Kingfisher Airlines Limited was an airline group based in India. Through its parent company United Breweries Group, it had a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red. Until December 2011, Kingfisher Airlines had the second largest share in India's domestic air travel market.

Kingfisher Airlines was established in 2003. It was owned by the Bengaluru based United Breweries Group. The airline started commercial operations on 9 May 2005 with a fleet of four new Airbus A320-200s operating a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. It started its international operations on 3 September 2008 by connecting Bengaluru with London. Kingfisher's head office was located in the Kingfisher House in Vile Parle (East), Mumbai, but later moved to The Qube in Andheri (East), Mumbai. Its registered office was located in UB City, Bengaluru.

Ever since the airline commenced operations in 2005, it reported losses. The acquisition of loss-making Bangalore-based Air Deccan in 2007 made matters worse. It was believed that Vijay Mallya and his team failed to do due diligence on the airline and that it was this deal that brought down his empire; courtesy of N M Rothschild consultants who brokered the deal. An initial name change to Simplifly Deccan, followed by Kingfisher Red, and promotion as the domestic budget Kingfisher airline failed to stem losses and Kingfisher suffered a loss of over ₹10 billion (US$160 million) for three consecutive years.

On 28 September 2011, Vijay Mallya announced that the company would soon stop operations of Kingfisher Red as it did not believe in low-cost operations any longer. In a disclosure statement to the (BSE), he explained: "The company has incurred substantial losses and its net worth has been eroded. However, having regard to improvement in the economic sentiment, rationalization measures adopted by the company, fleet recovery and the implementation of the debt recast package with the lenders and promoters including conversion of debt into share capital, these interim financial statements have been prepared on the basis that the company is a going concern and that no adjustments are required to the carrying value of assets and liabilities." This filing was widely covered by Indian and international print and electronic media and analysts. Kingfisher Airlines Lenders later stated they considered the company viable. On 15 November 2011 the airline released poor financial results, indicating that it was "drowning in high-interest debt and losing money". Mallya indicated that his solution was for the government to reduce fuel and other taxes. The government was engaged in assessing whether to bail out the company and other airlines or let market forces determine which survived.

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