Business

Civil aviation on fast track

New breed of promoters aim to bring air travel to the masses

FLYING HIGH AT LOW COST: An Air Deccan plane readying to fly from Hyderabad. — Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

HE CAN be a textile magnate, a liquor baron or a leader in the travel trade, but they all belong to a new breed of industrialists who are taking to the skies by floating new airlines with mega investments in modern fleets of jets. The company to revolutionise air travel in India by bringing it within the reach of the middle class is the Bangalore-based Air Deccan. Its promoter, Capt. G. R. Gopinath, claims that the story of the low cost airline is the story of "modern India". "Given an opportunity, Indians will shine in any sphere of activity and the civil aviation sector was only waiting to be capitalised," he asserts.

Air Deccan's strength

When Air Deccan was born in 2003 on the lines of Ryan Air in Europe with a prime vision to "empower every Indian to fly", with a modest four daily flights, it did what Reliance Infocomm has done to the telecom industry, by triggering a price war and making air travel affordable for the common man. "Reaching the unreached" is the mantra for this dynamic airline which has carried so far over four million passengers with a fleet of 20 planes operating 114 daily flights and connecting 35 destinations.

Taking advantage of the "open skies policy", the new players in the industry — Spice Jet, Paramount Airways, Kingfisher, Indigo, Magic and Air Deccan — are all waiting to spread their wings flying the latest generation aircraft. The older players in the private sector — Air Sahara and Jet Airways — have their own mega expansion plans to link up newer routes within the country and overseas.

Today, air travel is fast becoming a feasible choice for the masses, losing its elitist edge. It is a choice that people of varied profiles are increasingly opting for. "Air Deccan's strength is that it does not believe in flamboyance but at the same time provides safe transportation of people from one destination to another, especially on lesser known routes," Capt. Gopinath explains with a sense of pride.

Without mincing words, he wants the Civil Aviation Ministry and other related Ministries to simplify the process of clearances, visualise growth with farsightedness and put the sector on "fast track mode" with less bureaucratic controls.

Kingfisher's style

If Capt. Gopinath works on a down-to-earth concept, the new entrant, Kingfisher, promoted by liquor baron and Member of Parliament, Vijay Mallya, explains that the "core values of Kingfisher brand represented aspiration and lifestyle which is expressed in many ways — fashion, music and beverages. In the context of the new India with a growing breed of youngsters, an expanding middle class and vibrancy in the corporate sector, I felt that Kingfisher should take to the skies," Mr. Mallya said adding that he would provide maximum comfort to passengers with affordable fares with designer wear seats, by flying latest generation Airbus fleet of jets, including the Super Jumbos. The latest entrant is a textile magnate from Madurai in Tamil Nadu and a commercial pilot licence holder. M. Thiagarajan, who has a passion for flying, has floated Paramount Airways with corporate headquarters in Coimbatore. Mr. Thiagarajan explains that before taking the decision to enter the industry, thorough homework was done on the failure rates of earlier players.

And the list of players seems to be growing with fancy names — Spice Jet, Indigo and Magic. "For the frequent travellers, the current boom in civil aviation is a good scenario, but those making initial public offers (IPO) to raise capital have to watch the airlines whose expansion plans are facing turbulence because of non-availability of flying crew," D. Sudhakara Reddy, Founder President of the Air Passengers' Association of India, says.

Will the mega dreams of the new entrants come true what with the abysmal airport infrastructure? Only time can provide the answer.

T. S. Shankar

in Chennai

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