Spiraling fuel prices or economic downturn don’t seem to stop Kingfisher flying high. India’s most popular private airline Kingfisher Airlines is set to launch its international service with daily flights to Europe and Southeast Asia by September 3. Initially, Kingfisher will start non-stop flights from Bangalore and Mumbai to London, and from Mumbai to Hong Kong and Singapore between August 31 and September 3. A US destination will be on the Kingfisher radar soon after this.

As per the current schedule, it is being said that the India-Britain flights will reach London around 2.30 p m GMT, and the return flights will be overnight journeys beginning around 10 pm GMT. This apart, a non-stop flight from Bangalore to San Francisco is planned for September or October, along with a flight to New York, either non-stop or one-stop.

The airline major, meanwhile, showed off the new Airbus A330-200 aircraft it had recently acquired at the Farnborough air show that went on stream this Monday. Kingfisher Airlines is said to be mulling over deploying a fleet of 10 Airbus aircraft, which means five each of the A330-200 and A340-500, for its international routes. It is expected that Kingfisher would buy more aircraft in 2010.

Kingfisher Airlines’ international flights have been designed in a two-class configuration, with the front cabin priced slightly higher than normal business class. The seats will be without partitions. The aircraft would also sport a bar area, where customers can use laptops and socialize. Kingfisher also have an on-board chef. Further, business class seats in the Kingfisher international flights will come with head-to-toe massagers and Bose headphones. Meanwhile, economy class passengers will be served business class meals and have access to web-chat and email services, said the airline officials.

The Kingfisher top brass believes that the success of Kingfisher’s international service would bank on demand for foreign travel among Indians. It has been found that there are a large number of Indians who pay for quality and service and this section would opt for Kingfisher, the officials said.