The airline quickly positioned itself as a no-frills carrier with the aim of connecting Indian metros and non-metros, and the airline’s founder, Captain GR Gopinath, announced that Air Deccan was “the Udupi of the airline business” - Udupi restaurants being low-cost options in many Indian cities.
Deccan’s target audience was passengers who typically travelled first-class on long distance trains, either because of the economy it afforded, or because of lack of air connections.
Along with low fares, to ensure efficiencies, Deccan introduced e-ticketing, outsourcing of airport staff and limited menus on flight. Initiatives like tickets for just one rupee cemented Deccan’s proposition and the brand began eating into the share of full-service domestic airlines. However, the low-fare strategy was severely impacting the airline’s profitability.
In June 2007, Kingfisher Airlines - owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries - acquired a 26 per cent stake in Air Deccan, making it a majority stake-holder. Deccan’s image was overhauled and the old logo - palms joined together in the traditional Indian namaste greeting - has given way to the trademark Kingfisher logo, a kingfisher.
Kingfisher is also putting in trained Deccan staff, meals on flights and a cancellation policy, which didn’t exist earlier. The shift, clearly, is towards improving the financials and offering better service to the same set of passengers Deccan was flying earlier.
Gopinath says the revamped look came after customer surveys indicated that while Deccan offered immense value, the service perception was lagging. “We are confident that the new Deccan will bridge this divide and meet our passengers’ expectations by providing increasing value at every touchpoint. As Deccan, we will straddle and balance value-based service with affordable and competitive fares,” he says.
Nabankur Gupta, founder, Nobby Brand Architects
The entire integration of Deccan undertaken by Kingfisher is putting the cart before the horse. Change of colours doesn’t make a brand. It’s the experience which creates the perception about the brand.
Kingfisher Airlines, right from the onset, has set a high benchmark in terms of service. Expectations were high of Kingfisher, and it has been able to meet that. Air Deccan was known for its low fares, but the service was average. The integration began with change of logo and colours, with heavy above-the-line advertising; however, the service levels still haven’t changed. If Kingfisher is unable to raise the service standards of Deccan, it will end up cannibalising the value of the Kingfisher brand.
The diagnosis for Deccan is to work on improving the service levels. Kingfisher has already initiated some measures like deploying employees instead of outsourced staff, and serving meals on flights, which will enable Kingfisher to maintain control over standards. Fortunately for Kingfisher, the industry has limited number of seats, so aircraft occupancy for Deccan is not an issue for now. But going ahead, it will have to under-promise and over-deliver to get customers to accept that Deccan is part of Kingfisher’s offering.
Anand Halve, co-founder, Chlorophyll Brand & Communications
The position and values are different between the two airlines. At the time of acquisition, Kingfisher indicated that the era of deeply discounted airfare is over - which is correct, given that Air Deccan was gaining market share by bleeding with its low-cost strategy. Given the recent revamp, it seems that clothing from Kingfisher has been borrowed and put on Deccan.
The new-look ‘Simplifly Deccan’ offering has to maintain the difference in pricing and service. If one is not able to create the differentiation, one might just kill the brand as it doesn’t offer any value. If it was a full service carrier, it is not a problem, as it involves putting the airline in line with the Kingfisher brand thought. The challenge here is that they are trying to ‘Kingfisherise’ a brand which is not Kingfisher, but comes with a totally different set of values.
Jet Airways, after acquiring Air Sahara, rechristened it as Jet Lite, a low-cost carrier. A similar difference is needed between Kingfisher and Deccan. Given that the blitzkrieg of advertising has already announced that the old brand is dead, the only way to offer value is to improve the service on-board and outside, while riding on the affordability plank.
