| Chennai, February 06, 2008: India's favourite airline, Kingfisher Airlines and the world-renowned Emirates Airlines today announced that they have inked an alliance aimed at expanding the benefits offered to members of their frequent flyers programmes. Besides offering reciprocal benefits to each others' frequent flyers, the alliance also envisages that both partners will explore and embark on mutually beneficial marketing opportunities. |
| The alliance which was signed by Mr Brian LaBelle, Skywards' Senior Vice President and Mr A Raghunathan, Executive Vice-President of Kingfisher Airlines is slated to come into effect from March 1, 2008. |
| Kingfisher Airlines becomes the first airline from the Indian sub-continent region to partner with Emirates Airlines' acclaimed frequent flyer programme. |
| The coming together of two market-leading airline powerhouses gives their frequent flyers much reason to rejoice with the announcement of the combined Frequent Flyer programme. The partnership provides the members unmatched travel benefits in the form of bonus Miles and entitles them to redeem it while flying either airline. Frequent flyers of both airlines can now earn and burn frequent flyer miles on each others' programmes. |
| Members of both programs will be able to accrue points as per the actual miles flown and a 100% bonus for Business Class flights of the other airline. Redemption will begin with 7,500 Miles on Economy class for one way flights. |
| Commenting on the alliance with Emirates Airlines, Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman and CEO, Kingfisher Airlines Limited said, "The partnership with Emirates Airlines marks yet another step towards offering our discerning King Club members a series of compelling and unmatched benefits. King Club members now have an extended global footprint over which they can redeem their accumulated entitlements. I am delighted that King Club members will now be able to enjoy access to the benefits and facilities extended to members of the Skywards programme". |
| Speaking at the launch, Mr. Orhan Abbas, Vice President, India & Nepal, Emirates Airline said, "It gives me immense pleasure to present our customers with the benefit of earning bonus Miles now travelling within India. Our robust global network combined with Kingfisher's strong connectivity within India will offer a fabulous opportunity to Emirates' Skywards members to earn or burn the points. With Kingfisher as our partner, we are confident that this innovative product will mutually benefit the airlines and our passengers." |
| He added," Emirates has been strengthening its operations across India and this association will only further enhance our growth." |
| Brian LaBelle, Skywards' Senior Vice President, said: "We are delighted to enter into this important agreement with Kingfisher. This announcement represents an additional step in extending unparalleled benefits to our discerning members. We look forward to a very fruitful relationship with this prestigious new partner and we welcome Kingfisher to our family." |
| About Skywards |
| The Skywards frequent flyer programme takes its members far beyond the immediate travel experience, providing more choice and rewarding passenger loyalty with free upgrades and other rewards. |
| Skywards currently offers three membership tiers - Blue, Silver and Gold, each offering a greater degree of benefits and privileges to its premium customers. Travellers can join Skywards online at www.skywards.com |
| About King Club |
| As India's most generous loyalty programme, King Club offers a range of exclusive privileges and benefits defined by the King of good times for each membership level.King Club members will also earn King Miles every time they fly Kingfisher Airlines or any of the partner airlines. |
| The more you fly with Kingfisher Airlines the more you will be rewarded. Each guest who enrols to the King Club will start as a Base member and pertaining to the amount of flights taken within his membership year with Kingfisher Airlines will move the member through Red, Silver and Gold membership levels. |
| About Kingfisher Airlines |
| Kingfisher Airlines is India's favourite airline and the only one to offer a premium first class service on domestic routes. Besides being the first and the only airline to offer in-flight entertainment on every seat in the domestic skies, Kingfisher Airlines is the only one to offer LIVE TV with 16 channels of live & exciting content. Kingfisher Airlines has received 30 awards for innovation, customer responsiveness and was voted the "Best New Airline of the Year" within months of its launch. |
| With the merger of Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines, the airline covers all segments of air travel from low fares to premium offerings and offers the maximum number of flights offered by any single airline network in India. |
| India's largest domestic airline today connects 71 cities and has 507 daily departures. The combined entity of Kingfisher Airlines currently operates a fleet of 49 brand new Airbus A-320 family aircraft and 30 ATR aircraft |
| Kingfisher Airlines is part of The UB Group which is one of India's largest conglomerates with diverse interests and a global presence. The UB Group is also the largest Indian manufacturer of beverage alcohol (beer & spirits) and the second largest drinks Group in the world. |
| About Emirates Airlines |
| Since its launch in 1985, Emirates Airline has received more than 300 international awards in recognition of its efforts to provide unsurpassed levels of customer service. |
| The airline has experienced rapid and consistent growth, above 20 per cent a year on average and has been profitable for the last 20 consecutive years. Financially self-sustained and unprotected, Emirates carried 17.5 million passengers in the 2006-07 financial year "� three million more than the year before "� and declared a record net profit of Dhs 3.5 billion (US$ 942 million). Total group revenue increased by an impressive 28.8 per cent, to Dhs 31.3 billion (US$ 8.5 million) compared to Dhs 24.2 billion (US$ 6.6 billion) the previous year. |
| Emirates is the world's third most profitable and among the 20 largest international airlines and one of the fastest-growing. It is based in Dubai, one of the few cities in the world that pursues an open-skies policy, with more than 110 airlines in free and fair competition. |
| Its 114 all wide-bodied fleet includes eleven freighters and is among the youngest in the skies, with an average age of 63 months. The airline plans to more than double its size by 2012. |
| Emirates presently has 245 aircraft pending delivery, worth approximately US$60 billion in list prices. At the Dubai Airshow in November 2007 Emirates announced a historic civil aviation aircraft order when it signed contracts for 120 Airbus A350s, 11 A380s, and 12 Boeing 777-300ERs, worth an estimated US$34.9 billion in list prices. |
| Emirates order for 58 A380s, which it will start receiving in 2008, makes it the largest customer of the Airbus super-jumbo. |
| Emirates operates services to 99 cities in 62 countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and Asia-Pacific. New routes for 2007 include Venice, Newcastle, Sao Paulo, Ahmedabad, Toronto, Prague (cargo-only) and Houston. |
| Emirates has codeshare agreements with Air India, Air Malta, Air Mauritius, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Airlines, Oman Air, Philippine Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, South African Airways, SriLankan Airlines, and Thai Airways. |
| Emirates Airline includes Emirates SkyCargo and Destination & Leisure Management (D&LM), which manages Emirates Holidays, Arabian Adventures and Emirates Hotels & Resorts. The airline is part of the Emirates Group, which also includes associate companies Dnata, Mercator, Transguard and EmQuest. Visit Emirates online at: www.emirates.com |
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