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Even as big brother Air India is looking for a buyer to turn around its fortunes, regional arm Alliance Air is taking help from Greek mythology. Well, almost.
The airline, with a mandate to connect tier-II and tier-III cities, has come up with a new logo – the Greek mythological creature, the Centaur. Incidentally Centaur was earlier the logo of the Air India Group.
The tails of Alliance Air aircraft are being painted with the new logo. While three of its 11 aircraft already sport the Centaur logo, the part-horse, part-man will also appear on the new planes that will arrive from Toulouse, the headquarters of manufacturer Airbus.
“Branding should signify the reason for our operations. What better logo than a Centaur which was the legacy of the Tatas? We are not printing JRD Tata’s photo on the aircraft but we want to put his ideals on the aircraft,” says CS Subbiah, Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Air. Air India, which was founded by Tata in 1932, sported the Centaur logo till 2007.
He adds that Centaur signifies precision and speed which is what the airline needs -- speed for regional connectivity and to be in a position to go to places where people want to go.
The airline is looking at cashing in on the government’s new UDAN scheme. The airline recently inaugurated its maiden flight under the scheme, to Shimla from Delhi, and plans to add more destinations, including Pathankot, Ludhiana and Bikaner, which are off the aviation map.
The airline’s management is also hoping that the new logo will help change the general impression that flyers have about Alliance---- of it being associated with delays, cancellations and not being a reliable way to fly.
Says Subbiah, “We feel there should be a total change in the presentation of Alliance Air not only in the Indian market but later also in the global market to show that this is an airline which will stand for on-time performance, an airline which meets the need of the customer.”
Incidentally this is one more attempt by Alliance Air to reinvent itself. Alliance which owes its origins to Vayudoot. the state-owned regional airline which linked the interiors of India in the 1980s but was shut down in 1997.
This time the airline is looking at bigger things as its expansion plans are not just limited to flights within the country. Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India told BusinessLine that Alliance will also look at launching flights, including to Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Male.
Alliance has already applied to the authorities for permission to start international operations and is working on plans to expand its fleet to 20 aircraft, the minimum required to fly overseas. Alliance Air’s fleet at the moment largely consists of turbo-propelled ATR aircraft. Alliance Air will scale up to 20 aircraft by the end of the year or latest by the first quarter of 2018. Of course, how much the logo will help the airline in achieving what it is setting out to achieve is another question for another day.
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