INTRODUCTORY STAGE

• 1953: NATIONALISATION OF AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY

• Assets of 9 existing companies transferred to two entities in
the aviation sector controlled by the Government in
 Indian Airlines, primarily serving domestic sectors
 Air India, primarily serving the international sectors
 GROWTH STAGE
• 1986: Private Sector Players permitted as Air Taxi Operators
• 1987: Indian Airlines carried 10 million passengers and earned Rs. 630
million.
• 1990: Foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 49 percent equity stake and
NRI (Non Resident Indian) investment of up to 100 percent equity stake
were permitted through the automatic FDI route in the domestic air
transport services sector.
 GROWTH STAGE
• 1994:
– Private Carriers permitted to operate scheduled services.
– Damania, EastWest, Jet, Sahara, Modiluft and NEPC started operations.
– However, high fuel costs, poor infrastructure, and a regulation that required them to fly
on routes to distant parts of the country as well as on non-trunk routes threatened their
financial viability.
• 1997:
– Damania, Modiluft, EastWest and NEPC were forced to suspend services. Jet and Sahara
were thus the only survivors .
 GROWTH STAGE
YEAR PASSENGERS CARRIED GROWTH%
(IN LAKHS)
1996 199.07
1997 116.43 -2.22%
1998 118.60 +1.86%
1999 122.30 +3.12%
2000 133.21 +8.92%
2001 128.10 -3.84%
2002 131.23 +2.03%
GROWTH STAGE 2003 before lcc
Sales
Indian Airlines Jet Airways Sahara
10%

44%

46%
 GROWTH STAGE| ARRIVAL OF LCC
• 2003:
– In 2003, Captain Gopinath’s started Air Deccan, the first low cost Indian airline that
positioned itself as an airline for the common man.
– It revolutionized air travel by allowing everyone to fly by offering free tickets and fares as
low as rupee 1.
– This took the form of a limited number of seats sold at lower prices (“apex fares”) if
purchased 7, 15 or 21 days in advance with substantial penalties for cancellation.
• 2005:
– Kingfisher, Paramount, Goair, SpiceJet, and IndiGo entered in 2005
– Two of the new entrants – SpiceJet and IndiGo – followed the classical “low-cost” airline
model of very competitive fares, a single type of aircraft and a single class of service,
point -to-point operations, quick turnarounds, no frills, and internet-based ticketing.
 GROWTH STAGE| ARRIVAL OF LCC
• 2007:
– In 2003, Captain Gopinath’s started Air Deccan, the first low cost Indian airline that
positioned itself as an airline for the common man.
– It revolutionized air travel by allowing everyone to fly by offering free tickets and fares as
low as rupee 1.
– This took the form of a limited number of seats sold at lower prices (“apex fares”) if
purchased 7, 15 or 21 days in advance with substantial penalties for cancellation.
• 2005:
– Kingfisher, Paramount, Goair, SpiceJet, and IndiGo entered in 2005
– Two of the new entrants – SpiceJet and IndiGo – followed the classical “low-cost” airline
model of very competitive fares, a single type of aircraft and a single class of service,
point -to-point operations, quick turnarounds, no frills, and internet-based ticketing.
 GROWTH STAGE|
PRICING STRATEGY

1. AIR DECCAN
1. During off-seasons (sometimes even during peaks) it offered seats as low as Rs.500.
2. Rs. 1 ticket was introduced by Air Deccan in 2005
2. SPICE JET
1. Came with the Rs. 99 fares for the first 99 days, with 9000 seats available at this rate.
2. This deal was followed by a Rs. 999 promotional scheme on select routes.
3. The airline in May 2007 offered two-lakh seats at a special price of 99 paise for two or
more persons travelling together on all non-stop flights covering 14 destinations.
 GROWTH STAGE| ARRIVAL OF LCC
PROMOTION STRATEGY

1. AIR DECCAN
1. Tie up with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to sell tickets at its Club HP
petrol pumps in order to target the middle class.
2. Maruti vans hired by the travel agency installed with web-enabled services will serve as
mobile ticketing counters to sell tickets six days a week (Monday to Saturday) and
payments could be made in cash or by cards.
2. SPICE JET
1. To further its branding value Spice Jet has introduced on-board merchandise sales such
as goggles, airplane models, perfumes, caps and watches.
 GROWTH STAGE| IMPACT OF LCC
• Air Deccan’s targeting
• Corporates (middle-level employees), small and medium enterprises (SMEs),
• AC/ Second class travellers (middle class) of Indian Railways. This can be again divided into two parts:
(a) Travellers who dream to travel by air at least once in their life time
(b) Travellers who did care about time but couldn’t afford the price which was being charged by the full
serivice airline.
• Concentrated on unconnected regional areas:
• They did not connect with the metros initially. They entered the regional areas, which were disconnected,
but promised capacity traffic.
• Two pronged fleet strategy:
• They were plying 48 and 72 seater ATRs on the regional routes and the 180-seater A320 on the trunk
routes. The logic behind the strategy was that the smaller aircrafts were suitable for the shorter runways at
the regional airports, which were much smaller in size; while the jet aircrafts on the trunk routes helped it
to achieve higher capacity and carry passengers over a longer range than the ATRs.
• Lease with AIRBUS:
• Quick turnaround:
• High Frequency:
• High frequencies of flights plying between 2 cities, thus ensuring customer loyalty
 GROWTH STAGE| IMPACT OF LCC
• Lean Staffing
• It adopted a "lean and mean" approach to staffing levels and aimed at maintaining a low aircraft-to-
employee ratio to keep costs down and ticket prices low.
• Reduced expenses on Cabin crew:
– Air Deccan’s pilots stayed in company guest houses and transit houses while the full service airlines
pilots stayed in five star hotels
– Air Deccan did not have a separate cleaning staff. The air hostesses cleaned the aircraft and obtained
a cleaning allowance.
– The transit inspections were not done by a separate engineering staff. The pilots themselves did the
inspection.
• Dynamic fare pricing :
• Its fares were dynamic in nature and were governed by the demand and
supply situation. The earlier one booked, the lower was the fare(this was
also known as APEX-advanced purchase scheme).The fares were
advertised through the news paper media.
• Source: ICRA report on Civil Aviation
GROWTH STAGE| IMPACT OF LCC

Outsourced airport staff

Limited menu

Paid water

Cotton upholstery (unlike leather ones on full-service airlines)

Normal coaches

No refund for cancellation

Charged for special services (like wheelchair and unaccompanied minors)

 GROWTH STAGE| IMPACT OF LCC
• Air Deccan’s innovative marketing strategies:
• During off-seasons (sometimes even during peaks) it offered
seats as low as Rs.500.
• If this wasn’t enough, they then came up with a Re 1 ticket in
June,05.
• Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to sell tickets at
its Club HP petrol pumps.
• Maruti vans hired by the travel agency installed with web-
enabled services
GROWTH STAGE| Air deccan
Total Operating Revenue 682

Operating expenses
Flight Operations 223.4
Maintenance and overhaul 156.4
Depreciation 11.2
User Charges 60
Station Expense 26.5
Passenger Service 20.4
Ticketing, sales and promotion 15.3
General and administration 110
Other operating expenses 18.7
Total operating expenses 641
Operating result 40.1
Non-operating items -31.8
Profit/loss
Net profit/loss before tax 8.3
Net profit/loss after tax 5.6

(Source: ICRA report, Civil Aviation, April 2005)

 GROWTH STAGE| Air deccan
The percentage of money spent on ticketing, sales and promotion
were as low as 2.24% and the extent to which the company spent on
passenger service was also a meagre 3%. Hence, we can see that
the company was stringent on the indirect expenses to reduce cost
and keep ticket prices low.
We can see that the major share of expense of the company is on
“Flight operations” and “Maintenance and overhaul”. The next major
area of expense is “General and Administration”. It is also because a
country like India doesn’t have secondary airport which has low taxes
and surcharges unlike the western world where its counterparts enjoy
the differential taxes and surcharges on different graded airports.
 GROWTH STAGE| Air deccan
The percentage of money spent on ticketing, sales and promotion
were as low as 2.24% and the extent to which the company spent on
passenger service was also a meagre 3%. Hence, we can see that
the company was stringent on the indirect expenses to reduce cost
and keep ticket prices low.
We can see that the major share of expense of the company is on
“Flight operations” and “Maintenance and overhaul”. The next major
area of expense is “General and Administration”. It is also because a
country like India doesn’t have secondary airport which has low taxes
and surcharges unlike the western world where its counterparts enjoy
the differential taxes and surcharges on different graded airports.
GROWTH STAGE| ARRIVAL OF LCC
 GROWTH STAGE
Sales
Kingfisher JetLite Jet Airways
Indigo GoAir Air India
21% 30%

5%

16%
19% 9%
 MATURITY STAGE
• The rapid increase in costs combined with competitive pressures to keep fares low
threatened the survival of relatively less efficient airlines.
• The first of these was the takeover of Sahara by Jet Airways. This acquisition gave
Jet access to Sahara’s fleet of Boeing 737 and CRJ aircraft, and, more importantly,
Sahara’s parking slots in major Indian airports. Though the deal was announced in
early 2006, Jet completed acquisition of Sahara in April 2007 and decided to run
the airline as a value carrier subsidiary under the brand name JetLite.
• An even bigger acquisition was followed – in mid-2007, Kingfisher acquired a
controlling stake in Air Deccan. Kingfisher justified the acquisition based on
synergies in aircraft maintenance, and spares since Air Deccan and Kingfisher both
had fleets of the same types of aircraft (A -320 jets and ATR turboprop).
• The third major consolidation was the merger of the two national carriers Indian
Airlines and Air India into a single national entity under the corporate name of
National Aviation Company of India and the brand name of Air India. This move
was first mooted several years earlier, but was ultimately consummated only in
2007. Shortly before the official approval of the merger, the boards of Indian
Airlines and Air India approved major fleet expansion plans that would result in a
complete overhaul of their respective fleets.
 MATURITY STAGE
• The rapid increase in costs combined with competitive pressures to keep fares low
threatened the survival of relatively less efficient airlines.
• The first of these was the takeover of Sahara by Jet Airways. This acquisition gave
Jet access to Sahara’s fleet of Boeing 737 and CRJ aircraft, and, more importantly,
Sahara’s parking slots in major Indian airports. Though the deal was announced in
early 2006, Jet completed acquisition of Sahara in April 2007 and decided to run
the airline as a value carrier subsidiary under the brand name JetLite.
• An even bigger acquisition was followed – in mid-2007, Kingfisher acquired a
controlling stake in Air Deccan. Kingfisher justified the acquisition based on
synergies in aircraft maintenance, and spares since Air Deccan and Kingfisher both
had fleets of the same types of aircraft (A -320 jets and ATR turboprop).
• The third major consolidation was the merger of the two national carriers Indian
Airlines and Air India into a single national entity under the corporate name of
National Aviation Company of India and the brand name of Air India. This move
was first mooted several years earlier, but was ultimately consummated only in
2007. Shortly before the official approval of the merger, the boards of Indian
Airlines and Air India approved major fleet expansion plans that would result in a
complete overhaul of their respective fleets.
 MATURITY STAGE

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation 1

 MATURITY STAGE

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation 1

 MATURITY STAGE
35

30

25

20

15
Series 1
10 Column1

0
 Source: Euromonitor International

MATURITY STAGE

Airline Capacity: 2003-2008

'000 people 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Airline capacity  46,400.0 52,100.0 59,673.7 70,656.2 80,855.8 91,982.5

- Schedule  46,000.0 50,600.0 55,157.1 59,624.8 63,202.3 69,333.3

- Charter  220.0 300.0 397.5 475.8 567.7 697.9

- Low cost 180.0 1,200.0 4,119.1 10,555.6 17,085.8 21,951.2

carriers 
 MATURITY STAGE
Airline Utilisation: 2003-2008
'000 people 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Airline passengers  29,824.0 34,960.0 41,384.7 52,245.4 65,520.1 70,593.3

- Schedule  29,470.0 33,610.0 37,820.4 42,829.9 49,254.4 52,000.0

- Charter  200.0 270.0 361.0 449.4 539.3 593.3

- Low cost 154.0 1,080.0 3,203.3 8,966.0 15,726.3 18,000.0

carriers 

Source: Euromonitor International

 Source:
Source: Euromonitor
Euromonitor International
International

MATURITY STAGE
Airline Passengers Carried by Distance: % Breakdown: 2003-2008
'000 people 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Airline 29,824.0 34,960.0 41,384.7 52,245.4 65,520.1 70,593.3

passengers 

- Short haul  15,014.0 17,830.0 21,895.2 28,316.1 35,873.4 38,661.1

- Long haul  14,810.0 17,130.0 19,489.5 23,929.2 29,646.7 31,932.2

 MATURITY STAGE
Average price / Revenue
% Average load passenger (Local Passengers passenger kms
factor carried (million)
currency) (million)
Air India  69.0 - 4.2 17,500.0
Alliance Air  65.0 - 1.8 1,100.0
Indian  65.0 - 6.6 9,761.0
Kingfisher 68.0 1,785.7 11.2 7,905.8
Airlines 
SpiceJet  68.0 3,273.5 4.0 1,581.2
 Table 6 Airline Market Shares 2004-2008

MATURITY STAGE
MARKET SHARE 2004 2005 2006 2007

Jet Airways India 26.4 26.1 32.8 29.7

Ltd 

Kingfisher Airlines
- - - 6.0
Ltd 

SpiceJet Ltd  - - 2.1 3.0

Air India Ltd  66.8 68.4 70.1 69.9

Deccan Aviation
Pvt Ltd  1.9 2.9 7.5 9.2

Others  4.9 2.6 - -

Total  100.0 100.0 112.4 117.8