The 2009 calendars have a lot of firsts to them. It is for the first time that these have been launched in Delhi. Actor Arjun Rampal did the honours with Mallya this time. It is also for the first time that international models scorch the pages of the calendars. The models, who were also in attendance at the launch, include Tamara Moss (Holland/ India), Nargis Fakhri (Czech Republic/ Pakistan), Mimi Blix (Norway/ Uganda), Katya Melnikova (Russia), Moni Kangkana Dutta (India) and Sunisa Jongsawat (Thailand).

The Delhi launch had some of the city’s active socialites in attendance. Some of those who attended were Priya & Charu Sachdev of TSG International, Actor Rahul Dev, Nafisa Ali, Designers Ritu Kumar, Suneet Verma, Ashish Soni, JJ Vallaya, Malini Ramani, Priyanjali Dhanjal, Manav Gangwani Ritu Beri, restaurateur AD Singh.

Coming to the Swimsuit Calendar first- Shot in the Six Senses Hideway Resorts at the Koi Samui and Yao Noi islands in Thailand, the calendar is as much a collectible for the appealing locales as for the models featured in it.

In its seventh year of publication, the calendar features models flaunting some of the premium apparel and accessory brands like Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, Jean Paul Gaultier and Hamilton.

The Formula One Calendar has Force India drivers Shruti Agarwal, Moni Kangkana Datta and Sheetal Menon sharing space with the drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella sharing space with (besides the cars), models Shruti Agarwal, Moni Kangkana Datta and Sheetal Menon. Both the calendars have been shot by photographer Atul Kasbekar.

Kingfisher’s projected losses for 2008-09 at Rs 1,500 crore was more than twice the estimated total profits (Rs 600 crore) of UB Group companies! But a slew of recent pricing developments and policy murmurs suggest that the worst may be over for the airline and its turnaround may happen sooner than expected.

With crude cooling off over the last two months, low ATF prices have helped bring down Kingfisher’s fuel bill (the exact figure will be known when KF announces its third quarter results). In a recent presentation, Kingfisher said it expected crude to settle at around $70-90 a barrel over the next 6-12 months (from $38 a barrel currently).

In addition, measures like route rationalisation the airline cut services to several destinations over the past two months and putting on hold expansion plans, including deferring delivery of some 80 aircraft, have helped rein in expenditure. Mallya told BT after KF’s annual general meeting in Bangalore on December 26 that he expected the airline to break-even operationally in December with revenues of Rs 500 crore from passenger, cargo and ancillary services.

I think the worst is over and there’s no reason why private Equity investors, who had expressed interest when oil was at $100 a barrel, shouldn’t be more interested when oil is $36 a barrel, said Mallya, who has been scouting for $400 million (Rs 1,950 crore) capital for his airline over the past six months. His talks with PE firms have been stuck over issues of valuation.

But Mallya may now get what he has always wanted an overseas airline as a partner as there is news that the Government may allow foreign carriers to pick up equity in their Indian counterparts. Mallya would prefer a strategic partner, for he believes that it will not just offer a better valuation, but would add value to KF’s own operational efficiency. British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Virgin etc, could be possible suitors, but Mallya, in an e-mail respoNSE to a BT query, offered no more than there is no point in discussing something that is currently not permitted.

That Mallya is in high spirits again is evident from Kingfisher’s plans to start services from Mumbai to London Heathrow, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as a flight between Bangalore and Colombo over the next 6-8 weeks. He has also followed other airlines in cutting fares and offering sops to boost sales. Clearly, he is feeling buoyed by the expected good results for the December quarter. But as industry experts say, Mallya’s challenge lies in extending that performance to the last quarter of 2008-09.

“We have granted permission to Kingfisher to operate daily services on three more international sectors including with immediate effect,” said an aviation ministry official who did not wish to be named.

Kingfisher spokesperson said that the airline had received communication from civil aviation ministry for operating services to various foreign destinations. The ministry has asked the airline to conduct a study on traffic on new routes before announcing the launch.