[Paleo Conservative]

With the A340-500, Mallya claims Kingfisher will be the only carrier with the equipment to operate the flight nonstop to the U.S. West Coast. "People will argue that the Boeing 777-200LR can do the same thing, but there are a lot of [weight and extended twin-engine operations] problems," he said.

Supposedly the Indian government won't give permission for ETOPS for new carriers till they have a few years in operations.

If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.

[Doctor Raoul]

What's the significance of the shading on the route map?

[phantomworker]

Wow, that second map is interesting.

[balch3]

you'd get quite a scenic view on that route.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Actually the real reason for not granting overseas clearance is that it will push the national carriers, Air India & Indian airlines over the hill.The North American & Middle Eastern sectors are a virtual monopoly for Air India as of now.The moment Kingfisher,Jet & other private carriers enter those sectors,the government will have to undertake drastic restructuring if not disinvestment of the 2 national carriers,which anyway is inevitable.