallya has cut short a trip to Japan and rushed back to India, and has asked for one day's reprieve to respond.
Meanwhile, the story continues, Kingfisher will NOT be flying to the U.S. any time soon, and the BOM-LHR non-stop is not expected to start October 26. BLR-LHR has been a disaster to-date, with an average 35 passengers per flight.
Non viable social sectors - airlines are supposed to fly a certain percentage of their routes on non premium sectors (like smaller towns). The sort of places AI/IC serves with CD (alliance air) 732s flying two or three stop milk runs ... those routes are typically a dead loss for the airline flying them.
Kingfisher evidently doesnt want to put new planes with hot FAs on such routes, and is being jumped on hard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ORD_UA1K
Aviation Daily reported today that the DGCA has threatened Kingfisher with the suspension of all international flights since they haven't operated an adequate number of flights on domestic 'non-viable social sectors,' whatever that means. Vijay Mallya has cut short a trip to Japan and rushed back to India, and has asked for one day's reprieve to respond.
Meanwhile, the story continues, Kingfisher will NOT be flying to the U.S. any time soon, and the BOM-LHR non-stop is not expected to start October 26. BLR-LHR has been a disaster to-date, with an average 35 passengers per flight.
Non viable social sectors - airlines are supposed to fly a certain percentage of their routes on non premium sectors (like smaller towns). The sort of places AI/IC serves with CD (alliance air) 732s flying two or three stop milk runs ... those routes are typically a dead loss for the airline flying them.
Kingfisher evidently doesnt want to put new planes with hot FAs on such routes, and is being jumped on hard.
The latest info from the inside courtesy of my wife:
1) The crew have received their American C1/D crew visas. valid from 2008 to 2013.
2) Kingfisher management is a mess. At the moment the girls dont have any rosters. they have to phone up everyday to find out what the schedule for the next day is. Many girls have been told they have the next day off then after a few hours they have been told they have early morning flights by which time they have usually have downed more than a few drinks. total shambles. a lot of them are having less than minimum rest time as per DGCA standards but they are scared of informing the DGCA because Kingfisher will sack them as they have girls queing up to work for them.
3) The majority of the Bombay base is posted for the last two months in either Chennai or Hyderabad or Bangalore. 90 more crew are doing international training. god knows who is flying from bombay?
4) The first flight into London was a disaster service wise. While BA offer two meal services (Lunch and afternoon tea), kingfisher went ahead and offered no less than four meal services on a flight of about 10hrs. Apparently DR (paid for title) Mallya ordered a cappucino which he duly got an hour after he ordered it!
5) one girl was in London as she had operated the flight from bangalore, she receives a phone call from the rostering manager, Ian something, he tells her that she has to get back to bombay to do a goa flight. He forgot that she was in london. made me laugh when i heard that one!
6) a lot are considering quitting as kingfisher treats them like sh!t. They work totally irregular hours, management are moody and regular deny holiday requests, staff travel requests.
7) A lot of girls have eating disorders as the airline checks their weights every two months. they get grounded if they are over and are told to have the weight checked every 10 days untill they get back down again. Its not easy as these girls are consistently being put on layovers and are stuck in hotels and dont have regular eating patterns/gym patterns.
8) according to rumours, two blokes operate the london flight as its a minimum requirement according dgca for overseas flights. The blokes are confined to the galley and are not allowed to be seen on the flights by passengers. can someone confirm if this is true?
basically not eveything is as rosy as kingfisher likes to make out. They are very amateur, they dont have a CEO who runs the airlines, its VJM who runs it accorinding to his whims and he is not exactly experianced in running an airline!
