RAI BUSINESS SCHOOL

PROJECT ON

Marketing strategy of Air India To manage its funds

In partial fulfillment of

POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PLANNING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

SUBMITTED To SUBMITTED BY

Mrs.R.Hemalatha SANJEET KUMAR SINGH

SR. LECTURER 22/PGPPE/08E/168

RBS, Delhi Sem- IV, RBS, New Delhi

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am grateful to those who have helped me in compiling the
matter for this project. While I take this opportunity to thank all
of them-they are too numerous to be mentioned in this brief
preface.
I would like to acknowledge my deep sense of gratitude to
Mrs. R.Hemalatha (Faculty , RBS Delhi) for her valuable help
at all stage.
Lastly no words can adequately express my dept e.g. gratitude to
my all faculty members of RBS DELHI and I also thanks my
friends for their support.

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TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that Sanjeet Kumar Singh as a student of Rai Business

School, Delhi, Batch (2008-2010) PTU University Enrollment number
22/PGPPE/08E/168 has completed Project on Marketing strategy of Air
India To manage its funds

completed under my Guidance.

I wish him all the very best in all his future endeavors.

Mrs.R.Hemalatha.

FACULTY GUIDE

INDEX

1. HISTROY OF AIR INDIA

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 2. SWOT ANALYSIS OF AIR INDIA

3. FINANCIAL PROBLEMS FACED BY AIR INDIA

4. STEPS TAKEN TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL POSITION

5. MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIR INDIA

6. AMALAGMATION OF AIR INDIA LIMITED AND INDIAN AIRLINED WITH

NACIL
7. FUTURE PROSPETS OF AIR INDIA

8. AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

9. BIBLOGRAPHY

AIR INDIA

History of Air India

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Air India is India’s national Airline. Air India’s history can be traced to October 15,
1932. On this day J.R.D. Tata, the father of Civil Aviation in India and founder of
Air India, took off from Drigh Road Airport, Karachi, in a tiny, light single-engine
de Havilland Puss Moth on his flight to Mumbai via Ahmedabad. Air India was
earlier known as Tata Airlines. At the time of its commencement, Tata Airlines
consisted of one Puss Moth, one Leopard Moth, one palm-thatched shed, one whole
time pilot, one part-time engineer, and two apprentice-mechanics. Tata Airlines
was converted into a Public Company under the name of Air India in August 1946.
On March 8, 1948, Air India International Limited was formed to start Air India’s
international operations. On June 8, 1948, Air India started its international services
with a weekly flight from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva with a
Lockheed Constellation aircraft. In early 1950s due to deteriorating financial
condition of various airlines, the Government decided to nationalize air transport.
On August 1, 1953 two autonomous corporations were created. Indian Airlines was
formed with merger of eight domestic airlines to operate domestic services, while
Air India International was established to operate the overseas services. The word
'International' was dropped in 1962. With effect from March 1, 1994, the airline has
been functioning as Air India Limited. Air India's worldwide network today covers
44 destinations by operating services with its own aircraft and through code-shared
flights. Important destinations covered by Air India are Bangkok, Hong Kong,
Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Dar-es-Salam, Nairobi,
Frankfurt, London, Paris, Birmingham, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Bahrain, Dammam,
Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Muscat, Riyadh, Kuwait, Los Angeles, Chicago, Newark,
New York, and Toronto. Air India’s fleet consists of 38 aircrafts. These include 12
Boeing 747-400, 1 Boeing 747-400 COMBI, 2 Boeing 747-300 COMBI, 19 Airbus
310-300, and 4 Boeing 777-200.

In 1946, at the conclusion of World War II, the airline became a public company
and was renamed Air-India Limited. In just two years, with the government having
a 49 percent share in the company, the airline was flying further outside of India,
with regular flights to Cairo, Geneva, and London. The line's name changed again
to reflect its new scope of operations, becoming Air-India International Limited.

India enjoyed more success in the airline industry than most other developing
countries for a number of reasons. Whereas others had to rely on foreign pilots to
fly their planes, Air-India used mostly native-born pilots. Similarly, skilled Indians
were plentiful enough to maintain India's fleet as well as to train and supervise its
personnel; many other countries had to go outside for this kind of expertise. Air-
India benefited from these advantages along with its sister carriers.
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Air-India first encountered competition for its routes in the early 1950s. Many new
airlines were forming, propelled into business by the availability of inexpensive,
war-surplus DC-3s. No fewer than 21 airlines had been established, with 11 of
them licensed to fly the skies of India. A 1985 article in the Economist cited Tata's
foresight of what this plethora of airlines could lead to: "The scene was well and
truly set for the ultimate debacle."

To prevent that debacle from occurring, the Indian government in 1953 took
control of all of the airlines within its borders. Along with the nationalization the
government created two corporations. Indian Airlines Corporation, which merged
Air-India Limited with six smaller lines, served the country's domestic travel needs.
Air-India International Corporation flew routes overseas. By 1960 the international
airline had routes to Singapore, Sydney, Moscow, and New York. By 1962, when
the name was shortened to Air-India, it had become the world's first all-jet airline.

Beginning in the 1970s, however, Air-India saw difficult times. It suffered a net
loss in three of the years between 1976 and 1985. The downturn in the world
economy had a significant effect on air travel throughout the world, and India was
no exception. In addition, the government kept a number of unprofitable routes
open simply for prestige purposes--a strictly commercial airline may have closed
those routes. Its flights to New York, for example, resulted in losses for a number
of years, even though many of those flights were full. At one point an airline
official estimated that only about ten percent of Air-India's passengers to New York
were business travelers who would buy the more expensive seats. Flights to Canada
were even less profitable, flying at around 55 percent of capacity. Another factor in
the airline's financial problems was that, to compete for American and European
travelers with American and European airlines, Air-India had to discount many of
its fares. In addition, the airline depended heavily on local citizens--"ethnic
traffic"--which generally meant lower fares.

The routes that had proven to be most profitable for Air-India had been those to the
oil-producing nations. Flights to the Persian Gulf accounted for 35 to 40 percent of
Air-India's traffic in the mid-1980s. Working with Gulf Air, Air-India operated 60
flights each week between the Gulf and India. But even these routes saw profits
fall, as revenue in the gulf states declined. Another problem was the shortage of
tourists traveling to India. Communal violence and the assassination of Indian
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 kept tourism down. In addition, to combat
the terrorism that was becoming a major problem at many of the world's airports,
the government imposed heavy restrictions at airports, giving tourists another
reason to stay away.
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The darkest note in Air-India's history was the tragedy that took place in June 1985
when one of its 747s, on a flight from Toronto to Bombay, crashed to the sea with
329 passengers aboard. A Canadian Safety Board Report, addressing an inquiry by
Indian High Court Judge Bhupinder Nath Kirpal, concluded that an explosive
device was the probable cause of the crash. The board reported that an X-ray
machine at Pearson International Airport in Toronto broke down before all the
luggage had been checked. Nonetheless, the effect on the reputation of Air-India
was severe.

Despite these problems, Air-India's productivity was high. By acquiring large-body

airliners, its productivity almost doubled from the year 1974-75 to the year 1983-
84. In terms of rupees, this productivity figure translated to a per-employee
production of Rs 125,000 (US $16,000) in operating revenue in the 1974-75 year
and Rs 439,000 in the 1983-84 year. In 1985 Air-India flew 8.1 billion passenger-
kilometers (number of passengers times distance), a figure that prompted the
International Air Transport Association to rank Air-India 15th out of 136 member
airlines in passenger-kilometers on scheduled services.

Air-India lost $171 million in the three years beginning with 1994-95. The airline
gained a reputation for poor service and poor on-time performance. The company
initiated a generous incentive program to motivate employees, which proved
successful. In addition, a computerized flight system and updated lounges and
cabin interiors were added to update the company's image among customers.
Management cut fares drastically and provided two-for-one discounts.

In the summer of 1997 the carrier negotiated code-sharing deals with Air France
and Singapore Airlines. Streamlining the carrier's route network became an
ongoing process. In fact, Air-India was notorious for constantly adding and
dropping routes. Its network dropped Canada, Australia, and South Africa in an
attempt to cut losses.

Air-India sought to offer its $150 million annual North American income streams
as debt securities, pending the approval of a hesitant Indian government. The
company also planned to raise cash (it already had reserves of more than $110
million) by selling its Hotel Corporation of India subsidiary, worth at least $220
million, as well as some older Boeing 747-200s, valued at $60 million.

Still, the company owed $900 million on new aircraft purchases. In spite of this
impressive sum, Air-India found itself chronically short of medium-sized long haul
aircraft, reported Air Transport World. Most of its planes were too large to be

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profitable on their particular routes, a liability previously covered by an especially
profitable Persian Gulf market.

A recovery seemed to be in place upon the announcement of a quarterly profit of

$10 million in the fall of 1997. More positive results were projected. Operating
revenue was expected to reach Rs 4,189 million in 1997-98.

It was later announced that these results had been overly optimistic; the $10 million
profit was in fact a $10 million loss. Managing Director Michael Mascrenhas
announced the news after taking over from Brijesh Kumar, whose two-year term
had just expired. Mascrenhas colored the news in the best possible light, noting in
Air Transport World that Air-India had lost money only "six times in the last 43
years."

A planned merger between Air-India and Indian Airlines was canceled in spring
1998. Nevertheless, closer ties between the two carriers remained after the aborted
deal. As Air-India cut routes, it maintained code-sharing deals with Air France,
SAS, Singapore Airlines, and Austrian Airlines. Still, market share fell from 35
percent to 20 percent in 1997-98.

Reducing its annual payroll costs of $40 million was a top priority for Air-India,
which had not found sufficient productivity increases to match its generous
incentive programs. Air Transport World reported that Mascrenhas trimmed $23
million in other areas.

In spite of these savings, Mascrenhas predicted Air-India would not pull out of the
red for another two years after projecting a 1997-98 loss of $44 million. To raise
desperately needed cash, the airline offered its hotels and two 747 airliners for sale.
As the carrier planned for its $150 US/Canada security issue, the Indian
government also was considering a rescue plan.

Incorporation

• Established in 1953 under Air Corporations Act

• Became Public Limited Company in 1994
• Registered Office : New Delhi
• Head Office : Mumbai
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• Authorized Capital : Rs 500.00 Crores
• Paid-up Capital : Rs 153.84 Crores

Subsidiary Companies
Air India has the following Subsidiary Companies with an Authorized / Paid-up
Capital (in Rs. Crores) as under Authorised Paid-up.

(a) Hotel Corporation of India 41.00 40.00

(b) Air India Charters Ltd. 30.00 30.00
(c) Air India Air Transport Services Ltd. 100.00 0.05
(d) Air India Engineering Services Ltd. 10.00 0.05

Subsidiary Companies

HCI(Hotel Corporation of India Ltd).

 Centaur Hotels at Juhu, Mumbai Airport and Rajgir Sold.

 Centaur Hotel at Delhi, Chefair-New Delhi and Chefair-Mumbai.

Under Disinvestment

AICL(Air India Charters Ltd)

 New Airline Air India Express set-up under AICL
 All AI Express operations carried out on B-737-800 with a current fleet strength
of 12.
AIATSL (Air India Air Transport Services Ltd)

 Incorporated in June 2003

 Set up to undertake ground handling & other allied activities

 Being operationalized at all domestic airports

AIESL (Air India Engineering Services Ltd)

 Incorporated to undertake engineering and other allied activities

 To be operationalized

AIRCRAFT OF AIR INDIA

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The total aircraft on order are 111 (68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus). Aircraft
on order include eight B777-200LRs, 15 B777-300ERs, 27 B787 Dreamliners, 18
B737-800s, 19 A319s, 20 A321s and four A320s. Of the 111 aircraft ordered, 24
Boeing (five B777-200LRs, five B777-300ERs, 15 B737-800s) and 21 Airbus (12
A321s and nine A319s) have been in the fleet so far.

Aircraft Total
Airbus A 310 8
Airbus A 319 15
Airbus A 320 43
Airbus A 321 12
Airbus A 330 2
Boeing 737-800 22
Boeing 747 6
Boeing 737 5
Boeing 777 14
Airbus A 310 Freighters 4
Boeing 737 Freighters 6
ATR* 7
CRJ 700 3

Total 147

Corporate Vision

Vision
 To be among top five Asian airlines in terms of Yield, Profitability,
Productivity, Size and Quality

Mission
 Focus on customer satisfaction.
 Grow with emphasis on sustained profitability.
 Provide exciting and satisfying work environment to retain and develop
employees committed to Corporate Vision.
 Focus on social responsibility – environment & community.

Objectives
 Achieve unit revenue, unit cost, profitability, productivity and service level
targets, based on benchmarked parameters.

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Swot analysis of Air India.
Strengths of AIR INDIA

Air India has been the largest air carrier in India in terms of traffic volume and
company assets.

• It owns the most updated fleet and competent repairs and maintenance expertise.

• Its information systems are advanced and compatible with its operation and
service.

• It has a good reputation in both international and domestic markets, quality

service and the age-old Goodwill that has still kept it alive in the interests of the
rescue operators.

• Has financial backing of the Government.

Weaknesses of AIR INDIA

Air India is operating across broad international and domestic markets competing
with world leading giant airlines as well as local small operators. This lack of
clarity on the strategic direction largely dilutes its capabilities and confuses its
brand within markets.

• Low profitability and utilization of capacity.

• Growing Competitor base and entry of Low-Cost Carriers (LCC’s)

• The airline’s high-cost structure and the compulsions of being a public sector
unit are the reasons and it had been making a loss and shall continue to make losses
for some more quarters.

Opportunities of AIR INDIA

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• India airline industry is growing faster and will continue to grow as the GDP
increases, and the trend is predicted to continue once the slowdown recedes.

• Worldwide deregulations make the skies more accessible; the route agreement is
easier to be achieved. The number of foreign visitors and investors to India is
increasing rapidly.

• Complementary industry like tourism will increase demand for airline service.
The Civil Aviation Ministry’s strong regulation and protection provides
opportunities for consolidation and optimization.

• Customers are getting wealthier, tend to be less price-conscious and prefer to

choose quality service over cost.

• Best time for introducing LCC’s.

Threats for AIR INDIA

• Air India faces imminent aggressive competition from world leading airlines and
price wars triggered by domestic players.

• The Indian Railway Ministry has dramatically improved speed and services in
their medium/long distant routes, attracting passengers away from air service, with
prices almost at par with the low cost carriers

Financial Problems faced by Air India.

Things began to deteriorate for AI since the mid-2000s, and in 2006-07, it reached
serious proportions. In 2006-07, AI made a loss of Rs 541 cr and Indian Airline's
loss was Rs 230 cr. In about two years, from March 31, 2007 to March 31, 2009,
when AI and Indian Airlines merged, the losses rocketed to a mind-boggling Rs
7,200 cr. Aviation experts opine that the staggering eightfold increase in its losses
in two years can be attributed to the manner in which aircrafts were leased, capacity
was allocated to foreign carriers under bilateral agreements, ground- handling in
important airports was given to a proposed joint venture, flights were withdrawn
from profitable routes and pilots weren't sent for proper training, and not the least
how AI and Indian Airlines were merged.

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The losses really began from 2006 onwards when a decision to aggressively lease
aircraft was taken to augment market share without conducting proper route study,
marketing or pricing strategy. The upshot—in the last two years, from 2007 to
2009, AI kept five Boeing 777s and five Boeing 737s on ground at a loss of Rs 840
cr. Luckily for AI, Boeing could not meet the delivery schedules for its new B787
Dreamliners. If these aircraft had arrived on time, all of them would have been on
the ground. Adding to the crisis, the merger between AI and Indian Airlines proved
to be disastrous. Instead of resuscitating AI, the government has diverted funds to
the next-to-impossible task of resolving the staggering mismatch between the two
airlines in respect of the nature of operations, functions, roles, structures, cultures,
pay scales, perks, and so on, with no synergy and economies of scale in sight.
Sadly, even two years after the merger, the two parts of the merged airline do not
have an integrated IT system.
Besides these, the blame for the mess the airline finds itself in also rests squarely
with the government. Constant bureaucratic interference in its functioning, a huge
and unacceptable level of workforce, gross indecision in allowing fleet acquisition,
growing inefficiencies, and competition from domestic private and foreign airlines
ate into AI's market share. Aviation is a capital-intensive and high fixed cost
business, which makes it much more vulnerable to business cycles; and it has also
been severely battered by the current slowdown. The problem is clearly beyond
cosmetic surgery such as forcing government employees to fly AI. AIR INDIA is
now competing against more credible low cost carriers such as Spice jet, Go air,
Indigo Airline, and Jetlite etc. Indigo Airlines remains Air India strongest
competitor because of its competitive cost structure, strong brand name and
ambitious growth plans over the next seven years. Air India also faces increased
competition from Air Deccan low-fares subsidiary, Song. Moreover, major legacy
airlines have been focusing on restructuring costs, which has improved their
competitiveness. With costs restructured, the legacy airlines are becoming more
formidable competitors in terms of increasing capacity, matching prices and
leveraging their frequent flier programs. Increasing competition could adversely
affect the company’s margins.

STEPS TAKEN TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL POSITION

OF AIR INDIA

Disinvesting Government's equity in the Air India Limited through a process of

disinvestment by sale of 40% equity to a strategic partner, upto 10% to employees
and the balance by sale to financial institutions and/or on the share market.

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Various measures were initiated in order to bring a turn around in the Company's
performance. These measures mainly focussed on a reduction of the cost platform
and the enhancement of revenue The measures were:-

- A programme of route rationalisation was introduced to optimise revenue

involving curtailment of flights on marginal and loss making routes and the
redeployment of this capacity to profit making routes;

- Secondary market were served by Joint Ventures and Code Share arrangements
on 11 destinations;

- Emphasis was laid on route profitability by which stations generating higher

yields got preferential allocation of seats;

- A two-class configuration of Executive and Economy Class was adopted on the

B747-200 and B747-300 aircraft. More economy class seats were added on these
and also B747-400 aircraft increasing overall seat capacity without any expansion
in fleet size;

- Introduction of more rigorous space management techniques in order to optimise

revenues;

- Allocation of Cargo space based on higher revenue cargo uplifts and a preference
for cargo carriage to on-line stations to reduce revenue losses through interlining;

- Strengthening Yield Improvement Programme;

- An Automated Revenue Management System(ARMS) for which a preliminary

agreement has been signed with a vendor;

Market value of the Air India.

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MARKETING STRATEGIES OF AIR INDIA.

A Multi-pronged approach.

Capacity & Network Expansion – to increase market share & garner competitive
strength.
 Achieve dominance in core markets (USA/UK/Gulf/SEA).
 Increase market access through strategic alliances.

Product Up gradation:

 Deploy modern aircraft with state-of-art passenger amenities.

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 Operate customer friendly schedules with increased network connectivity
Operations Improvement – to reduce unit costs through.
 Increased asset (aircraft & manpower) productivity.
 Out-sourcing/hiving-off of non-core activities to subsidiaries.
 Technology up gradation.
 Benchmarking & adoption of “Best Practices”.

Product Upgradation.

Customer Friendly Schedules Planned.

 High frequency services with standardized arrival/departures Network

Connectivity.
 Single aircraft services from source markets.
 Expanded hub and spoke with own aircraft and from IC, Jet, Sahara Customer
Service.
 Plans to match global standards of customer service through benchmarking,
training & adoption of new technologies. Improvements with New Aircraft Product
Improvements.
 New/Fresh Interior
 State of the art Seats/IFE
 Better on time performance
 Business Class pitch of 76”.

Other Benefits
 Better Aircraft utilization
 Lower Fuel Consumption

 LowerMaintenance Expenditure.

Operations Improvement
Increased manpower productivity

Comprehensive HR Policy with focus on

 Motivation, Training & Development, Multi-skilling, Scientific job description
& objective performance appraisal Special dispensations obtained from DGCA
 Operating Crew – Increased Flight Time Limits.
Settlement to be reached with pilots
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 Cabin Crew - Executive crew to fly as per DGCA time-off regulations
 Computerization of Operating/Cabin crew scheduling Out-sourcing/Hiving-off
Non-Core activities.
 Activities already out-sourced.
– Printing Press
– Crew/Employee Transport
 Potential for out-sourcing
– Medical Services
– Payroll/Revenue Accounting
– Canteen
– Civil Works

 Hiving off to subsidiaries

Ground Handling

– Information Technology
– Security
– Cargo
Technology Upgradation – IT Projects
 Revenue Management – PROS implemented
 Ticketing Time-Limit software implemented
 Direct connect with GDS’s
 Integrated computerization system forMMD
 Disposal of surplus/redundant inventory
 Implementation of Unit Load Device management system
 Disaster recovery site at remote location
 Air India Express IT Infrastructure
 DataMart for CRS sales data
 Ramp Assistance Billing System for GSD/Finance

 Online Financial Information System (FINESS)

Strategic Relationships

• Strategic Alliance with Lufthansa (LH)

 MOU signed in August 2003
 Joint capacity plan till 2007.

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– Additional frequencies
– AI : 22 (18 via Frankfurt to USA) - LH: 15
• LH to provide AI commercially viable slots at Frankfurt
• 19 slot pairs provided till winter 2004 (in exchange for 4 additional frequencies)
• Reciprocal World-wide Free Flow Code Share & FFP Cooperation under
implementation
• Special Prorate Agreement implemented in November 2003
• Cooperation in IT/MRO/Cargo being pursued
• Air India developing relationship with other Star Alliance partners –
United Airlines & Air Canada.

 Joint Marketing
 Special Prorate Agreement
 Reciprocal code share
 FFP cooperation.

• Will pursue FFP cooperation with other domestic airlines in India to

generate incremental revenue streams
• Will continue existing code shares with existing 14 airline partners &
pursue such relationships with other airlines.
• May also consider becoming a full-fledged member of a global alliance in the
future
Staff costs constitutes nearly 19% of Air India's total cost. Many efforts were made
to reduce the staff cost:

FUTURE PROSPET OF AIR INDIA.

 Keeping check and control on repetitive complaints and radically improving
passengers service.

 POLLUTION CONTROL MEASURES: The disposal of garbage/refuse

collection is organised on regular basis with a view to avoiding pollution
problems. Vehicles are sent to the Transport Section for regular preventive
maintenance and regular PUC checks. In addition, anti-smoking signs are
displayed in all the offices to discourage staff and visitors from smoking.

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  WOMEN'S WELFARE: A Women's Cell has been functioning at Mumbai
and Delhi from September 1, 1993 in accordance with Government
guidelines.

 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: The Industrial Relations situation for the

period under review was encouraging. There was a marked improvement in
the general attitude of the employees with complete co-operation in the
working of the Company.

 TRAINING PROGRAMME: The Company has been imparting training in

various fields depending upon the need to technical and general categories of
officers/staff.

 Market tie-ups inter-carrier agreements such as code share etc.

Amalgamation of Air India Limited and Indian Airlines

Limited with National Aviation Company of India Limited.

The Government of India, on 1 March 2007, approved the merger of Air India and
Indian Airlines. Consequent to the above, a new Company viz National Aviation
Company of India Limited (NACIL) was incorporated under the Companies Act,
1956 on 30 March 2007 with its Registered Office at Airlines House, 113
Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi. The Certificate to Commence Business
was obtained on 14 May 2007. Presently, the Board of NACIL consists of:

 Shri Raghu Menon, Addl Secretary & Financial Advisor, Ministry of Civil
Aviation.

 Shri R K Singh, Jt Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.

 Shri Rajiv Bansal, Director, Ministry of Civil Aviation. The Scheme of

Amalgamation of Air India Limited and Indian Airlines Limited with National
Aviation Company of India Limited was approved by the Board of Directors of all
the three Companies. Thereafter, the Meetings of Secured and Unsecured Creditors
of Air India and Indian Airlines were held in New Delhi on 28 June 2007, in which
the Scheme of Amalgamation was approved by the Creditors. The final hearing of
the merger petition was held on 31 July 2007 wherein the last date for

19
submissions of objections was fixed on 8 August 2007 and the Order Ministry of
Corporate Affairs is awaited.

The Authorized and Paid-Up Share Capital of the merged entity will be
Rs.1500,05,00,000/- and Rs.145,00,00,000/-, respectively. It has been decided that
post merger, the new entity will be known as “Air India” while “Maharaja” will be
retained as its mascot. The logo of the new airline will be a red coloured flying
swan with the “Konark Chakra” in orange placed inside it. The flying swan has
been morphed from Air India’s characteristic logo “The Centaur” whereas the
“Konark Chakra” was reminiscent of Indian’s logo. The Corporate Office of
NACIL will be at Mumbai. The Government has approved the appointment of Shri
V Thulasidas and Dr V Trivedi as Chairman & Managing Director and Joint
Managing Director, respectively, of the merged entity, with effect from the date of
merger..
Awards and Recognitions

• Air India was conferred the ‘Best West Bound Airline from India’ award at
the Galileo Express Travel and Tourism awards 2005 function held in
Mumbai on 7 December 2005.

• The ‘Most preferred Brand’ Award in the international airlines category by

CNBC AWAAZ, a leading Hindi business television channel, was presented
to Air India at the AWAAZ consumer awards 2006 function held in New
Delhi on 18 July 2006.

• ‘Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Gold’ Award was presented to Air India at a
function held in Mumbai on 18 May 2006.

• Air India's security department became the first aviation security

organisation in the world to acquire ISO 9002 certification (31 January
2001).
• Air India's Department of Engineering has obtained the ISO 9002 for its
Engineering facilities for meeting international standards.
• Air India has also decided to discontinue the 40% discount scheme for
employees and their families for domestic travel more than once a year.
According to an insider, over 3,000 Nacil executives are entitled to the
discounted fares. The source added there could also be future curbs on
international business travel. Menon is also considering a scheme whereby

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 1,000 non-operational staff could take a sabbatical of between two and five
years.
• On January 1 this year, Air India had circulated a 25-point circular to senior
officers on various cost-saving measures. They include payment of fuel
reimbursement strictly through vouchers, abolition of children’s education
allowance to officers posted abroad, reducing the cost of residential
furnishing for EDs and GMs, and restricting foreign travel.

BIBLOGRPHY

www.airindia.co.in

www.wikipedia.org

http://search.ebscohost.com

Business India
Economics Times
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