Foreign crew for Kingfisher intl ops

Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines's international service, which is expected to start by January 2008, will be staffed entirely by foreign cabin crew.

The airline has shortlisted Poland, Russia, west Asia and the US for its recruitment drive, which is expected to start soon.

Confirming this, a Kingfisher executive said, "We are considering four countries that have licences for cabin crew to operate in the US."

Ahead of that, the crew will be trained on domestic flights over the next two months. A training module for foreign cabin crew is currently being worked out.

The airline would be flying Bangalore-San Francisco and Mumbai/Delhi-New York sectors initially. The direction "� US to India or India to the US "� would depend on government regulations.

Government rules require mandatory five-year domestic operations and a fleet of 20 aircraft for a carrier to launch international operations.

Kingfisher has been in operation for more than a year.

To meet the January 1 deadline for international operations, Kingfisher Airlines plans an application in the US in the next six to eight weeks. It has already floated a company, "Kingfisher Airline International," for its US operations.