But a year later, at the age of 52, Gopinath began service in south India with a leased 48-seater, $10 million in investment and a conviction that India's burgeoning middle class, which was already buying color TVs and cell phones, would buy air tickets.
Barely two years into its operation the no-frills airline, Air Deccan, has grown from one aircraft to 19 and from one daily flight to 123. It has placed a $1.1 billion order with Airbus and will get an aircraft a month for the next 64 months. In its first full year of operation, ending in March, the company flew 1 million passengers and had revenues of $75 million. Projected revenue for this year: $250 million.
Also, in 2004 the company raised $40 million in private equity from ICICI Venture Funds Management, India's largest private- equity player, and Capital International, an arm of the huge Los Angeles money manager Capital Group. Air Deccan is looking to go public over the next few months. "This is not the story of Air Deccan's growth--it's the story of the growth of India," says Gopinath.
His success in the fast-growing aviation industry has set off a gold rush. Two new airlines--Delhi-based SpiceJet Limited and beer baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines--started flying in recent months. Several new players are waiting in the wings--including Indigo, backed by U.S. Airways' former chief Rakesh Gangwal, and GoAir, which is backed by Jeh Wadia from the controlling family of the giant Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing.
"Everybody knew that India was a big market--but Gopinath went out and actually proved it," says Kapil Kaul of the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a consultancy. "He led the way--and led it successfully."
The man behind the upstart airline traces his roots to a village in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, where his father was a schoolteacher. His own education veered into nearly eight years in the Indian army. Tired of regimentation, he veered again, into silk farming on a family plot.
The transition from the cocoon to the cockpit came in 1995 when he teamed up with a friend from his army days, Captain K.J. Samuel. The two of them decided over a game of squash that India needed a heli-charter company. So Gopinath and Samuel started one, with the Deccan name (drawn from the plateau upon which Bangalore sits, the company's headquarters then and now).
Since the internet the power of the buyer has increase. Consumers can now go online and compare the prices of flights to finds the cheapest one.
On the surface, the players in the U.S. Airline Industry appear to be in an enviable industry filled with glamorous perks and a solid business model. However, analysis paints a different story. Digging deeper reveals significant issues with little possibility for industry wide solutions, therefore making the industry unattractive.
David Neeleman, CEO and director began JetBlue in 1999 and flying since 2000 after his previous airline company-Morris Air was brought by Herb Kelleher, the Southwest Airline founder. He signed a 5-year non-compete agreement not to launch another airline. Kelleher hired Neeleman at Southwest but was not happy with the structured environment he did not control and was fired (Essentials of Entrepreneurship p78).
By the early 1980s, Virgin Records was one of the top six record companies in the world. Then, in 1984, Richard got a phone call out of the blue suggesting a jumbo jet passenger service between London and New York. Branson like the idea, much to the horror of his fellow directors who thought him crazy. Undeterred, Richard announced to the world that Virgin Atlantic Airways would begin operating……within three months! An aircraft was found, staff were hired, licences granted and, thanks in no small part to Richard's infectious enthusiasm, on 22 June 1984 an aircraft packed with friends and the media set off for Newark, New York - and a phenomenon was born!
The new entry is likely from rich Gulf nations, China, and India of low budget planes around the globe. The airlines from the Gulf nations have placed orders with Airbus and Boeing that are valued in the billions. The deliveries are expected in the next decade. The demand will grow in the production of advanced narrow-body airplanes, such as Airbus, A321 and Boeing, B737 Max. The growth that is expected in the next decade, more consumers will be flying to their destinations. The airlines in the United States are expected to have a profit margin over the next decade. Resulting, from economic growth, and the demand for aircraft service. Buyers are expected to have a lot of power in the next decade, resulting in bargain prices for buyers. The competition will increase with intense rivalry in the aviation industry. The contracts for the aircrafts are totally from airplane
In 1978, deregulation removed government control over fares and domestic routes. A slew of new entrants entered the market, but within 10 years, all but one airline (America West), had failed and ceased to exist. With long-term growth estimates of 4 percent for air travel, it's attractive for new firms to service the demand. It was as simple as having enough capital to lease a plane and passengers willing to pay for a seat on the plane. In recent news, the story about an 18-yr British...
Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) was founded by Vijay Malaya and he is the chairman of United Breweries group (UB group) in the year 2003. Its first airplane was launched from Mumbai to Delhi in 9th may 2005. It started as a premium business class airline company. The airlines have a tag line “Fly the good times”. At the launch of airline, Vijay Malaya said “we are committed to achieving our ambition of making Kingfisher Airlines, India’s largest private airline both in capacity and market share. The airline ushered in a new era of luxury in India’s domestic aviation sector and its brand new aircraft with stylish red interiors, and smartly dressed crew and ground staff. Kingfisher was the first Indian airline to have in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems”. (Malaya, 2005). Kingfisher airlines are one of the seven airlines which were awarded the rating of five stars by skytrax. It operates 400 flights daily including the regional and international services. In 2009 it gave the highest market share in Indian airlines industries, carrying more than 1 million passengers. The main mistake was lack of understanding of customer requirements and luxurious facilities in airlines. Organizations focus on reducing costs and usually just CEO’S and top level managers prefer business class travel. Rest of the staff mostly travels by economy class. Moreover, buying most expensive business class tickets doesn’t go down well, when seniors aim to project the image of walking the talk. Secondly, the company is facing financial crisis since Mid-2008. After merging with Air Deccan in 2007, it is a low-cost airlines, provides minimum frills to customers at reasonable rates. Th...
Sri Lankan Airline launched in 1979 as the flagship carrier of Sri Lanka and today it is an award winning international carrier in air passenger transport in aviation industry. Airline is a Limited Liability Company Incorporated and domiciled in Sri Lanka, where Government of Sri Lanka holds 51.06%, Bank of Ceylon 23.54%,People’s Bank 8.23%,National Savings Bank 8.23%,Employees Provident Fund 3.62% and Others 5.32%. The primary activities of the airline is to provide international scheduled operations, non-Schedule air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail from its base airport Bandaranayake International Airport, Katunayake, Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan airlines secondary activities consist of providing air passenger terminal services, sale of duty free goods on board, holiday package of inbound and outbound in its hub airport Bandaranayake International Airport. National carrier of Sri Lanka, third partly engaged in aircraft maintenance, flight operation services and providing aviation related education prog...
By 1996, 60 international airlines were flying into Dubai. This was also the year that emirates received an order of a billion dollars worth of ...
Air travel has grown in the past decade. Travel grew strongly for both leisure and business purposes. India will have nearly 800 to 1000 airplanes by 2023, it was estimated by Airbus. In spite of growth between 30 to 50 per cent in Indian aviation industry, losses of approximately 2200 crore is estimated for the current year.
Air India airline is one of the biggest airline in the India. It was established by the famous company TATA and since its incorporation. It has grown very well and has spread all over the world in the different destinations. It has become the reputable brand in the airline industry with having the operations over 152 destinations. It has link up connection in the 35 countries and it has currently having 137 fleets. This company becomes the public limited company in the 1946. The company has international and the local route and its performance is increasing day by day with the pace of the good growth as compare to the other airlines in the industries in the area and the channels in which this airline is working.
Jet Airways was found in 1st April 1992 by Mr. Naresh Goyal and they started their operation after one year may 5th 1993, Jet began international operations from Chennai to Colombo in March 2004. The company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange
Wharton Unicersity of Pennsylvania. (2007, December 12). Maurice Flanagan’s Emirates Airline: Flying High and Treating Customers like Sheikhs. Retrieved from Wharton Unicersity of Pennsylvania: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/maurice-flanagans-emirates-airline-flying-high-and-treating-customers-like-sheikhs/
David Neelman realized his vision of creating an airlines company that is focused on customer service by starting JetBlue. During the startup phase or entrepreneurial stage, typically most of the companies go through the activities of marketing the service and /or product. But Neelman, perceptive of the industry needs, went about raising enough capital before starting JetBlue, as airlines industry is a capital intensive industry. His entrepreneurial style and previous experience enabled him to identify the core value of the service “To improve the passenger experience at a low cost” that he wanted JetBlue to provide. Neelman wanted to utilize technology to bring better customer experience at a low cost. Some of the technological activities that JetBlue planned include state-of-the-art revenue management system, paperless tickets etc. His in-depth experience enabled him to identify the external factors that would affect the business such as simple check-in and boarding process, hassle free ticketing procedures etc. This emphasized his knowledge of adapting to the ever changing customer needs. Neelman instilled the culture of...
AirAsia Berhad is a Malaysian low-cost airline based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It has been named as the world's best low-cost airline, and a pioneer of low-cost travel in Asia. AirAsia group operates scheduled domestic and international flights to 100 destinations across 22 countries. AirAsia has risen exponentially since its purchase in 2001, as a result of its confluence of opportunity and its application of the Low-Cost Carrier business model (Poon & Waring, 2010).