January 21, 2005 - YET another low-cost carrier has decided to offer inflight entertainment to its passengers. In its recent announcement of an increased order for Airbus A320s, Indian operator operator Kingfisher Airlines revealed that every seat in all its aircraft would be fitted with a personal video screen.

Mumbai-based Kingfisher plans to enter service in the middle of this year with four leased A320s to be delivered from April plus another ten newly ordered and due to join the fleet from September. The airline has a further 20 aircraft on option.

The Kingfisher A320s will seat 174 passengers in a single-class layout. The IFE provision in each seat will deliver a choice of up to 5 channels of video, 10 channels of audio programming and a moving-map showing present position, airspeed, altitude and flight time remaining.

The airline says that the seats will also be the widest in the Indian market and will offer more legroom than those of any comparable service in the subcontinent. The interior decor will vary from aircraft to aircraft and the overhead bins will be exceptionally capacious, according to the airline.

IFE figures prominently in Kingfisher’s advanced marketing. Potential passengers are told that they can expect the latest Hollywood and Bollywood films, news, children’s entertainment, inflight shopping, and a ``Face of the month`` contest designed to give good-looking passengers a chance to break into the fashion business.