With a view to strengthening its presence in tourist circuits, Kingfisher Airlines is all set to introduce direct non-stop flights from Goa to Agra next month, thus becoming the first domestic airline to serve these cities.

According to the airline's chief Vijay Mallaya, this move would stimulate air traffic between the two points.

He was speaking on the sidelines of 'Open Skies 2005: Powering aviation growth', a symposium organised by Confederation of Indian Industries in Mumbai.

Mallya also revealed that the airline would start services from Pune to Ahmedabad and Goa from the coming winter schedule.

Disagreeing with a theory that Kingfisher airline's decision to outsource its ground handling to Indian Airlines was not a sound decision, he said on the contrary it has led cost savings, besides better utilisation of national resources.

Kingfisher is paying Indian Airlines an annual fee of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) for ground handling services, he said, pointing out that this was substantially more than the operating profit of Rs 44 crore (Rs 440 million) earned by Indian Airlines last year.