April 25, 2005 - NEW Indian low-cost carrier Kingfisher Airlines today took delivery of its first aircraft, an Airbus A320 fitted with Thales Avionics i-3000 TopSeries IFE.

Accepting the aircraft in Toulouse, Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman of Kingfisher parent company UB Group, said: “We have built the Kingfisher brand on values such as quality, value and reliability, all of which are echoed in our brand-new fleet of modern Airbus aircraft, which feature the widest seats in their class, personal TV screens, the most spacious cabin and the most modern design.“

The inaugural A320 is the first of four being leased from debis Airfinance. The airline has also placed firm orders for a further ten A320s, plus 20 options, and three A319s. Deliveries begin in September and December respectively.

The A320s will seat 174 passengers in a single-class layout. The IFE provision in each seat will deliver a choice of up to five channels of video, 10 channels of audio programming and a moving-map showing present position, airspeed, altitude and flight time remaining.

Thales has recently reported a surge of orders for TopSeries, taking the total of committed airlines to 19, with more to come in the near future. The most recent orders came from Air France and Malaysia Airlines, for their Airbus A380 fleets. Other customers include Air Canada, Bangkok Airways, Etihad, Japan Airlines, Middle East Airlines, MyTravel Airways and Royal Brunei Airlines.

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