Kingfisher Airlines to avail of IA services

Kingfisher Airlines (KA), the country's latest value-based private carrier, is in talks with the state-owned Indian Airlines (IA) to use its services such as maintenance of fleet on pay-and-use basis.

Vijay Mallya, chairman, said IA was offering such services to foreign carriers on a per flight need basis.

"IA and KA both have Airbus which makes the job easier. I am talking to them on possible co-operation so that some of the services could be outsourced," he added.

KA will have its own maintenance team but it role would be supervisory in nature.

KA is looking at the outsourcing model to keep a tab on cost and thereby offer a competitive rate to passenger compare to other airlines like IA, Jet and Sahara.

KA has zeroed in two parameters, people and web based reservation system, to attain a lean cost structure. The biggest element in the running cost of an airline in the country, aviation turbine fuel (ATF), is regulated by the government and same for all.

KA is looking at below 70 people per aircraft as compared to over 500 in case of IA and 150 in case of Jet. "Kingfisher will have lowest seat mile cost among all airlines in the country," he claimed.

KA, modelled on Jet Blue in the US, plans to price tickets 20-30 per cheaper than normal conventional carrier while delivering superior in flight experience.

The company is also saving a lot on the cost of acquisition of the aircraft by choosing Airbus over Boeing. "After the 9/11 took place, Airbus did not reduce production but Boeing did. As a consequence, Airbus is more readily available in the market and this inflenced lease costs," Mallya explained.