In new plan, Kingfisher to operate 36 flights out of Mumbai daily

Kingfisher Airlines finally released its new schedule late on Thursday. According to the new schedule, of the average 42 flights daily, the airline would be operating 36 out of Mumbai. Though the schedule has been released, it will be effective only from February 26 till March 24 and is still subject to government clearance. The airline will not be operating direct flights from Mumbai to many Tier II cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad , Trivandrum and even Nagpur. Tour operators said there have been no bookings for Kingfisher despite the new schedule and low fares.

According to the new schedule, Kingfisher will resume its cancelled Mumbai-Singapore daily flight from Sunday. It will also operate nine flights to Delhi and four to Bangalore, among others. The airline has, however, has still not started flights to cities like Hyderabad and Jaipur. Hence, those who have booked for the coming months on these sectors will have to either take the airline's offer to fly via Bangalore and Delhi respectively or look for tickets on other carriers. The same would hold for Trivandrum which Kingfisher would link through Bangalore. Earlier , the airline had two flights daily for each of these sectors.

"The problem is that people still do not have confidence to book Kingfisher flights. Even the schedule given by them holds till March 24. This means that passengers still do not have an assurance for bookings made beyond these dates," said Rajesh Rateria, managing director, Cirrus Travels. Another Fort-based travel agent said that many of his clients booked on Kingfisher for April and May have withdrawn their bookings. "Though I advised them to wait and watch, they chose to book on other airlines to avoid paying for higher fares in case of cancellations later," the agent said. "No new bookings have been made on Kingfisher yet," he added.

Tour operators said that air-fares remained high for business travellers even on the weekend. "Only Kingfisher is offering the cheapest business class ticket between Rs 9,000 and Rs 13,000 for most metros or big cities. Other airlines are charging at least Rs 16,000 for Bangalore and as much as Rs 28,000 for Kolkata. On many flights, depending upon the time and the rush, the fares are as high as Rs 50,000 for one way," the Fortbased agent said.

According to operators, Kingfisher was able to woo the economy class flyers till a few days ago with their extra cheap fares. That, too, has stopped as the uncertainty over the flight status grew among flyers.

The Flight Path 

No direct flights to Tier II cities, including Jaipur, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. Those booked for coming months on these sectors will have to either take the airline's offer to fly via Bangalore and Delhi respectively or book other airlines The cancelled Mumbai-Singapore daily flight will resume from Sunday There will be nine flights to Delhi and four to Bangalore

Now, pay 5,000 for travelling with firearms 

Kingfisher Airlines has started exploring potential sources of additional income and its latest move is to charge an extra fee for taking care of passenger's firearms.

According to norms laid down by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), firearms cannot be carried in person by security personnel, except in some special cases. So, a passenger who flies with an armed bodyguard has to ensure that the firearm is surrendered at the security desk. The airline concerned transports the sensitive item in its check-in hold and hands it over to the passenger on reaching the destination. Till recently, all airlines in India did this for free.

Kingfisher, which introduced a fee of Rs 5,000 for firearm from February 21, is not the first carrier in India to do so. It probably took a cue from Jet Airways, which introduced this fee from November 15, 2011, charging Rs 5,000 per firearm per passenger on the domestic sector and $100 on the international sector . Go Air levies a charge of Rs 4,500 per firearm. IndiGo and Air India spokespeople said their airlines don't charge for carrying firearms. The Spice Jet spokesperson was not available for comment.

For Wahid Ali Khan, a media consultant, and a passenger on Kingfisher Airlines Mumbai-Goa flight IT-0173 the extra fee came as an unpleasant surprise on Friday. "I always travel with an armed bodyguard, but this was the first time an airline has charged a fee for carrying a weapon,'' said Ali. He added, "The air fare for my bodyguard cost Rs 3,500, but the charge to carry the weapon is Rs 5,000,'' he complained. Airlines allow an exemption for certain class of passengers. Jet Airways, for instance, allows serving personnel from Defence forces, paramilitary forces and police if travelling on duty. Sportsmen, too, are exempted when travelling to represent the country.