The Hindu Business Line : A-I sets 1-year deadline to `rediscover brand'

AIR India has set itself a target of one year to refurbish its brand. The one-year deadline will also be used to change Air-India's work culture, the Air-India Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V. Thulasidas, said here on Saturday.

"By re-branding Air-India, I did not mean changing of colour or logo. The attempt will be to rediscover the brand, its soul, and what it means to our customer. All this is part of the national carrier's ongoing effort to undergo change in size, quality and image," he said.

Starting now, through the next one year, Air-India would assess what it had missed out on till now. If changes were required, they would certainly be made. Though the changes would be gradual, they would have to manifest themselves by the time new aircraft reached the Air-India stable in a year's time, Mr Thulasidas said, while delivering the keynote address at the 101st birth anniversary celebrations of J.R.D. Tata.

This period would also see Air-India go in for change management, where changes would be sought to reach the specific objective of getting the airlines achieve excellence. No attempt should be spared in allowing Air-India to change in such a manner that it got close to what J.R.D. Tata once visualised the airlines to be, he said.

"We need to address our customer needs. We need to manage costs. While we may not have any control over rising fuel costs, there are other areas where we do. Lowering costs will have to be our new mantra," he said.

Referring to the new aircraft acquisition that the Public Investment Board cleared on Thursday, he said the purchase of 68 aircraft was indeed a massive order, both in size and scope. This was the single largest approval this fiscal and constituted one-third of the total investments of Rs 1,00,000 crore that were approved in the first six months of the current financial year.

The Air-India plan to purchase 68 long-range aircraft from Boeing Co includes 50 aircraft for the national carrier and 18 aircraft for Air-India Express. It has been reported that the 50 aircraft will cost around $6.9 billion while the 18 will cost $1.2 billion.

This fleet expansion is expected to allow Air-India to compete on an even keel with others, given the increasing frequency of international travel by Indians. It is no longer enough to say that Air-India traditionally flies only London and New York and hence network expansion is necessary, according to Mr Thulasidas. Thus, Air-India had little option but to begin flights to the West Coast in the US - Los Angeles; later this month, Air-India Express would begin a Sharjah flight, he said. However, the changes that one would witness at Air-India over the next one year would manifest more as an evolution and not lead to any revolution, he said.

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