Kingfisher, Jet look to expand foreign routes

Debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines Ltd and Jet Airways (India) Ltd are growing their international presence after stalling expansion plans for a year due to the recession.

The civil aviation ministry has cleared Kingfisher's proposal to join oneworld, an international grouping of airlines, while Jet has decided to increase its network in West Asia and Sri Lanka, two ministry officials said on condition of anonymity.

Joining an airline alliance has benefits such as code-sharing, use of lounges of member carriers and consolidation of frequent flyer miles. Code-sharing is a ticket-selling deal that allows travellers to connect seamlessly to destinations on flights of more than one airline.
Kingfisher's proposal was cleared this week, one of the officials said.

"Oneworld will do an audit soon as the next step for joining the alliance," said a Kingfisher official, who also declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
The carrier's chief executive Vijay Mallya had said last month that the process of joining oneworld will take 12-18 months.

Kingfisher's second proposal to have a code-sharing agreement with British Airways Plc.—for select domestic routes where it flies and on points beyond which British Airways flies—is yet to be cleared.