Passion for Aviation - Air India

Some might wonder, where did I get this passion for aviation, and this sudden love for aircrafts and the sort. Well the story goes way back when I was really young. Initially, I flew before I learnt to walk. My mum used to fly a lot when I was in her womb and they say that the baby learns a lot while in the mother’s womb. Getting back on track, I loved to fly. I loved to look at the different Boeings, Airbus, CRJ aircrafts – to name a few. 

Also what I loved and admired was the different types of service offered on different airlines. As I have already written a bit about it and maybe more on the airline service, I will not indulge about that in this post. The number one thing that did fascinate me was how aircrafts flew, how airlines were run and until now maybe I am not able to pinpoint the exact formula on how airlines run but there are certain things that I have picked up on by reading extensively on airlines.

I am no expert but certain things I know about the business and would like to pick on one airline which is close to my heart – Air India/Indian Airlines. How does such a nice airline in the 1980s go all wrong? Here I am going to try to analyze what went wrong, what could have been done right and maybe something that might be out of their control. Certain statements or recommendations I make might not make sense or you might think that they are made without doing any research but as I said, I am no expert on this but its just how I feel about the issue. 

First and foremost, the airline is horribly overstaffed. As any government body/airline, it has managed to employee a whole load of staff which is not really needed but they have to keep them until their retirement age because of the labor unions that plagues India. Air India is well-known for its “aunties” onboard. Air India’s cabin crew are of older age range, have gone out of shape and at times do not fit through the cabin aisles but they are still working on the aircraft because of the unions. They are not allowed to throw out cabin crew on the basis of their looks, age, weight etc. How much of a risk it is during and emergency, is anyone’s guess. In the middle the airline managed to ground the crew that were unfit or out of shape, but it didn’t last long. The airline loses a lot of money on employee costs because a good, well managed airline always tries to reduce its labor costs and on average for one flight an airline should have anywhere between 24 and 28 staff (this includes check-in agents, baggage handlers, ground crew, engineering crew, cabin crew and pilots) but Air India manages its business with about 36 to 40 staff per flight, which is overstaffing.

Next would be its flight routing, we talk about optimal utilization of aircraft and such. They do utilize their aircrafts but there are certain key areas that are missed. Before Air India and Indian Airlines were two separate entities, but now since they have joined into one airline, they have to think about re-working their schedules. Air India still operates its wide bodied international aircraft (like the 777 and 747) on domestic routes that depart at ungodly hours after 12 am and before 6am. Their wide bodied aircraft seem to spend more ground time at out stations than in Delhi or Mumbai. Passengers from New York bound for Ahmadabad have to connect in Mumbai or Delhi, ultimately operated by the same aircraft but they would arrive into Mumbai or Delhi at say 3am and connect at 4am or 5am. This needs to be though through and maybe offer a proper overnight flight from New York coming into Mumbai or Delhi at 6am then connect these passengers into Indian Airline’s morning departure bank onto a vast network of cities. The Indian market is big enough to sustain a full load of connections from New York, Los Angeles, London Heathrow etc at either Mumbai or Delhi. This was just one example, there are a lot more flights that are operated like this. 

Air India’s network operations and flight times need to change to allow connections via Mumbai and Delhi. They would be able to capture the Middle East market to connect onto Indian domestic destinations and also onwards into Asia to cities like Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tokyo, Singapore, Kuala Lampur etc. Jet Airways was quick enough to capture this market from the middle east by offering competitive rates agains Emirates, Qatar Airways, Gulf Air etc. Usually passengers travelling from the home cities of these big middle eastern carriers are not offered good ticket prices but Air India could have exploited this in a good way. 

Certain analyst say that the merging of the two carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, was one of the biggest boon to the company, and some say it wasn’t a good move. I would say, it was the smartest move made simply because costs can be cut, marketing would become common, sales would be commons, offices combined. Any logical person would have said that this was the strategy behind the merger.  Until now I am yet to see a full logical cost saving measure to be taken, all they have done yet was the repainting of the aircraft (which has added to the expenditure), the flight codes still remain as IC and AI, certain cities (especially in India) still operate an Air India and Indian Airlines office separately, uniforms are different all around, including those of the ground staff. Air India Express adds yet another liability to the overheads of the company. 

Air India express was created to completed in the gulf market with the low cost carriers. It has quickly gained a market share in the gulf markets which has a lot of labor workers who can not afford the full service carries’ prices. But what has gone wrong with regards to its operations is the operation of Indian Airlines flights, Air India flights, and Air India flights operating on the same routing. In Dubai, for example, on any one day you will find a Dubai – Mumbai flight operated by Air India’s wide body aircraft, Indian Airline’s (Now Air India)’s  narrow bodied aircraft – A321 and Air India’s B737. You have started competing and working as your own rival in the same market. 

Certain good things about the airline is the rigorous training and service enhancement has really changed the cabin crew’s attitudes and service levels. The crew genuinely offer good service and a friendly approach to each and every passenger. It has also utilized the maximum out of the space offered in Delhi and Mumbai Airports by starting their own lounges to offer a better experience to the first and business class passengers. They have recently started upgrading their fleet of aircrafts by installing a new hard product in first, business and economy class. Personal TV screens are gradually being added, all this might make it competitive in the international market but it might be a bit too late now. 

Another aspect of its operations is the concentrated services. The gulf market has been its bread and butter for years. The passenger on this rout has always being low yield but the loads have been good enough to warrant point to point service to the different gulf cities. The airline offers a brilliant connection from secondary cities like Ahmadabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Amritsar, Calicut, Trivandrum etc directly to gulf cities of Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Riyadh, Jeddah etc. The demand from these secondary cities to the US or Europe is not enough to warrant a direct flight. They have to start timing their domestic IC operations in a way where the passengers can easily connect from the secondary domestic market to the direct services to Europe/Americas or even South East Asia via Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkotta, Bengaluru or Chennai. Offering multiple connections to the same route which might not have a demand might not be smart move, they need to pull out the extra rotations and start utilizing their aircrafts to offer seamless connections via its hubs. 

Another option that they need to explore the option for international to international connection without having any hassles of clearing immigrations or customs. Once this has been achieved they would make money by taking a slice back from Emirates or Qatar or even Etihad Airways. Another change they might need to make is the fleet of aircraft that are aging needs to change. They need to start ordering for the future instead of ordering last minute then just leasing already aging aircraft to operate with a different product that their own. This leasing of aircraft in the last minute was evident when their Boeing 747-400s started aging and they needed a replacement to operate to the US and Europe and they had to lease aircraft from United Airlines, which had the seats and interiors of the US carrier. Not at par with what Air India offered on its own aircraft especially for economy class passengers, where you get a great generous seat pitch of 34" on the wide body aircraft and this aircraft offered only a mere 31"

What I like most about their paint job on the aircraft are the little jahrokas (rajesthani style windows) made on every window and of course the age old maharaja as the mascot of the airline. The airline had its peak in glory, glamour and finance during the olden days when flying Air India meant you were in a luxurious cruise. Air India's food and catering is still number one as it really brings out the different food from India and its different states. It caters to a wide range of taste buds and success in offering some of the best variety onboard. Business and First class passengers are still entitled to a trolley service, where they can chose a mixture of food and desserts, its like a mobile buffet counter. 

This must have probably made a heavy read for most but I hope I made sense of what I was trying to say at some point in the article. Air India is a carrier with a definitive advantage, but it has not been exploited as much, after all it serves a nation that has a population which is way over a billion plus the non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (POI).

Indian Aviation

A couple of years back the Indian aviation consisted only of TWO airlines – Indian Airlines and Air India. Those were the only two airlines covering the domestic as well as the international market. These airlines were often plagued with long delays and departure at ungodly hours to utilize the aircraft to their fullest. There was no improvement in the soft or the hard product over the years as they had a monopoly over the Indian market. Ticket prices were also at a level which most of the Indians could not afford.

Boom! There was a deregulation of the aviation industry and private carriers could enter, they had to operate for 5 years minimum in the domestic market to be able to offer international destinations. Fair enough to see if the companies would actually survive the difficult market, owing solely to the high fuel prices and of course, India’s famous labor unions.  I am not dismissing the fact that other countries don’t have labor union problems, like the recent British Airways problems, or even the Lufthansa strikes, but in India this problem is unique.

I’m sure most of you have read the papers lately about how Air India (India’s government airline) was unable to pay the salaries of its pilots for over 5 months. Then came in Jet Airway’s decision to slash the new joinees into the airline in order to save costs, then Kingfisher getting its accounts frozen due to lack of funds, hence services were affected. We are talking about the big players in the Indian aviation industry going bust. What made this happen?

I am no expert at analyzing, but my passion for aviation made me just pen down my opinion of the Indian aviation market. I am not going to include the political side to things in the aviation because it is very controversial. But just to put things plain and simple this full service airlines, with a good financial backing have just gone bust.

Personally, I have flown Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo, Kingfisher in the past and having a service level to that of Indian based airlines is second to none! They treat you with warmth, care and comfort, some more than others. Jet Airways is known for their service levels because they are a full service airline, but not to forget Indigo, which is India's number 1 low cost carrier, expect to be treated like royalty even though you have paid less than half of the ticket price compared to that of jet airways. They have new aircraft and on time all the time. Well groomed crew... might sound like im advertising for Indigo here, so im going to stop now. 

Jet Airways was and is a more conservative airline in terms of expansion and advertising. They have been around longer than Kingfisher. A smart move was to open up a scissor hub at Brussels to connect the Indian passengers from different cities in India to different cities in the US, because honestly the market is not big enough to warrant direct flights into the US from India, a case-in-point is Air India itself, operating brand new Boeing 777-200LRs into New York Kennedy and New York Newark airports from Bombay, Delhi, Ahemdabad, Hydrabad and Chennai. What you don’t know while buying your ticket is that they are probably going to route you through Mumbai or Delhi for all flights.

Competition is fierce for the US and Europe market from India, including the giants of Middle East, Emirates, Qatar, Etihad and on a smaller scale, but not insignificant is also Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines for the west coast US. Again you also have Kuwait Airways, Turkish Airlines, Egypt Air also fighting for their share of the India-US market.

Gulf Market has always been lucrative for the Indian airlines but alas it’s a low cost market. Air India seems to be making the most money on this market, but now Jet Airways, Indigo (India’s number 1 low cost carrier) have seemed to join the bandwagon. Adding to this, also the middle east giants have come into the picture to cut prices and have a fierce market competition in terms of ticket prices. Air India kicked itself again in its foot by creating Air India Express - a low cost carrier operating to gulf destinations and a few south east Asian destinations. Agree, that they did scale back on their mainline operations, but either of them would be able to survive. Both airlines, on the same rout is a bit of an oxymoron as they will be cutting into their own market share, analyzing the passenger given on any one day either choosing Air India or Air India Express. 

Kingfisher’s owner Vijay Mallya is also a part of UB Brewery – which is the single largest alcohol producer in India. Now after that success they managed to start an airline named Kingfisher, eager to enter the international market, they managed to take over ailing Air Deccan (Indian low cost carrier) and got its license into operating international market. Without looking around it just started expanding into international routes. For example, entering into the Mumbai to London Heathrow and Delhi to London Heathrow routing takes a lot of courage as there are operators that have been there for ages and have not been able to make a profit out of that route.

At one point you had Kingfisher, Jet Airways, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air India all operating on these routes with upto two flights a day or more.  How many flights can this routing support? There is not a big enough market to have so many airlines operating the same route because there is also competition from the likes of Emirates, Qatar and Eithad doing the same routes via their respective hubs and offering a very competitive pricing.

How do you become a millionaire from a billionaire? Start an airline. This is a famous saying in the aviation industry, and I’m sure that is exactly what the Kingfisher giant – Vijay Mallaya has done. By buying out Air Deccan he started digging his own grave. When a full service airlines, attempts to buy out low cost carrier it goes bust. Jet Airways made it work when they started their own low cost carrier Jet Light. But that was from scratch, with no  debt burdens on it. Kingfisher has a way of doing things, and its quite flamboyant. Being conservative might help sometimes, especially in a volatile market like India where the consumer is VERY price sensitive, be it travelling internationally or domestic.

Lesson learnt, the Indian aviation industry will survive through this because the market is big enough, Jet airways has now created a nieche for their market, as Kingfisher’s fleet is grounded, their seats are  selling like hotcakes. Not to forget though, that they are still in the red.

Indigo Airlines, on the other hand, has started booming. They have already hit the black in terms of figures and profits are rolling in. They do have certain unique advantages due to their business model, and it could become the next Air Asia.

Well enough of my ranting on the airlines of India, I could actually go on and on and on about all of this because this is somewhat of my passion. Aviation industry has always amazed me since I was a child. I love taking photographs of different aircrafts, love to see new cities, love to try new carriers, love analyzing on the service levels… and much more. You ask me to speak about aviation at length and I probably would be able to do it!