Kingfisher to sell two A340s to other carriers

To defer deliveries of 29 narrow-bodied aircraft.

Weighed down by rising crude prices, Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines is in negotiations with international carriers to sell two of the five A340-500 aircraft it had committed to buy from Airbus last year. The airline may also defer taking deliveries of 29 narrow-bodied A320s, airline sources said.

The list price for A340 aircraft is $160 million, but insiders said Kingfisher might have negotiated the price at $90 million. "We might think of selling more A340s if fuel prices stay this way," sources in Kingfisher said.

When contacted, Kingfisher Chairman Vijay Mallya did not comment on the delivery schedule of the narrow bodied aircraft but said the delivery of 10 wide-bodied aircraft will be taken this year.

According to a Kingfisher executive, the airline has almost 20 deliveries scheduled per year till 2012, but that schedule will be revised.

According to Kingfisher’s original international launch schedule, the A340s were to fly New York-Mumbai and San Francisco-Bangalore non-stop in August. The New York launch may now be kept in abeyance.

According to aviation experts, the move makes sense as A340 consumes one and a half times more fuel than the 330s and the airline has no option but to think of deployment of alternate aircraft and opt for a stop-over route rather than a direct flight.

Mallya did not comment on the issue of scrapping flights to New York, but said “We have several route options which we are evaluating. We will announce our international schedule in two weeks.”

Kingfisher currently has 84 aircraft, next only to the fleet strength of Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways, which has 87 aircraft.