India's Kingfisher Airlines is cancelling services from Bangalore to London and Colombo due to poor loads and yields, but is planning to launch eight other international routes by end-2009.
The carrier says in a statement that it will suspend the Bangalore-London and Bangalore-Colombo flights from 15 September "with a view to ensuring optimal and efficient utilisation of its fleet" and after "looking at the booked loads and yields".
However, it plans to start Mumbai-Singapore and Mumbai-Hong Kong daily direct flights from 16 September using its Airbus A330-200 aircraft. The airline had wanted to launch both services earlier this year, but delayed this several times.
It has also applied for permission to begin New Delhi-London flights using the A330-200, its first international route from India's capital. It plans to start New Delhi-Bangkok and New Delhi-Dubai flights using its Airbus A320 aircraft later in the year.
"The plan to launch these new services is consistent with our goal of redeploying capacity on routes with better yields as compared to domestic sectors. Our assessment of travel behaviour in these markets, flyer preferences and projected demand indicates promising potential on these eight new international routes," says Kingfisher.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
