Kingfisher Red, earlier known as air Deccan was named so after Dr. Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher fleet took over Air Deccan in Dec 2007. The original founder of the then Air Deccan was Captain Gopinath, an ex military man, who plunged into aviation business just to give the middle class society of India, a feel of air travel. And with a view for the same he had started Air Deccan in 2003.
The first flight of the new aviation entrepreneurship was on August 23, 2003 but it turned out to be a nightmare, far away from what it was supposed to be. The plane caught fire, on the runway before take- off and the first flight turned out to be total disaster. The flight had many important dignitaries such as political leaders of the leading parties and the minister of state for civil aviation.
The venture was rechristened Kingfisher Red, when the merger of Air Deccan took place along with the existing Kingfisher Airlines. Increasing losses due to ever-increasing competition, and fluctuating markets led to the decline of Air Deccan financially. And since the merger, the old Air Deccan underwent many changes to give it a complete makeover. Earlier they used the software Radixx Air Enterprise system, which was then changed to Sabre reservation system, the one that is used by all existing Kingfisher air lines. More over the seat covers inside the air planes owned by Air Deccan, which used to be grey, were also decided to be turned into red, the brand color that represents Kingfisher.
Before the merger, Air Deccan had lost around Rs 3 billion due to market meltdown and this itself was the main reason behind the merger of the two firms. Dr Vijay Mallya was named the CEO and Chairman of the company while Captain Gopinath was appointed with the Vice Chairman's position. With a combined working policy, the new Kingfisher Red started moving towards profit in business. The merger was an important deal for both the parties because with combine airline strength, and better prospects of timing arrangements, it was possible to maneuver, both, the old and the new firm, in accordance of the requirement and without the existence of the competition factor. During the merger, it was declared that the existing kingfisher airlines would continue to provide airline services to executive class and the new project would be undertaking flights, in the old manner itself, where it worked for providing quality air travel for the common people, but in freer and less aggressive surroundings.
On 27 September 2011, in a press conference, Dr. Mallya declared that he would be closing down Kingfisher Red owing to business reason. He said that he did not intend to compete now in the low cost air travel sector and was not ready to take any losses. He blamed the weakening strength of rupee against dollar and the increase in the airline fuel for the decision.
This announcement might very much be a blow to those people who rely on these low cost airlines for their requirements of air travel, because they would now have very much limited options available for choosing from.
