Kingfisher has formally become a member-elect of oneworld, has passed its alliance safety audit, and has received regulatory approval from the Indian government to join the alliance.
The airline signed a Memorandum of Understanding which set in motion the process for it to join oneworld back in February.
Kingfisher flies to 8 countries outside of India, but the prize is their vast network within India:
The 58 destinations across India that Kingfisher Airlines will add to the oneworld map include Agartala, Agatti, Agra, Ahmedabad, Aizwal, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bagdogra, Bhavnagar, Bhubaneswar, Bhuj, Calicut, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Dharamsala, Goa, Guwahati, Hubli, Imphal, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jammu, Jodhpur, Kandla, Khajuraho, Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kullu, Latur, Leh, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Nagpur, Nanded, Nasik, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Raipur, Rajahmundry, Ranchi, Salem, Sholapur, Silchar, Simla, Srinagar, Tirupati, Trichy, Trivandrum, Tuticorin, Udaipur, Varanasi, Vijayawada, and Vishakapatnam.
I’d guess that the airline formally becomes a member end of 2011, beginning 2012 at the latest. Surely they won’t have the same delays in joining an alliance that have plagued Air India.
Great news for oneworld and a terrible blow for SkyTeam. I’m actually a bit surprised as Kingfisher had a number of agreements with SkyTeam partners. Looks like those will be drying up.
A slogan for Kingfisher Airline….
Kingfisher airline, where they serve homemade brew! 😉
Except that they are legally prohibited from serving alcohol on domestic flights. Unless things have changed in the past couple years all domestic flights on Kingfisher are dry.