Kingfisher Airlines set to fly

Cars, horses or women, Vijay Mallya loves to do things in style. The 40-something chairman of UB Group is all set to launch his airline venture.

Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines will take wings during the first quarter of 2005.

The company will be investing $750 million to acquire 12 new A-320 aircraft from Airbus, which will be delivered by October 2005. For the time being, Kingfisher Airlines is taking on lease four A-320s from GE Capital Aviation Services for Rs 100 crore.

Kingfisher Airlines is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of UB Holdings. Bollywood star Katrina Kaif will be the Kingfisher Airlines brand ambassador.

According to Mallya, the cost of flying would be lower than economy class travel on full-service airlines, and marginally more than the 'bus services' from low-cost competition.

The Kingfisher aircraft will seat 180 passengers all in one class, and will be known as 'funliners'.

This will be the second low-cost domestic airline in the country, the first being the Bangalore-based Deccan Aviation, which started operations a year ago. Air-India, too, recently unveiled its plans to start a low-cost international airline called Air-India Express.

Photograph: Sebastian D'Souza/AFP/Getty Images

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