from Richie Lasrado, Resident Editor, Daijiworld.com, Mangalore in Bajpe - Friday, 8-15 pm - Pics Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Jan 20: The visitors' gallery at the Bajpe airport is out of bounds for visitors up to January 31, 2006, for security reasons. There was a deserted look when we landed there just before noon.
But as the hours past noon went by, there was a quite a good crowd hanging around the terminal building, as if they were eagerly looking forward to seeing a Bollywood heartthrob. The announcement of a delay in arrival by about 45 minutes did not deter the enthusiasm of the people. Around 3-20 pm the Airbus flight landed on the existing runway. The mood of the crew was triumphant as it was the very first Airbus commercial flight to land at Bajpe.
As he entered the terminal building, Dr Mallya was accorded a traditional welcome of 'kumkum' on his forehead by charming young ladies to the beats of drums and sounds of horns. A few Yakshagana artistes in tow completed the picture of the essential Dakshina Kannada to welcome a true Dakshina Kannadiga who has made the district proud by his venturesome, daring and risk-taking enterprise.
Without wasting much time, Dr Mallya proceeded to the conference room to meet the waiting mediapersons. He called it a historic moment. The salient points he made were as follows:
- This is the very first Airbus commercial flight to land in Mangalore while another airline has been landing only Boeings for about 20 years
- With the delivery of more aircraft in March, Mangalore will be connected to Bangalore also, say by April 2006
- Providing connectivity to Mangalore is important to Kingfisher, because Mangalore is a centre of great economic activity, which is developing at a great tempo. Besides this, a great number of people from here have been working abroad; a lot of people from this region have been independent, successful businessmen in other cities. "Therefore we are very very bullish about the traffic potential here in Mangalore. We are also happy that a new runway of about 8,000 feet is getting ready and will be commissioned by the end of March, 2006. That will enable us to introduce the Airbus 320, which will have a capacity of 174, as against the current A319 with a capacity of 144.
- It is good news and I can see the excitement here, amidst the political turmoil in Bangalore, which we are watching with great interest.
About Jet Airways taking over Sahara
It would not impact us much. Because, remember, I too had an equal opportunity to buy it. But I declined. I have acquired many companies in my life, some of them terribly loss-making enterprises and I have turned them into profit-making ones, one example being the one right in my hometown here, the Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., which was on the verge of collapse, but now is a profit-making one, with no debts. We also bought Shaw Wallace.
The infrastructural facilities like parking slots and landing slots at airports belong to the government of India. These cannot be given to only certain airlines on long-term basis.
I have cautioned the government on the traffic pattern in our courtry. Fifty per cent of our air traffic is only between Mumbai and Delhi. The connectivity between 5 cities accounts for about 85% of the air traffic in our country. We cannot ignore this hardcore traffic. This type of pattern is not found in any other country.
Seeking fair play
There are 41 flights between Mumbai and Delhi, Jet Air has 18, Indian Airlines has 11, others have 7 and Kingfisher has 5. We want to increase the number of flights to 10. But there should be parking slots available at both the airports. These are not available to Kingfisher or any other airline. We will not be able to increase the frequency on this sector because of Jet, IA and Sahara. That creates an unfair monopoly. This is something that the government has to seriously look at.
The government has to improve the infrastructure or Jet Air has to give up some parking slots in favour of others. Either which way there should be a fair and equitable opportunity for all. Other than that I am not worried about the market share. Having a 60% market share is meaningless to me. I would like to fly on the routes I want to fly. I have a very clearly defined network planning for Kingfisher Airlines. By the end of 2006, we will fly 17 brand-new Airbus aircraft and 6 ATR aircraft, which, in a matter of one-and-a-half year, will be quite a phenomenal achievement. Our tenth aircraft landed in Delhi this (Friday) morning. Ten aircraft in less than ten months itself is quite an achievement.
I am not excessively worried about Kingfisher's growth or prospects. But I want the government to allow equal and level-playing field for everybody. We are all at the mercy of the government and there are now two words about it.
Daijiworld posed two special questions: You have your family roots here in Bantwal. How does it feel to have served the home territory with this kind of a service?
It is always good to come home. As you already know my entire paternal side is from Bantwal. And my grandmother is from Mulki. I come regularly to Dakshina Kannada to visit Mookambika, Subrahmanya and Hattiangady temples. In fact I was to come on that proving flight on Jan 13 here and I had planned to take my helicopter and visit all these shrines. Unfortunately the time was too short. Therefore I could not accomplish it. Now that we are flying here, there is all the more reason to come here.
Your trial flight was operated on Friday the 13th (January). Was there any reason like beating a superstition?
No, there was no such thing as that. It was only convenient do it that day and complete the formalities to land the first commercial flight today (Jan 20)..
On a concluding note, Dr Mallya had a special word for the airport director for the developmental works implemented and also for the facilities provided to Kingfisher Airlines.
What was strikingly standing out during the meet was Dr Mallya's facts and figures being churned out without his looking at any papers or slips for reference. He seems to have the full grasp over the subject as well over the field of his business.