Kingfisher Red may start charging for inflight meals

Passengers may soon have to pay for food on board low-fare service Kingfisher Red as the parent carrier, Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, studies ways to change the way it operates in a deteriorating market condition. "In line with market dynamics, Kingfisher Airlines is evaluating various options, including charging for food on board Kingfisher Red," said an official. "The airline has kick-started a market research to find out what is the best option for the airline, but nothing has been finalized as of now."

In October, Kingfisher Airlines began serving free food on Kingfisher Red, comprising a bottle of water, a cup cake, freshly cut fruit and upma, a southern Indian breakfast food made of rice flour. Kingfisher Red, which is a no-frills, all-economy, low-fare service, was created by UB group-run Kingfisher Airlines by re-christening Air Deccan, India’s first low-fare carrier that it acquired in mid 2007. Earlier, Air Deccan was selling food on board, which doubled as a source of revenue. Currently, at least 70% of Kingfisher’s flights are operated under the Kingfisher Red service. Kingfisher has at least 370 daily domestic flights, with 73 aircraft connecting 70 destinations.

Jet Airways planning to add more A330's to its fleet

Jet Airways has decided to go in for more Airbus 330s, and not Boeing 777s, thanks to the aircraft’s cost-efficiencies. "The Airbus 330 is 30 per cent more cost-efficient compared with the Boeing 777. In the current economic downturn, operating a three-class configuration aircraft is tough, especially the first (class). With its two-class configuration, the Airbus makes much more sense," said Mr Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways. Company sources said that while the Boeing 777’s running cost works out to approximately $13,000 an hour, that of the Airbus 330 is $9,000. Incidentally, the Airbus 330 is a 220-seater aircraft while the Boeing 777 has 312 seats. Jet has 10 Boeing 777s and 12 Airbus 330s in its fleet of 86 aircraft. Of this, it has leased out seven Boeings and only two Airbus. It plans to lease out the remaining three Boeings in the near future.

Kingfisher Red aircraft suffers birdhit at Guwahati

A Kingfisher Red Imphal-Guwahati-Kolkata flight made an emergency landing at Guwahati airport on Saturday afternoon, after a bird hit one of the wings during takeoff. The pilot noticed a technical snag soon after the flight took off at 3.50 pm and sought permission for emergency landing from air traffic controllers. "The flight landed safely and all passengers on board are fine. We have found a few feathers in the propeller," said an airline official.

Jet Airways flight skids off the runway at Dhaka

A Jet Airways Dhaka-Delhi flight skidded on the taxiway of Dhaka's Zia International Airport on Monday morning just before taking off. When the Boeing 737-800 with 131 people on board was heading towards the take off point, it had to make a U-turn. "Unfortunately, Capt Suman Choudhury lost control and the aircraft skidded. The nosewheel of the aircraft entered the soft ground along the runway and got grounded," said an airline official. All the passengers were safely removed and the aircraft was towed to the parking bay. "The incident compelled flight operations to remain suspended for 45 minutes as five international and domestic flights had to be diverted," a Jet Airways official said from Dhaka.

Jet officials said poor runway conditions, particularly due to the monsoon, were responsible for the mishap. "Although the impact of the incident was not too serious and all passengers on board were safe, it was certainly a cause for concern. Flight safety officials in Bangladesh will probe into the matter," an airline official said. Following the incident, Jet sent a plane from Kolkata to take the stranded passengers to Delhi. This aircraft flew back to Dhaka from Delhi and returned here with 94 passengers booked on a Dhaka-Kolkata flight at 6.45 pm, 2 hours and 15 minutes behind schedule. DGCA officials in Kolkata said they were waiting for the pilot's report to ascertain what made the aircraft skid. "The aircraft did not have any snags. A team of engineers was sent to Dhaka to carry out routine inspection," a DGCA official said.