My previous coverage of the Kingfisher Airlines and disruptions Kingfisher Airlines could just have been that lucky child which has been pulling off a lucky streak for the longest time. I am sure you’ve already read quite a bit on its current disruption, where unpaid employees have caused industrial action, which has been quoted as a reason by the management to ground all flights till October 4. While they may have had their reasons to not pay salaries for 6 months, I still don’t appreciate the management calling their employees’ actions Illegal, while not commenting on their own where they have not paid salaries for half a year (See press release here) The airline management, which was holidaying away, was…
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Tag Archives for Kingfisher Airlines.
Investments in Indian airlines are a go, Kingfisher might be saved!
Coming, not coming, coming, not! Finally, airlines in India are going to get the lifeline they were hoping for a long time. The Government of India finally took the measure to allow Indian scheduled carriers (Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, GoAir, Indigo, SpiceJet) to seek foreign equity infusion upto 49% of their equity capital from foreign airlines. Here is what the presser from the Government of India says: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion for permitting foreign airlines to make foreign investment, up to 49 percent in scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services. Removing the existing restriction on investment by foreign airlines would assist in bringing in…
Flying Kingfisher Airlines one more time
I’ve come across more than my fair share of people who have patronised Kingfisher Airlines in the past, and still fly Kingfisher Airlines wherever they can. However, with Kingfisher Airlines no longer on the permitted list of carriers by my workplace, I’ve not been flying them for business over a period of time. When a Kingfisher patron Arun made a trip to Mumbai all the way to be on the last Kingfisher flight from Dubai, I warmed up to the airline again. However, they were not flying to places I wanted to go to and hence I had to wait a while to get them on a Mumbai – Delhi flight which is one of the trunk routes they are…
So whats up at Kingfisher Airlines?
It has been a while since Kingfisher Airlines came in the news, so I thought it was a good time to post an update. For most who remember, Kingfisher Airlines was in a state of implosion a few months back and I wrote about it. While I was sad to report that the international operations were shut down, I am glad I did not have to write a second part of the obituary about domestic operations shutting down. Over a period I have realised that Kingfisher Airlines, for the flashy branding I had in my head, has been lucky to have a passionate set of crew who has stuck with the airlines in the bad times. I also consider them lucky…
Amex bites the bullet on the Kingfisher Amex Credit Card
The Kingfisher First American Express Credit Card was my first American Express Card ever and I had picked it up for all the good flying benefits that came with it in late 2010. You got a KingClub Gold tier membership straight away, and the ability to earn American Express MembershipReward Points which you could use to transfer to Kingfisher’s KingClub. All this was adding up well till the good times lasted and Kingfisher Airlines was going to join oneworld. Down the line, last April (2011) Kingfisher and American Express decided to take the co-branding a step further, and compulsorily transfer all the accumulated MR Points every month to the KingClub Account. So, my rant on this was that I could…
Guest Post: Bidding adieu to The King of Good Times on Kingfisher’s final Dubai flight
Kingfisher Airlines has received many a good word from their frequent flyers, and almost all of them feel sad that the airline is progressively going down. I invited Arun Rajagopal, a Kingfisher loyalist based in the UAE to write a trip report on Kingfisher’s final flight to Dubai when I heard the airline was shutting down international operations. Turning over the mike to him without further delay… I’m a loyal customer of India’s Kingfisher Airlines. I first flew Kingfisher in Jan 2011 but since then I have flown them 15 times. I fly them as much as possible. I often pay a premium to fly them even when I have cheaper or non-stop flights available. I even recommend it to…
Its over – Part 1. Kingfisher International Operations closed down
A couple of days ago I wrote about Kingfisher Airlines closing down most of their international routes. London, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Dhaka went off the map first, and then soon after Hongkong went off the map as well. No news they were in bad shape. However, they were maintaining a thin operation to Dubai,Colombo and Singapore which were serviced by the A320 and they still have a few of those planes left. via AirlineRoute.net, I just got an update that the remaining international operations are also going out of the window from the 25th March 2012, when the airline switches to a Summer schedule (SIC!). Bangalore – Dubai 1 Daily service Cancelled eff 25MAR12 Chennai – Colombo 1 Daily service Cancelled…
moneylife: My new column on tips for Kingfisher travellers
This week, I wrote some tips in moneylife for people who are booked to travel on Kingfisher Airlines amongst the current situation the airline is in. Check out my column here! Live From A Lounge is also present on Facebook, Twitter and available via RSS.
Kingfisher domestic schedule cuts 51% flights, pulls out of 18 domestic routes
I promised an update on the Kingfisher schedule inside India. The schedule that went up on 5th February 2012 became permanent for Summer 2012 when it went up on the GDS systems this week. AirlineRoute.net did an excellent analysis already, which I quote below: Bangalore – Chennai 2 of 6 Daily service Cancelled Bangalore – Hyderabad 2 of 5 Daily service Cancelled Bangalore – Kochi 10 of 24 weekly service Cancelled Chennai – Coimbatore 2 Daily service Cancelled Chennai – Hyderabad 1 Daily service Cancelled Chennai – Mangalore 1 Daily service Cancelled Chennai – Tiruchirapally 1 Daily service Cancelled Chennai – Vishakapatnam 1 Daily service Cancelled Delhi – Ahmedabad 1 Daily service Cancelled Delhi – Amritsar 2 Daily service Cancelled…
Breaking: Kingfisher gets suspended from IATA again [updated]
Kingfisher Airlines does it again. Its almost like they are all listening to Britney Spears’ Oops I did it again. Ok, bad one! IATA has, for the second time in two months, suspended Kingfisher Airlines from their membership. This means all IATA affiliated travel agents cannot sell Kingfisher Airline tickets anymore. The airline promised to issue a statement shortly. Here is the Reuters report which talks about this. The last time around, Kingfisher Airlines took a long while to get reinstated into IATA. They blamed their problems on financial systems not working properly hence payments not reaching the IATA. Some member airlines had stopped honor tickets issued on Kingfisher Airlines stock. So, if you are booked by KFA on any other carrier,…
Kingfisher’s new transfer offer: upto 30% transfer bonus till 31 March 2012
Kingfisher Airlines may not be the darling of everyone anymore but they sure are planning to keep up the loyalty program King Club in high spirits. King Club is one of the more generous programs around, and Kingfisher Airlines allows for a lot of award space in India and decent award space outside the country on their own planes. Back in September 2011, they had a very sweet transfer bonus of 20% for all transfers which ran through November 2011, which I advised everyone to take because the airline was in decent shape and they were on their way to join oneworld. Also, there is a decent list of airline partners where you could book your tickets with your KingClub…
