Air India! Can We See You in Air?

The news is quite big. Air India has successfully managed PR and media this time by creating a fuss about its order of Boeing 787s! And what it claims, it could bring the Maharaja days of Air India back!

Seriusly, Air India has been a premier service provider; still has one of the best aircraft with business class amenities. Even flying on economy gives a feel of business class with its navigation information system right in front of you on certain aircraft. But, the fact is, Air India’s maharaja days existed only when there were the only player in the market!! After the onset of Naresh Goel’s Jet Airways, Air India had some competition. It tasted water and had its feet on ground only when the competitive low cost players like Deccan, IndiGo and now, GoAir and Spicejet taking their market away.

From a market share of 100% in the days of License Raj, they have come down to a market share of approximately 16%. The market leaders are IndiGo at 1^st position (recently at the first position by a whisker), Jet Airways at 2nd spot (with almost the same as IndiGo at 26%, only a few points lesser) and SpiceJet at 3^rd spot with 18%.

Image Courtesy: WittySparks

No doubt, Air India and Kingfisher’s tumultuous times, the tatkal scam in Indian Railways, the growing influence of touts in railway bookings and the inefficient not so sophisticated bus operators have made it compulsory for many a people to travel by air for peace and mind and convenience. No wonder, biggest beneficiaries are Jet and IndiGo with their fleet. GoAir has only 11 aircraft and SpiceJet also with not a very significant number.

No matter how great the Boeing aircraft might be, the point is, it needs to be in the hands of competent organization, or competent management, to be precise. Hand over this same aircraft to Southwest in USA, Jet Airways or IndiGo, you would see some very different results. The babudom , the bureaucracy of being into government control is what keeps Air India in problems, just nothing else.

It is agreed that Air India needs to ply to some unprofitable destinations which private airlines are not willing to go as they are not so lucrative. Routes like say, Porbandar – Mumbai, Jamnagar – Mumbai or Nanded – Mumbai are understood. But, what about all other gifts that it enjoys which could easily balance these problems? 

The aircraft fleet, the scale of operations, the international reach finds no parallel in the industry. In fact, in the international arena, they could easily make money if they wished to. The problem remains, ‘if’. It is a matter of willingness than anything else.

Why this company is so oblivious to some commonly followed best practices in the industry? Are the people at the top deaf and dumb? The organizational culture is the very root cause of all problems, to put it in McKinsey style!

Aren’t the private airlines not earning profit by plying into tier – 2 cities? How many brain cells does it take to understand that a Jamnagar Mumbai flight can also travel further to Bangalore, Trivandrum and Goa and come back the same day to Jamnagar, saving airport parking, keeping the aircraft in air for maximum time and optimum utilisation of million dollar aircraft?

There have been just problems and problems around. Air India's website offers fares lower than what are displayed on MakeMyTrip and other such online travel agents (OTA). Why can't they display the same on all OTAs? Same is the case with Jet. But, look at IndiGo, GoAir and SpiceJet, the smarter ones now. Their fare on the airline website is the same shown on all OTAs. Half of AI's potential customers do not book because their fares as displayed on OTAs are higher and most will look to book the airline with lowest cost.

And wonder what is youth, military, senior citizens, VIP, politicians and what not quotas are present in their booking system! How can it go profitable if it keeps up with these kind of reservations even in case of bookings?

The biggest beneficiary behind government funding Air India despite the operational inefficiency has to be the great American aircraft maker, Boeing!! Sure, they are smiling!

Diwali! Want To Save On Travel By Air? Read On!

Please note that the author of this article is no less than a certified travel agent! You will find many interesting posts ahead related to travel using various modes. Read on, you might be benefited!! Even if it is written in context of one country, this would be interesting for readers across the globe. Even by just having a look at the corners of this blog, you would find something worth a try!

Diwali!!!! Okay, I am not here to bore you by writing some sentimental, religious or philosophical aspects of Diwali. Diwali has always been associated with the joy part, of shopping and lately, travel. Why 'lately'?Sure, shopping for Diwali has been an age old trend since markets and consumerism exist. Since, most families in the nation today have become nuclear, the society has become more individualist, more and more people have got to relocate to other places across the nation for academic or job purposes.

All this, for sure has made Diwali synonymous with travel to home town for many, especially those in our 20s and 30s. I miss this experience of travel as I am living with family, but looking at the excitement levels of others around fleeing back to their home towns, I am getting an innate urge to travel to some long distance. Wow, booking on websites, taking print outs, using online payment gateways, done this all before but excitement levels get high at this point of time.

So, what are your travel plans? whatever your itinerary, Diwali time is a great season for travel/transport operators, followed by a season for tourism operators in December/January. Whatever your itinerary, in India, there are 3 ways for you to travel: air, rail and road!

These names will take your care for travel in India by any mode

Travelling By Air?
I would write something specifically dedicated to passenger air travel industry some time later. No doubt, many people have started travelling by air, and going from one part of India to another, it's best to travel by air and save time. But, money? Well, read on, there are ways for you to save on!

Yatra, MakeMyTrip, Ezeego, TravelGuru, Cleartrip, TripAdvisor, Traveltime, etc. have turned out as good air travel agents online apart from the websites of all airliners like SpiceJet, Kingfisher Red, Indian Airlines, Air India, Indigo, GoAir and Jet Airways.

One name that would always be missing from the list of these well marketed websites is Ixigo. On Ixigo, you can do a search through all these sites listed above and get the best airfare deals. Of course, I need not tell you that booking one or two months in advance would save you a lot of money.

Whichever is the best option you find, the next thing is to check the airliner and visit the company website. You would see a minimum change of 100 INR in the fare listed at airliner's website. Small saving, right? But, you never know if that can fund your conveyance, a breakfast, lunch or dinner during the travel. In any case, the opportunity cost is not worth missing! :D

Finally, what about the revenues of our beloved websites like Yatra, MakeMyTrip, etc.? No doubt, I am one of their great fans as well, but read on. Their employee strength is not more than 500 all over the nation. Their offices, or website maintenance does not need humongous amount. They have wonderful contracts with travel and tourism companies, many a contracts with multinationals for their travel needs, you need not worry about them as real business in 21st century takes place in business-2-business also called as B2B. B2B is nothing but one business contracting to other business for their needs which involves good revenues generally than B2C, i. e. business-2-customer method.

So, I have presented both sides of the story, hope this benefits you and helps you in your future trips across the world! You are not hurting the economy, in case if you are really concerned!

And what are your thoughts on Diwali shopping? Sorry, for the red herring, but I am more than excited to write on this! Would stop now... :P