Kingfisher now eyes growing NE market
New Delhi, Jun 7 : Close on the heels of its Air Deccan acquisition, Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines will bid to partner the North Eastern Council (NEC), which is mulling a separate airline for the northeastern region with a private carrier. Other private carriers are likely to decide on bidding soon.Constituted by an Act of Parliament in 1971, the NEC is the nodal agency for economic and social development of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.Under the proposal, the private airline will provide not only aircraft and scheduled services but also maintenance and engineering support at airports in the region. NEC will provide financial support for these operations. According to sources, NEC has reserves of Rs 2,000 crore.“Our ATR fleet is prepared to fly provided we get approval,” a Kingfisher source said. Kingfisher has a fleet of 29 aircraft, of which eight are ATRs.At present, 11 destinations in the northeast are connected by eight operators, which operate 258 flights a week.However, a senior ministry official feels there is no need to start a separate airline for the region.Since traffic has more than doubled since 2000, fares have also registered a considerable decline.The government has also issued no objection certificates to Sky King Airlines to operate scheduled services and Surya Airlines to operate non-scheduled services in the region.
