“For past two decades, tourism trade has suffered immensely. That is why I have come to announce that we are reviving Kingfisher airlines here and offer greater air connectivity of Srinagar with places like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, and other metropolis,” Mallya told reporters in a press conference.

He said the company aims to save passengers from paying taxes twice by exchange flights besides making traveling to Kashmir easy from potential business areas.

“Now that the fresh government has come, we would also like to increase the air connectivity within the State by offering more flights between Leh and Srinagar, Srinagar and Jammu, and Jammu and Srinagar,” he added.

Mallya said that Kingfisher aims to connect Srinagar with Dubai and other international destinations after the international airport in the city becomes functional.

“Once the airport starts functioning Kingfisher will help pull tourists from Europe and Mideast to travel the Valley in a hassle-free way,” he added.

The Kingfisher CEO also said that the company will offer package tourism to potential visitors in the country and overseas to sell Jammu and Kashmir in a big way.

He further said, “I also wish to reopen our optrex (Medicine) manufacturing unit that was established in 1976 at Zainakot but was closed down after insurgency began.”

Asked if he can request the fresh government to scrap ‘disturbed area’ tag to the State which is hampering tourist flow, mostly high-end foreign tourists to the Valley, he said, “I don’t want to get into political or security issues.”

On the Mumbai attacks after which many countries issued travel advisories to their citizens, Mallya said that travel advisories are just advices and not complete banning.

Mallya who also owns the Royal Challengers Bangalore team of the Indian Premier League said the decision to keep Star cricketer Rahul Dravid as the team captain is yet to be discussed.

“ We will discuss it soon,” he said in response to whether Star cricketer Rahul Dravid would continue to remain captain of Royal Challengers of Bangalore which showed poor performance during the last Indian Premier League Championship.

“And on the fate of Pakistan’s Misbah-ul Haq, he said, “He is a valuable hitter for me but it is up to Pakistan whether to grant him visa or not. It is again a security issue between Pakistan and India, which I don’t want to get more into.” 

Commenting on the scandal of Satyam group, he said that the event was shocking which increased the suspicion among investor across India and the globe.

“But don’t think that the scandal will happen with all corporates of India. Let me assure you that our group is highly corporate and is always monitored by government of India,” he said.

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