The Hindu Business Line : Kingfisher wants to buy more seat kilometres from Air Deccan

Sources in the airline said that Kingfisher Airlines has sought another 2 lakh km of ASKMs from Air Deccan. It had earlier entered into an agreement with the Bangalore-based airline for 8 lakh km of ASKMs at a cost of Rs 2 per kilometre.

With 180 flights a day, Air Deccan flies to 46 destinations, making it the largest scheduled network operator in the country. Kingfisher Air had also tapped Indian Airlines earlier to buy out extra ASKMs.

DGCA norms: According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms, airlines flying on the primary routes, including metros, should deploy a part of their total flights to routes such as the North-East. Airlines which, for example, fly 100 ASKMs (defined as the number of available seats multiplied by the distance flown) in the designated category one routes that include 12 specified routes linking metros, are required to fly 10 per cent of these ASKMs on the category two routes.

The category two routes include the North-East, Jammu & Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar. Under another designated category, the airlines must fly 50 per cent of their category one routes on category three routes. Category three routes are those that are not specified in category one and two routes.

The airline has already placed a bid for acquiring Air Sahara and if the deal goes through, the airline will have access to more landing slots apart from increasing its market share to 18 per cent from 6 per cent.

No small aircraft: According to an airline analyst, Kingfisher Air is unable to fly to places in the North-East because it does not have smaller aircraft like ATRs, which Air Deccan has. He said once Kingfisher Airlines starts flying these ATRs, which it recently ordered, the airline will be able to tackle the problem faster.

Last month, Kingfisher Air announced that it had placed an order for 20 ATR72-500 planes in a deal worth $350 million. It also has an option to buy 15 more of these aircraft.

Most of the ATR aircraft are expected to join the Kingfisher fleet in March next year. The airline has already announced that it had placed an order for 30 Airbus A320 aircraft at the Dubai Air Show 2005 in a deal valued at $1.9 billion.

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