Analysis Of The Air India Airline Tourism Essay

It was founded by J. R. D. Tata in July 1932 as Tata Airlines, a division of Tata Sons Ltd. On 15 October 1932, J. R. D. Tata flew a single-engine De Havilland Puss Moth carrying air mail (postal mail of Imperial Airways) from Karachi’s Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay’s Juhu Airstrip via Ahmedabad.

Air India serves 11 domestic destinations and 18 international destinations in 11 countries across Asia, Europe and North America. Air India has two subsidiaries and two affiliated carries. Together Air India, Air India Cargo, Air India Express, Indian and Air India Regional form the National Aviation Company of India Limited.

Air India Cargo

It was started in 1954. The airline operates cargo flights to many destinations. The airline also has on ground truck-transportation arrangements on select destinations. As a part of the IATA carriers Air India carries all types of cargo including dangerous goods and live animals.

Air India Express

Air India Express is the low-cost subsidiary of the airline which was established in 2005 during the aviation boom in India. It operates primarily to the Persian Gulf and South East Asia through scheduled passenger services 

Indian

Indian which is based in Delhi focuses primarily on domestic routes, along with several international services to neighbouring countries in Asia.

Air India Regional

Air India Regional or better known as Alliance Air serves mainly on Regional routes. Its main hub is Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Tangible Assets

Fleet and Material Resources

Air India is gradually expanding its fleet. In the recent times seventeen new aircraft – eight B777-200LRs and nine B777-300ERs have so far joined the fleet and apart from this 15 Airbus A-321s and 16 A-319s have also joined for Indian operations. Air India now operates 28 weekly services on the international network to three destinations in the  USA – New York, Newark and Chicago including a daily NonStop flight between Mumbai-New York and Delhi-New York following the induction of brand new Boeing 777-200LR in its fleet. With a fleet of 136 aircraft, Air India has been gradually expanding its network to cover new destinations in India and abroad. Given below are the details of the Air India Fleet:

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Network

Air India currently operates international flights from Mumbai and 16 other Indian cities, viz. Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Jaipur, Varanasi, Tiruchirapalli, Gaya and Thiruvananthapuram. Commencement of international operations from these cities has obviated the need for passengers from these regions to necessarily travel to Mumbai and Delhi, the traditional gateways, for taking international flights. Passengers boarding or deplaning in these cities can now complete their immigration and custom formalities at their city airport, both at the time of departure and arrival. 

Additionally, Air India has code-sharing arrangements with other international carriers.

International Hub: After taking the path of consolidation during the past one year, the airline has taken a major initiative towards strengthening its global network and has restructured its operations to Europe and USA by making Frankfurt its operational hub for West-bound flights. 

Indian Hub: The Indian Hub resides at Delhi & Mumbai Airports which houses facilities for connections to all major Indian cities. On the domestic front AI operates to 64 stations out of which 17 are connected to our international destinations. The 172-seater Airbus A321 aircraft connects all major metros, including all flights on the Delhi-Mumbai sector. Spacious cabin, comfortable seats and the luxury of in-flight entertainment make this a superior product that travellers look forward to.

Star Alliance

There has been a quantum jump in product profile resulting from induction of new aircraft and consequent expansion of network, Air India will be all set to join the Star Alliance by March, 2011. Once Air India becomes a member, passengers will enjoy enormous benefits, including seamless transfers while travelling across the world, more frequent flyer mileage points, code-sharing leading to a wider choice of flights and access to lounge facilities worldwide. Star Alliance, is a leading global airline alliance of 21 top international carriers. The Star Alliance network offers more than 17,000 daily flights to 916 destinations.

Human Resources

Air India has more Human Resources than it needs which is evident in the numbers employed. In 2009, 17% of the airline’s expenditure went towards salaries which is enormous comparing it with private carriers for whom it was 9.5%. The merger didn’t involve any retrenchment. Nor do any of the current recovery measures being discussed hold any ideas of reducing employee strength by huge numbers.

Air India has 31,000 employees and 14 recognized worker unions apart from which there are several unrecognized ones. While the unions say they are open to being supportive for the development of a better future for the airline, they do not support privatization of the airline or retrenchment

Apart from retrenchment, employees are also worried about the new structure adopted by the airline which they believe will work against their interests. This structure is the so-called SBU structure, one where a large organization is broken up into smaller units, each of which is run like an independent company in principle.

In Air India’s case, the problem as discussed by some senior editors & officials is that the strategic business unit structure isn’t perfect. Under this structure, a Delhi airport manager reports to his strategic business unit head, while his performance will actually be reviewed by the executive director of the northern region. Adding to this the decision on rewarding this airport manager with a foreign posting is in the hands of the commercial director, who is based in Mumbai. The officials recommend is that this entire structure be done away with and a more equitable and just system is brought into place which assures long term sustainability of the organization.

IT & Technology Resources

The IT integration between the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines is complete and new technology processes are put in place which are to assure high quality services to the customers. NACIL, the holding company of Air India, has entrusted SITA (Society International Telecommunications Aeronautics) with the task to implement an efficient online booking engine, departure control system, check-in and automated boarding control, baggage reconciliation system (BRS) and a frequent flyer programme. The deal which is a contract worth $190 million (Rs 845 crore) for a period of 10 years will also enable Air India to use SITA’s Horizon Passenger Services System. According to SITA, the systems implemented will make Air India step into the league of unmatched technological supremacy on the technological front primarily this includes an integrated IT platform will enable Air India to streamline its ticket distribution system and save on high distribution cost.

SITA’s Horizon platform provides hosted PSS services to 140 airlines boarding 120 million passengers and will be used to deliver a single airline code which is extremely critcial in order to allow the seamless integration of the former domestic carrier Indian Airlines with Air India for the first time since they merged in August 2007. Another early deliverable will be enabling Air India to meet the requirements for joining the Star Alliance.

SITA association with Air India with mission-critical services has been for more than 50 years, including network connectivity at all their domestic and international stations, check-in, air-to-ground communications, fares management and baggage tracing. Air India is now invited to join SITA’s Horizon Advisory Board which sets the strategic direction for SITA as it engages with Oracle and other partners to deliver a next generation Passenger Services System which will greatly benefit Air India as it exploits new technology and open systems architecture. SITA’s workforce in India along with its local partners – NIIT and Mindtree – now stands at almost 1,000 highly skilled personnel.

Low Cost Resources:

Livery

Air India and Indian unveiled their new livery in May 2007. The logo of the new entity is a Flying Swan with the Konark Chakra placed inside it. The Flying Swan has been morphed from Air India’s old characteristic logo, ‘The Centaur’ whereas the new ‘Konark Chakra’ is reminiscent of Indian’s logo.

While the aircraft is a new ivory in colour, the base retains the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other is the characteristically evident Orange and Red speed lines from front door to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one. The brand name ‘Air India’ runs across the tail of the aircraft in hindi signifying the importance of the National language.

The Maharaja

This Maharja which is now familiar figure first made his appearance in Air India way back in 1946. Bobby Kooka as Air India’s Commercial Director and Umesh Rao, an artist with J.Walter Thompson Ltd., Mumbai, together created the Maharajah. It began as an attempt as a design for an inflight memo pad grew to take Air India’s sales and promotional messages to millions of travellers across the world. Today, this iconic Maharajah of Air India has become a world figure.

The logo has completed 56 years and become the most recognizable mascot the world over. The various ads depicting his antics, expressions, puns have allowed Air India to promote its services with a unique panache and an unmatched sense of subtle humour. In fact the Maharaja has won numerous national and international awards for Air India for humour, sense and originality in publicity.

Dining

Air India is constantly trying to create a gourmet experience in its dining. The airline offers a choice of menus to interest all types of tastes – Indian and Continental. Apart from these, there is western cuisine, a choice of Asian specialities, and even Japanese meals on the India-Japan route. If any passenger has a special food requirement, there is a choice to choose from any of the twenty three special meals. The menus are constantly revamped and the wines carried on board live up to the food they complement. Meals are served in First Class seating to passengers in bone china crockery. Alcoholic beverages are served complimentary. 

In-flight Entertainment

Air India aircraft are the envy of any radio station with a rich collection of music on board in different genres. Passengers can choose from Indian popular music, Indian Classical, beautiful Ghazals, Bollywood hits and English songs from Western Classical, Pop, Jazz, Country and Nostalgia. A special channel for Regional songs with different routes and demographics has been compiled to suit all passengers coming from different regions.

Air India’s video programmes include a choice of the most recent English and Hindi feature films. The finest in comedy, nature & wildlife, adventure, action and life style are wrapped in a One-hour video magazine. There are special movies in Tamil, Malayalam, etc selected for passengers travelling from Kochi, Kozhikode and Chennai to the Gulf and Singapore.  

On Ground Facilities: Lounges, etc

 Air India has its own exclusive lounges at Delhi, London, Hong Kong and New York in addition to the one in Mumbai. At other international airports, Air India has tie-ups with other international airlines or local Airports Authorities for lounge facility.   There is a lounge for unaccompanied minors as well. 

Online Booking, Web Check-in, etc

The quick, easy and convenient way to book AI tickets online through the Air India website. An e ticket will be generated and the details with the e ticket link will be emailed to the passenger.    Air India has extensive facilities for Web check in and Tele check in for its passengers to provide ease of facilities.