Kingfisher Airlines have decided to fold it’s Kingfisher Red unit, citing high costs and low yields.
The unit – which operates ATR Aircraft and Airbus A320’s – is a leftover from the takeover of Air Deccan. Working out that the costs are too high, Kingfisher are to “simpliy” the operating model, switching the aircraft over to the mainline brand.
Over a four month period, the A320’s will be switched from an all economy configuration to incude first class seating, whilst in the process removing some first class seats from the rest of the fleet and replaceing them with Economy Seats. The ATR aircraft will be an all-economy class product, operating a full service product.
By doing this, Kingfisher hope to increase yield and loads on all the seats, with a 10% capacity.
There are still plenty of Indian LCC’s to choose from, and for Kingfisher, it leads to a unified product – which as it is due to join OneWorld in 2012 would be a good thing for them…
