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PM Considering Privatising Air India
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bob
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Joined: 22 Jul 2007
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:27 pm    Post subject: Indigo interest in Air India Reply with quote

Indigo offer for Air India Bid …

Why Indigo should bid Air India which is full service airline with legacy culture and does not fit into Indigo business plan ( in spite of government taking over losses before sale ) … This may be very strategic move from Indigo for long term gain ..

Indigo is leader in Indian aviation and has only one rival which is operating without any commercial consideration ( Loss being funded by government of India ) . It is interest of Indigo that this Government funded airline is replaced by private airline which needs to operate … and fight at equal level playing fields as Indigo ..
This will give Indigo advantage as they are leader in their cost base …


This move has following effect

- Interest from airline like Indigo at early stage will vindicate government move for privatization and give boost take this action forward .. This will ensure that privatization effort is not derailed
- This will also ensure that Air India is not sold on direct negotiation with one entity and competition may increase valuation of Air India . A higher sale value of Air India only help Indigo as new company cost base will be high …
- This may result in Sale being offered in three parts … International , domestic and regional where Indigo may only bid for regional to enable it consolidate it position in proposed regional operation which may have highest growth ,.. in near future …. Jet is vacating regional operation and with Air India regional market they get pole start …

End of the day …. Indigo may not buy Air India but will get biggest gain from Air India privatization
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Aseem
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

IMHO! all the interested parties are vying for a 'stake' in Air India, as no single entity is in a position to absorb the debt. Still very early days.

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Caliguy
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The_Goat wrote:
Caliguy wrote:


The purpose of announcements in different languages is safety. It's not for an Indian feeling or ethnic pride. Also its about the languages spoken by the pax not generally spoken in the State. So flights from BOM don't have Marathi announcements because 90%+ of the pax flying speak either English or Hindi (AF doesn't even do Hindi thinking everyone speaks English). Flights to the Gulf should have more regional language announcements because of the type of pax that fly those routes (hence EK's announcements and I am sure AI, 9W to the Gulf). Flights from BLR to say AMS probably only need English and Hindi. BLR is very cosmopolitan, and the pax flying to the EU and US probably speak English and Hindi (90%+). Flights from MAA are a whole different ball game. Tamil is needed..


I've never heard EK, BA or anyone else making safety announcements in regional Indian languages. It is only the welcome announcement that they make in regional Indian languages. So safety is definitely not what they are trying to address by doing so. It is merely a smart move aimed at customer comfort.

Actually, Hindi is not needed anywhere in India outside of the cow belt and DEL. Most other Indians, at least the ones who travel abroad regularly, are comfortable with English. If not English, they would prefer their native tongue to Hindi.

It is not about regionalism or ethicity, as you have wrongfully made it out to be throughout this thread. The point was that foreign airlines tend to appease the Indian customer better by going the extra mile and doing announcements in regional languages. This is in contrast to AI, who would still make announcements in Hindi on a MAA-SIN or BOM-EWR flight, ones where most pax wouldn't give a rat's ass to Hindi.


Huh - the previous posters mentioned regional announcements on EK. I was only giving a reason as to why they might announce in a regional language. Who cares about the welcome greeting. Look airlines all around the world on international flights usually make all announcements in the airline's language, English and some times the local language. The only reason they announce in any other language other than the airline's language is safety and to answer pax questions / serve them. It is not to give an Indian touch or local touch (and by the way Asian Veg food option is given only because so many INdians are veg for religious reasons not to give an indian touch - a lot of countries would like their meals offered as special meals). I've been flying between the US and India since the early seventies, and the notion that airlines go out of their way to accommodate Indians is laughable. Air india's main saving grace is that they go out of their way to make indian's comfortable - especially the old, those who do not travel a lot and those not fluent in English (they do a horrible job at high end airline service). This is why I would fly SQ in J but my mom is quite happy in AI J (if its the nonstop). The reason I say the comments are all about one's ethic group or regionalism is because that is the emphasis of those comments (like its a pride thing). When you say EWR-BOM should not have announcements in HIndi why? Fact remains everyone from India is not really fluent in English. If you make all on board announcements in Hindi as well as English, you reach 95% of the pax. Also your "cow belt" comment seems to have an underlying regional bias. The Hindi belt has sent relatively few immigrants to the US and UK. If not fluent in Hindi, most Indians abroad who are not native English speakers, can get by in Hindi. It is also the language that many Indians speak with each other abroad. The main exception are Tamils. So like it or not, English and Hindi really do serve the vast majority of Indians. But here's the best thing, you have a choice. If you will only fly airlines that announce in Telegu or Punjabi or what ever then only fly those airlines. You will have very few options because most are fine with English and Hindi.
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The_Goat
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Caliguy wrote:




I've been flying between the US and India since the early seventies, and the notion that airlines go out of their way to accommodate Indians is laughable.. ..


Then why do most airlines provide Bollywood movies and Indian food on their flights? Is it to cater to the Iranians? Seriously.... Rolling Eyes

On most well run airlines, the on-board service is adapted to the destination being operated to. On flghts to Indian destinations, the service is adapted accordingly. Indian food, movies, regional language announcements are all part of the adaptation.

Caliguy wrote:

Air india's main saving grace is that they go out of their way to make indian's comfortable - especially the old, those who do not travel a lot and those not fluent in English (they do a horrible job at high end airline service)


Well they aren't making money doing that are they?

They aren't the no 1 choice for old and English challenged Indians, are they?

They wouldn't have a measly 12% market share in India if they were the choice no1 for Indians travelling abroad, would they?

Do you really think that the EKs and LHs of the world rely on flying non-indians on their flights to India?

The point I was (trying to) make was that notwithstanding all its Indianness, Delhi hub, Dreamliners, Star Alliance and other hoo-haas, the vast majority of Indians are still quite willing to give AI the heave-ho when they fly abroad. That the foreign airlines try to be more accomodating to Indian sensitivities only makes them more atractive to Indians, resulting in them running away from AI faster than ever before.

Whether you like it or not, the horror stories on AI still far outnumber the fairy tales. The reason for that has to do with a lacklustre approach to customer service. Toilets going kapot after four hours on a 16 hour flight, broken or dysfucntional IFE controls and handsets, smashed footrests in a six year old plane are just symptoms of this malaise, along with insisting on prattling in Hindi and in a plane full of Gujaratis or Tamilians.



And don't tell me that there is a dichotomy - that only the less-educated, English challenged Indians travel AI while the English speaking city slickers fly foreign airllines. I have found both categories on all foreign airlines I've flown in and out of India.
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Caliguy
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually think we agree a bit here. I never said AI has a stellar reputation. Their issue has nothing to do with Hindi announcements or their DEl hub (their DEL hub is actually the best thing they did - look at the ORD-DEL-HYD traffic). Whether AI makes or loses money is a very complicated thing given govt interference, unions etc. That doesn't change the fact that a lot of people do indeed fly AI (and their market share on specific routes aren't always bad). So you have to ask why do people fly the hot mess that is AI? The main reasons are probably (1) price or (2) they feel more comfortable sending their parents / relatives on AI. That has always been AI's core consumer. That doesn't mean everyone who doesn't speak English or is old flies AI. My point on food was that they offer Indian vegetarian meals across their Netowrks to serve a group of consumers (who have real food needs). If it was just to make groups feel like their are at home they would do the same for Thai, Chinese, French, Mexican, Japanese etc (on all routes and not just routes to/from those locations). Going back to the original point that more competition will bring more regional service by the airlines (which I was challenging)- I don't think most normal people care about Telegu announcements, Telegu food and even Telegu movies (fill in any Indian group other than Tamil). In the end, if the airline offers English & Hindi announcements, choice of Western & Indian food (probably North Indian lunch/Dinner and South Indian breakfast), some Bollywood movies they will be very happy. This is what the vast majority of airlines serving India do. I don't think you will see airlines customizing things too much for regional Indian cities. Airlines and most Indians are happy with a broad Indian identity that the airlines recognize. No regional fan fare needed. Btw SQ is the only airline I know that lets you preselect North or South Indian special meals (or at least they used too). But that makes sense to me given the huge local Tamil population coupled with the large N Indian traffic that flies SQ to Singapore, Asia, Oz, US.
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iah87
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

India has many languages, but for airlines serving India have to focus on the most widely understood languages. Apart from English, it is Hindi. It is fairly understood even in South India.

You may be surprised but many airline passengers even from Chennai understand Hindi to some extent. It is not possible for the airlines to make announcements in all Indian regional languages. May be AI Express does have announcements in Malayalam and Tamil on flights from Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

As far as IFE, I find only EK, SQ and AI have movies in regional languages (Telugu, Tamil etc.), the rest only have Hindi.

Speaking of airlines and languages serving India, a few years ago I flew on EK, and they did not have a single Hindi speaking FA in economy for a flight from HYD to DXB. One of the Muslim ladies travelling on this flight had questions, and it appears that she was travelling for the first time, and I had to translate to her in Hindi.
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