Indiantelevision.com Team

(6 April 2009 11:20 pm)

MUMBAI: Kingfisher Airlines has roped in Cutting Edge, SOTC Sport Abroad and Thomas Cook as "official tour partners" for the second season of the Indian Premier League, to be held in South Africa.

As the official airline and travel partner for the IPL this year, Kingfisher Airlines has the mandate to create tour packages for fans intending to visit South Africa.

Says Kingfisher Airlines VP - marketing Vikram Malhotra, "In collaboration with these three partners, we hope to offer integrated packages for cricket fans so that they can sit back and enjoy the cricket action and thrills while our tour partners take care of air travel, hotels, local sightseeing, and match tickets. Our tour partners have developed packages that are sure to appeal to the fans."

"With the previous experiences of handling large numbers during the ICC World Cup-2003 as well as ICC World Twenty 20-2007 in South Africa, we are confident of offering our expertise in the Rainbow Nation with support from South African Tourism and South African Airways," adds Cutting Edge president Mayank Khandwala.

The IPL's 2009 season will see the eight franchises play a league phase comprising 56 matches that will be played on 34 days at eight venues. The eight venues finalised for this year are Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, East London, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Kimberley.

The two semi-finals have been scheduled for 22 May and 23 May at Pretoria and Johannesburg respectively, while the final will take place on 24 May at Johannesburg.