By IANS
New Delhi : Global consultancy Accenture will soon give its report on the formal merger and route rationalisation in domestic and overseas sectors for Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines.
The airline has already applied to fly to San Francisco and New York in the US apart from a host of international destinations, Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya told reporters Monday at the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum.
“Accenture will give the report on the 19th of this month. We will take a decision then,” he added at the event co-hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The formal merger is important for Kingfisher since it would pave the way for Mallya’s carrier to fly overseas by fulfilling the government requirement of a carrier having flown for at least five years in the domestic sector, with a minimum fleet size of 20 aircraft.
Air Deccan received its Air Operators Permit in January 2003 and the government has already given the carrier an in-principle nod to fly overseas, the official added.
Kingfisher officials had told IANS earlier that the airline had sought permission from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for 40 routes that include the US, Middle East and South East Asia.
During his talk, Mallya said, the Indian aviation industry was not performing well two years ago but had joined the high growth path with a 40 percent expansion since then following some consolidations in the industry.
The past two years have seen the merger of two state-owned carriers Air India and Indian, the acquisition of Air Sahara, now JetLite, by Jet Airways and the purchase of strategic interest in Deccan by Kingfisher.