How the Maharaja can deliver and regain its past glory

Managing the airline industry has always been a challenge. In the past, we had many airlines in India that had to shut shop as they could not manage the huge losses and fierce pricing wars.

Our national airline Air India has been on a roller coaster ride since the beginning of the 90s. But with the takeover of Air India by the TATA last year, a fresh lease of life has been infused into the brand. The TATAs are bent on lifting this national airline from the woods and making it fly high in the coming years.

Following the recent merger of Vistara with Air India, the plan is to make this airline more robust in its offerings, give the travellers every comfort and bring back the old memories which have been missing with the airline for some time.

According to Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial and Transformation for the Airline, their objective is to build Air India as a global airline with an Indian heart. “This brand is close to the hearts of many flyers around the world and we want to transform the brand into one of the most admired and trusted brands in India and overseas,” he said.

Recently, Air India appointed McCann Worldgroup as its new communication partner to bring in some new and fresh thinking for its iconic brand whose Maharaja symbol is still strong and can still connect well with many flyers.

While marketing and communication is one of the areas the brand will have to look at but it also needs to strengthen its product and services

An airline brand generally hovers around the 5C’s that is crucial to be monitored and ensure that at no point the traveller has anything to protest or complain.

The 5Cs are Convenience, Cost, Comfort, Courtesy and Cuisine. They should be continuously monitored so that the end customer keeps coming back to fly the airline. Let us examine what these 5C’s are.

Convenience:  Here one would look at the various flight options and the convenient timings which are suitable for one to book a seat. Convenience is also measured by easy navigation and the friendliness it provides while booking the ticket on the airline website and the travel portals. Convenience can be in many ways. While punctuality is one factor, the other important aspect is tele checking. In today’s hectic and busy schedule, most travellers will also look forward to having good bus services from the terminal to the aircraft with excellent frequency. The good condition and the upkeep of the bus will also augment the customer experience.

Cost: Finally, it all boils down to the cost when it comes to deciding the brand of the airline.  Am I getting the best value deals, be it for an individual or for the family? What kind of charges is levied when it comes to cancelling? How much in advance I can book to get the best deals? Is it better to use the travel portals or do the booking directly through the airline’s website? If I want a particular seat, will they charge me extra? A very sensible and calculative customer will granularly look at all these aspects before he makes his final choice.

Courtesy: You may call it courtesy or hospitality but the courtesy extended at every touchpoint matters a lot. Right from the check-in counter at the airport to inside the aircraft and your final exit from the airport after collecting your baggage. Assisting a senior citizen with his luggage can really create a good impression on the travellers. Even the speed at which one receives the baggage from the conveyor belt matters a lot to every traveller and finally handling the fragile baggage carefully will really keep the traveller happy.

Comfort: How can you ignore comfort? Comfort starts from the type of seats the airline is offering. Is there enough legroom so that, I can sit with ease? All the seats recline properly for one to relax once you are in mid-air. The entertainment provided through the small screen TV should offer a wide variety of channels to view. Most importantly the take-off and landing should be smooth as many travellers have a phobia of this, especially the first-time traveller.

Cuisine: With many budget airlines you now need to pay for your food but having said that the food that is served also matters a lot. Giving the traveller some choice in the menu will really uplift his experience. Besides that, the hygiene and freshness aspect of the food will value a lot for people to enjoy and experience the cuisine served on the flight. While most airlines offer the standard cuisine, a little extra in terms of innovation can linger in the minds of travellers when they leave the aircraft and reach their final destination.

Now with Tata’s piloting Air India, the element of trust in the brand must have gone a few points up. And maybe in some time, we will see some visible brand differentiation in the skies. The brand has to pilot it smart and diligently by offering great flying experiences both up in the sky and on the ground to garner a larger pie of the airline business both in India and the overseas market. The Maharaja is such a strong brand property which the brand should ride on and deliver a great and memorable experience for every traveller.

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