The national flag carrier has written to the government not to allow the tie up, arguing that any such move will hurt its commercial interests. Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher is keen to partner with British Airways on the domestic network, an alliance that could give the cash starved carrier some breather.
The agreement will allow Kingfisher to book a British Airways passenger even on a domestic leg, like Delhi-Chennai, under a code-share agreement. Alternatively, BA will be able to book a Kingfisher passenger on UK domestic route like London-Glasgow.
“It would be positive for Kingfisher Airlines. It will create revenue for them,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India head Kapil Kaul said.
India currently allows the designated carriers of only two countries — France and the Netherlands — to share domestic networks in each other’s side. “The move to enter into a similar air service agreement with the UK would encourage other countries to place same requests,” an Air India official said.
Kingfisher has argued that the air service agreement between India and the UK allows the designated carriers from each side to operate flights beyond the two countries. The UK carrier currently operates 45 flights a week from London’s Heathrow to five Indian cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Kingfisher operates daily service to London from Delhi and Mumbai. It had pulled out its maiden international flight to the British capital from Bangalore due to poor flight occupancy and mounting losses.
Air India wants to stall any arrangement between Kingfisher and BA as it is negotiating a similar arrangement with British Mainland Airlines (BMI) for a domestic code-share agreement. “This arrangement is generally not exchanged liberally by the countries like India, which have multiple points,” the Air India official countered.