Kingfisher Airlines, Pratt & Whitney in pact

Premier domestic carrier Kingfisher Airlines on Tuesday signed two separate agreements with American engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney for purchase and maintenance of ten PW 4000-100 engines for its A-330 fleet and for maintenance of engines of its new fleet of ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft, totalling $360 million.

The agreement was signed by Kingfisher chief and liquor baron Vijay Mallya and PW's president (commercial engineering) Steve Heath on the sidelines of the ongoing airshow at Farnborough.

Under the agreement, PW and United Technologies of the US would provide ten PW 4000-100 installed engines, one spare and an option for ten additional ones.

The US firm was also awarded long-term exclusive flight management programme rights to overhaul and repair the airline's PW 4000-100 engines.

This contract is valued at $300 million and an additional $200 million, if the options for ten more engines are exercised.

"After a very detailed analysis of all engine offers for A-330s, we decided that PW gave us the best total solution and met our technical requirements," Mallya said.

Kingfisher now operates 86 daily flights covering 17 destinations. The deliveries of its new aircraft, which also include A-320s and A319s, are slated to start from the fall of 2007.

The second agreement signed by the Kingfisher chief caters to the new fleet of 35 ATR 72-500 aircraft at an approximate value of $60 million. The airline had placed orders for 20 of these turboprop aircraft at the Dubai airshow last year, valued at $350 million.

Later, Kingfisher also placed a fresh order of 15 more ATR 72-500 aircraft at the cost of $27 million.