March 22, 2007: Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines is on a racing track. India’s fastest-growing airline, along with Toyota Motorsport, has entered into a multi-year partnership deal for the Panasonic Toyota F1 Racing team. The partnership was long overdue ever since news of such an impending event had been doing the rounds. It is official, finally.

Dubbed to be among corporate India’s biggest overseas brand partnerships, this takes Kingfisher Airlines into the international arena of Indian companies sponsoring international sporting events, said a report.

To mark the deal, Kingfisher Airlines has also kicked off a contest for its customers. A lucky draw would be conducted and the winners of this Kingfisher Airlines F1 contest would win an all-expenses-paid trip to the next Grand Prix destination and watch the action live, the report added.

At an event to mark the occasion of the partnership, ace driver Ralf Schumacher was present. The partnership is widely expected to raise the interest level of Indians in the F1 sport.

According to the airline top brass, this is part of Kingfisher Airlines’ long term vision to be well entrenched in the minds of global guests and enhance visibility internationally and be the airline of first choice whenever anybody thinks of flying. Kingfisher, which started with just four flights a day, currently operates 158 flights daily connecting 29 key Indian destinations. It as takes credit over the fact that its is the country’s first and only private airline to receive the prestigious ‘Best New Airline of the Year’ award in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region from Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.