Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in lowcost carrier Kingfisher

Red. Until December 2011, Kingfisher Airlines had the second largest share in India's domestic air travel market. However due to the severe financial crisis faced by the airline, it has the fifth largest market share currently, only above GoAir. Kingfisher Airlines is one of the only seven airlines awarded 5-star rating by Skytrax along with Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Hainan Airlines May 2009, Kingfisher Airlines carried more than 1 million passengers, giving it the highest market share among airlines in India. Kingfisher also owns the Skytrax award for India's best airline of the year 2011. Kingfisher Airlines is also the sponsor of F1 racing outfit, Force India, which Vijay Mallya also owns.

HISTORY
Kingfisher Airlines was established in 2003. It is owned by the Bengaluru based United Breweries Group. The airline started commercial operations in 9 May 2005 with a fleet of four new Airbus A320200s operating a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. It started its international operations on 3 September 2008 by connecting Bengaluru with London.

Operational performance
Kingfisher Airlines Statistics[citation needed]

Year ended

Passengers carried

% Change

Average load factor (%)

April 2007 March 2008

12,414,336

61%

April 2008 March 2009

10,850,359

12.6%

60%

April 2009 June 2009

2,851,360

69%

On 21 July 2004, it signed a MoU with Airbus for four A320-200s with options for eight more

Kingfisher Red
Parent company United Breweries Group

Kingfisher Red, known formerly as Simplifly Deccan and prior to that as Air Deccan, is a low-cost brand run by Kingfisher Airlines. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India. On 28 September 2011, the Chairman of Kingfisher Airlines Vijay Mallya announced that the company would soon stop operations of Kingfisher Red as it did not believe in low-cost operations any longer.

History
Formerly known airline was previously operated by Deccan Aviation. It was started by Captain G. R. Gopinath The dream of Captain Gopinath was to enable "every Indian to fly at least once in his lifetime. Less than expected growth in the Indian aviation sector coupled with overcrowding and the resultant severe competition between airlines resulted in almost all the Indian carriers, including Air Deccan, running into heavy losses. On 19 December 2007, it was announced that Air Deccan would merge with Kingfisher Airlines. Since Indian aviation regulations prohibited domestic airlines from flying on international routes until they had operated in the domestic market for five years, it was decided to instead merge Kingfisher Airlines into Deccan Aviation, following which Deccan Aviation would be renamed Kingfisher Airlines. This was because Air Deccan was the older of the two airlines, and therefore would be the first to qualify for flying on international routes. The merger became effective April 2008, with Vijay Mallya becoming the Chairman and CEO of the new company, while G. R. Gopinath became its Vice-Chairman.

Acquisition by Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher Airlines' parent company United Breweries Group acquired a 46 percent stake in Air Deccan's parent company Deccan Aviation. In October 2007, after the acquisition by Kingfisher Airlines, Air Deccan was renamed " Simplifly Deccan" The old logo was replaced by the Kingfisher logo and the same font of Kingfisher Airlines was also used on Simplifly Deccan.

According to agencies, the re-branding was expected to cost around Rs 15 crore (approximately $3.8m).