10. February 2007


Date: 10. Feb. 2007
Every monsoon, Delhi-based low cost carrier SpiceJet leases out two of its planes to Dutch charter operator Transavia. The aircraft return to India when the lean season is over and are reinducted into its fleet. So every six months, the aircraft livery swings from the bright red and white colours that SpiceJet sports to Transavia’s more sober white, green and blue.
Now painting aircraft is typically a detailed process with huge downtimes for the aircraft that a low cost carrier can never afford twice a year. Yet an airline’s livery is an important part of its identity and SpiceJet would never fly planes in Transavia colours, or vice-versa.
The answer comes in the form of decals — which are plastic adhesives that are stuck on to the aircraft fuselage masking SpiceJet's livery when the aircraft are sent out. The sturdy mask is washed off when the aircraft comes back for its India stint. The process takes just about four hours and costs $50,000 for a Boeing 737. Decals are being used by airlines around the world for graphic tail art and design on the fuselage.
The Wadia group-promoted GoAir too goes through a similar exercise. The airline has been leasing two A320s into its fleet for the high season, from November to May. The aircraft go back to the owner, the Spanish charter operator Iberworld, when it is lean season in India. The aircraft livery is changed to GoAir's tangy colours from Iberworld's plain white, when it is flying in India.
Swing leasing of capacity is now becoming a regular practice for Indian carriers, where the business cycle fortunately complements that in Europe. Lean season in India (from April to October) roughly coincides with the busy summer for European carriers.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com


Date: 10. Feb. 2007
As part of a rejuvenation strategy, AI has got a new livery for the new aircraft it’s due to take delivery of from April.
“People don’t read the names of airlines, but identify them by their tails,” says S Venkat, executive director (finance) and spokesman for the airline. “This is why we have decided to place the Centaur, the symbol we have always been identified with, right on the tails of our new planes.”
Presumably to make the image seem more modern, it has been trendily cropped, so the Centaur lacks feet or a point to its arrow. But it comes in full on the engines, which have been painted a dramatic red. The most distinctive part of the old livery, the elegant jharokas or Mughal arches framing each window, are still there, but greatly reduced in size. Inside the plane there are more changes.
AI’s distinctive wallpaper, with Mughal miniature motifs is out, replaced by a neutral look that apparently better suits the computer-controlled lighting changes that are supposed to help passengers on super long haul flights deal with the passage of time. There will also be changes of uniform, upholstery and every other aspect of the customer’s experience on the flight. “The livery has been just 2-3% of the total change,” says Sanjeev Malhotra, director of Aliagroup.
Mr Malhotra says understanding the need for such a total and integrated change was what helped his eight-year-old company clinch the deal. AI’s call for a new look was answered by a wide range of ad agencies and design companies. “Many of them came with very striking design concepts, but we got it because we said it would have to go beyond just the design, and into every aspect of the Air India experience,” says Mr Malhotra. Since then they’ve been working with the company, across departments and involving employees to get to the point where they are ready to go public.
Mr Malhotra explains that they started by doing dipstick research on the airline’s image. They found that despite all the negatives associated with AI, the carrier still retained an image of warm service. “Air India carries the maximum number of unaccompanied infants, and elders,” says Mr Malhotra.
“People trust Air India to carry those nearest and dearest to them, even when they themselves might fly on another airline!” Recognising from carriers like Singapore Airlines how valuable a differentiator service could be, the carrier will now focus on it. From its grandiloquent old proposition of ‘Your Palace in the Sky’ it is now moving towards ‘The Tradition of Warmth.’ “That’s why we reduced the emphasis on the jharokas, although they were beautiful,” says Mr Malhotra. “They really belong to the Palace tradition rather the new one.”
But what will stand out, especially on the tarmac, is the Centaur. It’s a curious apotheosis for a symbol that AI has been ambivalent about in the past. It goes back a long way, and just like the new livery, was originally linked to a new aircraft delivery. These were of the Lockheed L-749 Constellations in 1948, the first long-haul planes that would allow the airline to be truly global, and to mark that, JRD Tata, founder and chairman of AI, personally chose the Centaur as the one zodiac constellation that most symbolised dynamism and speed. (An intriguing rumour suggests he may have been influenced by its vague resemblance to a farohar, the Zoroastrian winged man symbol that represents a guardian spirit).
Since 1948 also marked the change from Tata Airlines to Air-India, with the airline getting the status of India’s national carrier, the Centaur automatically became identified with the new corporation. It was under the Centaur, and the airline’s Maharajah mascot, that AI flew its glory days in the 1950s and ‘60s.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com


Date: 10. Feb. 2007
Kingfisher Airlines, one of India's fastest-growing airlines, has engaged Sabre Airline Solutions, a global leader of software and services for the airline industry, to provide a full suite of more than 20 enterprise applications to enhance its guest processing functions, as the airline continues its rapid expansion of its operations.
With the implementation of Sabre Airline Solutions' passenger reservations and departure control systems, the SabreSonic Passenger Solutions, Kingfisher Airlines will be able to manage its reservations, pricing, ticketing and reporting more efficiently.
Kingfisher Airlines is also among the first in India to offer the latest range of check-in options for its guests, including "Web check-in" facilities and "Roving agents" that use mobile devices to check in guests to help alleviate check-in queues at airports. The airline is also looking at operating to Colombo.
Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/02/10/fin03.asp