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Saviour to the sector and service to his guests – that’s Kingfisher for you, says 4Ps B&M’s Steven Philip Warner
Chairman@flykingfisher.com – and that’s not a dummy address (you can try it!). And how many times have you heard of dissatisfied customers sending an e-mail directly to the chairman? That for you is the level of service commitment guaranteed by Kingfisher Airlines… To be more direct, Vijay Mallya, Chairman, Kingfisher Airlines, has taken things ‘personally’ to ensure that his customers get the best of crew-service and is further stressing on increased innovative offerings in the future, as he tells 4Ps B&M, “Kingfisher Airlines has always been at the forefront by constantly innovating. The innovations span three broad areas – product and service offering, marketing-related innovations and finally innovations in terms of delivery and distribution. Even in the future, the focus will be on raising service standards even further!” For him, sky indeed ‘is’ the limit!
“Great food, vibrant ambience, in-flight entertainment (IFE) system with about 31 live, video and radio channels, on-time service with the best record of being on-time, minimum cancellations and yes of course, charming hostesses (its USP), making the ride worth remembering for passengers aboard every Kingfisher flight,” quotes an amiable Supreet Kaur, a flight-attendant who worked at Kingfisher Airlines. She further adds, “It’s a great place to work with and such a healthy atmosphere. Yes, sometimes it gets rough ensuring that the passengers get the best of what we call a world-class service, but that’s almost everywhere… And yes, at Kingfisher they’re guests!”
“Superb!” you might remark; but there are also other reasons why Kingfisher Airlines is regarded as a major force of India Inc., especially during the year gone by. So what is the key strategic reason for it breaking into the most admired listing? Well, on one hand when the entire industry bled a most heartrending $500 million in losses during the previous year – all thanks to the unintelligent price cuts, led by the domestic low-lost carriers (LCCs), Kingfisher is not only taking steps to ensure that Indians don’t undergo a nightmare flight, it has even endeavoured to save the entire sector from the fangs of the ‘loss-trap’ monster. And the corroboration of the same can be found in the fact that after Kingfisher acquired a $137 million worth 26% stake in the low-cost king, Air Deccan, (an airline which previously led the price cut policies from the front), it has raised fares substantially, with other LCCs too following suit. And for all those who thought that Mallya was only a strategic investor, he is much more than that; now a literal general at Air Deccan! If this gets a little hard to imagine, did you miss the historic moment when Air Deccan announced a shed-off of its blue & yellow colours and a shift to the time-honoured ‘red’ hue of Kingfisher Airlines; its punch line too changing to ‘Fly’ Deccan (identical to ‘Fly’ Kingfisher!)?
And what about punctuality? Well, “Mallya receives a message on his cell-phone for every Kingfisher flight that leaves the runway across India. He has his eyes glued to his cell phone; perhaps 24 x 7! If there’s even a slight error on the part of the airline officials which causes delays, they’ve had it!” quotes an insider. “You have to be on your toes all the time. The passenger is always right, and that’s a code Kingfisher attendants have got to live by,” adds Supreet, which pretty much explains why Kingfisher is setting some high standards in the Indian domestic aviation scenario. Today, having chosen a new brand ambassador (call her Deepika Padukone), Kingfisher is doing all it takes to make its flight remembered by its passengers as Binit Somaia, Regional Director, CAPA, asserts, “Kingfisher has adopted an effective branding strategy. Hence within a short time-period, Kingfisher has achieved a very positive reputation.”
However, there are still issues that Kingfisher faces at the moment. The chief being, lack of infrastructure, which hopefully will get sorted out before Kingfisher receives 10 new Airbus aircrafts in 2008. Next is the shortage of trained pilots. But here, Kingfisher appears to be ahead of the pack. As per an insider, “Officials at Kingfisher are lobbying to raise the duration that pilots from overseas can stay in India to upto six years and to reduce the time it takes for an Indian national to convert a foreign license to an Indian one which today takes between a half to upto a full year.” As of today, many Indian airlines are even sending across incumbents to training courses in the US. “Kingfisher has tied-up with flight institutes in Arizona and California which offer a nine-month pilot training course for about $45,000 and the first batch is expected to get ready in February 2008. Those who qualify the medical and written rounds will be hired back by Kingfisher.”
Sure enough, when many criticised Mallya’s taste for fashion, even his competitors are talking about his strategic shrewdness. After all, getting everything right – from the seats, inner-flight designing to the cutlery painted ‘red’, seems to be paying-off. And for those not convinced with Kingfisher being ahead of the pack like Praveen Vetrivel, Aviation Analyst, IBA Group, London, who divulges, “Kingfisher claims that they have the best overall product in the Indian airline industry. But having travelled Kingfisher and other domestic airlines in India, I am not entirely convinced that this is the case.” It’s time to send an e-mail.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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