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On 2 Sep' 2008, Vijay Mallya announced that India's leading private carrier Kingfisher Airlines is all set to start its direct flight from Bangalore to San Francisco connecting India's IT hub with the Silicon Valley in US. The direct flight will commence from Nov 1, 2008. According to the UB Group chief, as there is an open-sky policy in the US, Kingfisher will face no difficulty in getting operational clearances after its acquisition of new Airbus aircraft (A330-200) for the long-haul flights. At present Mallya has a fleet of five brand-new Airbus aircrafts to roll out its international operations from Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and other metros.
According to industry estimates, Bangalore-San Francisco is a lucrative route as about 12,000 passengers fly between these cities every month and their is a dearth of direct flights between the two 'Silicon Valleys'. The Airline's Chairman and Managing Director, Vijay Mallya is also planning to start direct flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai and Maldives in the coming months.
With the recent amalgamation of Kingfisher and low-cost carrier Air Deccan, Mallya has the largest fleet of Airbus aircraft to operate on the profitable international routes and across metros in the domestic market. From 3 Sep 2008, Kingfisher is making its international debut with a non-stop daily flight on the Bangalore-London route. Bangalore is home to about 1,600 IT firms, including over 600 multinational firms, generating huge international inbound and outbound air traffic from corporate, business and leisure travelers round the year.
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