Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Indian Airlines is the oldest carrier in the domestic aviation industry. It has been the main
stay for domestic air travel in India for more than 45 years. With the arrival of other private
airlines, its interests have been hurt, but it is continuing it’s quest to be the leader in this industry.
During the research, the main objectives of the study have been:
To find out the required information primary data was collected through self-administered
questionnaire for the passengers and travel agents and secondary data from library and the
internet. A sample size of 200 was taken including 150 passengers and 50 travel agents.
The passengers and travel agents felt that private airlines were better in certain service factors.
They also could identify a change in Indian Airlines, after the arrival of private airlines and
believed that it was overcoming it’s ‘I care less’ syndrome.
For analysis of the data, statistical tools, based on the data collected were used and comparative
analysis was done.
Indian Airlines is a financially strong company and if it carefully plans it’s strategies, with more
focus on passengers, it will remain the market leader.
1.1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to understand the perception of travelers towards Indian Airlines,
to apprehend the perceptions of travel agents towards Indian Airlines, to know how Indian
Airlines can improve its overall performance in terms of its marketing as well as its quality of
services provided and total customer satisfaction and hence with the help of the above to assess
the image of Indian Airlines in the market as compared to its counterparts viz. Jet air and Sahara
Airlines.
http://Pakistanmba.jimdo.com
For Free Downloading of this report and for
more projects,assignments,reports on
Marketing,Management
Marketing Management,
Accounting,
Economics
Human Resource,
Organizational Behaviour,
Financial Management
Cost Accounting
VISIT
http://Pakistanmba.jimdo.com
REASERCH OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Research Design: -
• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Causative
In my project, a Descriptive Research was initiated because it was generally a study which was
carried out to describe the market characteristics of various airlines, and of Indian Airlines in
Situation Analysis: - Conducting a situational analysis means analysing the company, its market,
its competition and the industry in general. The situation analysis is a background investigation.
It involves obtaining information about the company and its business environment by means of
library, research.
Data would be collected through both primary and secondary data for carrying out the research
project.
Primary Data: - Primary data relates to data which has been collected first hand and which has
been collected for the purpose of analysis. It is undertaken, when data needed by the researcher
does not exist, or are dated inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, the researcher has to collect
• Corporate travellers.
• Professional’s
• Students.
Secondary Data
Secondary research invariably precedes primary research. Secondary data are data that were
• Travel Magazine.
• Brochures,
• Libraries
• Annual Report.
Sample design
Doing research via sampling was important because of impossibility of finding all of a
population, as well as other restrictive parameters like cost, time etc. Our sampling decision
should be in-coordination with the research and data objectives. The method opted for taking
Judgement Sampling’ was used. The key assumption underlined this type of sampling is that,
with sound judgement or expertise, and an appropriate strategy, one can carefully and
consciously choose the elements to be included in the sample, so that samples can be developed
that are suitable for one’s needs. My objective for using `Judgement Sampling’ was that since
airline travel is not experienced by everybody, so `Judgement Sampling’ was a must to get the
Sample Size: -
• 50 travel agents.
Survey/ Personal Contact Method:- In a survey, the researcher carries out opinion polls involving
customers, sales persons, dealers, traders and experts. In the survey, the main method of
interviewing was by Personal Interviews, as this gave me a better understanding of the needs and
preferences of the passenger. Most of the data is quantitative in nature and supported by
qualitative data.
The research instruments used for this survey were structured questionnaires. The questionnaires
were designed to find the satisfaction levels of Domestic Airlines, in particular, Indian Airlines.
Questionnaire: -
A questionnaire consists of a set of questions prepared to respondents for their answers. Because
of its flexibility, the questionnaire is by far the common instrument used to collect primary data.
Closed Ended as well as Open Ended questionnaire were used in my market research .
Drafting of a Questionnaire: -
The formulation of the questionnaire, i.e., the structure and the disguise to be used in the
questionnaire depends upon the kind of information that is desired. Questionnaire was prepared
over a period of 5 days by intensive brainstorming. Valuable advice regarding changes was given
by my ORP tutor, Mr. S.L.Gupta, has resulted in the formulation of the questionnaire through
which responses were collected and analysed. A copy of the questionnaire has been attached as
Since my objective was to derive out the maximum information out of the passengers without
making the whole exercise boring and troublesome, I decided to keep majority of the
questionnaire close-ended.
In order to generate and sustain the interest of the respondents, the initial questions pertained to
the gathering of simple information like the frequency of travel, the choice of airline and the
purpose of travel. Since, I had to balance the twin objectives of gathering maximum information
and at the same time retaining the interest of the customers, I was compelled to squeeze in a lot
The question pertaining to assessing the impact of private airlines on Indian Airlines, for this the
respondents ticked in the various options under different parameters. Last but not the least, the
respondents were asked to pen down some personal information purely for statistical purposes,
Market Survey
Type of Research
Market Segment Passengers / travellers
Geographical Area New Delhi
Data Sources Secondary - Print Media
- Internet
-Company documentation
- Travel agents
50 travel agents
Sampling Procedure-Non-probability
judgemental
Contact Method Personal Interviews.
LIMITATIONS
• The study could have been more comprehensive and more representative of the universe, had
the sample-size been larger, but it was not possible mainly due to lack of time and some other
constraints.
• The areas covered were restricted to Delhi city only and as such the results of questionnaires
• All this report has been an individual attempt and also it involves the human process of
• The marketing research is done on the basis of certain assumptions as regards to the future of
the industry, but due to environmental changes, research results may not be valid.
ABOUT TOPIC
The first Indian State air service began to function on 20th Dec. 1929. All technical and operation
control was left in the hands of Imperial Airways. After that Tata Airways came into existence.
This airline was dealing with the taking off passengers and cargo from one place to another.
They were all having their own individual scheduled services in and around India. However,
the private sector of Indian aviation industry was brought to an end in June 1953 by the
introduction of an act of parliament known as Air Corporation Act 1953. This brought in the
nationalization of air-transport. Consequently, all the existing eight private airlines were
Indian Airlines came into existence in June 1953. Today it is well-established brand name
(‘000’s)
Kilometers 33.4 44.4 49.7 57.6
Flown ( million)
Passengers 2056 5650 7484 8316
carried (000’s)
Freight Tonnes 14.1 59.8 88.0 84.5
(km)
OPEN SKY POLICY
The process of liberalisation of the Indian air transport industry commenced with Government’s
declaration of open sky policy in 1990.In fact, the first step in this direction was taken when Air
Taxi Scheme was introduced as non scheduled operations in 1987. The scheme did not take off
capacity, schedules, route selection and airfares. The import duty on aircraft was also reduced to
3% to make airlines operations cheaper. This initiative further received impetus with the
liberalisationof the economy, trade and industry from 1991. The entry of private scheduled
airlines in Indian domestic skies was signaled in October 1992.As a result of these measures a
number of parties started air taxi operations on trunk and high density routes. As Indian Airlines
began losing market share and technical staff, the government took a number of steps to bolster
Indian Airlines.
Achievements
• Air Cooperation Act, 1953, repealed on March 1st, 1994, ending the state’s monopoly of the
skies.
• Air Taxi Operation allowed in 1994 to seek scheduled airline status if they have at least 3
aircrafts.
• Vayudoot, the third public sector airline, is merged with Indian Airlines and its infrastructure
• No restrictions imposed by the government, of pricing by the private airlines and air cargo
operators.
• Most restrictions on types and imports of aircraft and operating routes relaxed in 1994.
Private Airlines Currently Operating:
• JET AIRWAYS
• SAHARA INDIA
JET AIRWAYS :
Jet Airways has emerged as a major competitor of Indian Airlines on the sector it operates. It was
launched on 5,May 1993 by Mr. Naresh Goyal with approximately 100 employees and 2
aircrafts. It has an interline agreement with over 90 international airlines which facilitates
ticketing and allows for convenient transfer of passengers. The crew has been trained in Malaysia
Airlines and Ansett-Rankett among the leading aviation training centresin the world. Jet airways
have the most latest and modern fleet of Aircraft’s operating in India. They have a total of 30
Boeing 737 25
A.T.R 5
Total 30
The reservation system used by them is SABRE. They have an efficient and courteous ground
staff to take care of the needs of passengers. They have the quickest baggage system.
Jet Airways is not just a passenger airline – an important part of their revenue accrues from their
cargo division. They have capability of upto 2.5 tons per flight and with the current fleet
Sahara India: -
It was launched in 1978 from Gorakhpur. It was started with a small capital of Rs. 2000/- and the
The business today has reached over 1600 crores. Now they have 971 offices and the biggest
infrastructure in the private sector in India. They work force is over 70,000 and the growth is
over 180%. The various activities they carry out are parabanking, housing, steel, aviation and
mass communication.
The philosophy of Sahara India is growing emotionally and materially together like a family i.e.
Collective Materialism. They operate with Boeing aircrafts. It follows the motto of “Value Added
flying”. They have a central reservation system and Gabriel II programmes. They have in-flight
entertainment through audio-visual facility. They have taken technical assistance from British
Airways and provide ratable maintenance and material management support. They have special
security expert team and state of the art explosive detection equipment.
These include: -
COMPANY PROFILE
The saga of Indian Airlines began by the amalgamation of 8 private airlines, with the passing of
Air Corporation Act to nationalise the air transport industry. The journey began with a modest
fleet as well as high aspirations and over the years, Indian Airlines innovated and upgraded its
fleet to emerge as one of the largest domestic airlines in the world. Today Indian Airlines, along
with its subsidiary Alliance Air, provides an extensive network which encompasses the whole of
international stations.
In the last four decades, Indian Airlines has progressed by leaps and bounds and has built an
excellent track record of manpower and infrastructural development. It has thus emerged as a
proud symbol of modern India.
• Increase in passenger carriage from 0.5 million in 1954-55 to 8.4 million in 1997-98.
• A manifold increase in system seat capacity from 3070 seats per day in 1955 to 35,700 seats
per day.
Indian Airline’s success could not have been possible without its 21,990 personnel (as on 31st
March 1999). Everyone from pilots, cabin crew and engineers to commercial and administrative
staff.
Moral building communication initiatives have helped at Indian Airlines to play their part in the
turn around. Productivity linked incentives and greater transparency in recruitment, promotion
and transfer policies have greatly contributed to major improvements in the efficiency of the
company’s service.
The diverse programmes offered by the Central Training Establishment, Hyderabad virtually a
university of the air, it trains personnel in all aspects of airlines operations. Effective refresher
training programmes have helped to further enhance the skills learned at Central Training
Establishment. The company also continues to provide various welfare measures to employees,
such as medical facilities, subsidised canteens, educational scholarships, holiday homes, sports
A phased fleet modernisation programme was started by Indian Airlines with the introduction of
Viscounts in 1957, followed by Fokker Friendship Aircraft in 1961. With the arrival of the pilot
friendly Caravelle turbo jet in 1963, Indian Airlines took domestic aviation in to the jet age. In
the 60’s, the first Indian built aircraft HS- 748 (Avro) was induced into Indian Airlines and the
year 1971 saw the induction of Boeing 737’s. In 1976, Indian Airlines, became the first domestic
airline in the world to induct wide-bodied 273 seater Airbus A- 300 aircraft, thus setting new
standards in passenger comfort. With the introduction of the state of the art Airbus A-320 in 1989
and its fly by wire technology, Indian Airlines acquired the latest in aviation equipment.
Airbus A300 10
Airbus A320 30
Boeing 737 12
Total 52
2. Indian Airlines flies 25000 passengers on 210 flights to 59 cities in India and 17 international
destinations. Indian Airlines has the largest domestic reach in the country with the network
that stretches from Leh and Srinagar to Port Blair and Dibru Garh.
The company has contributed Rs. 169.88 crores to the Govt. Exchequer by way of customs duty,
Arrangements with Air India Ltd. for joint venture operations on the Indo- Gulf sector and the
Hub and Spoke operations continued during the year. The hours flown during the year vis-à-vis
1998-99 1997-98
The JEOC, functioning as a separate profit centre since May 1996, has saved the company
expenditure to the tune of Rs. 6.70 crores, besides saving precious foreign exchange.
Cargo Promotion:-
With a carefully planned marketing strategy the company was able to generate substantially high
revenue of Rs 156.83 crores on carriage as compared to Rs126.73 crores in the previous year.
This is due to the success of it’s new door-to-door cargo service with M/S Gati Cargo.
The performance of the company in terms of Capacity Production -`Available Tonne Kilometers’
1998-99 1997-98
ATKms (Millions) 1296.157 1170.767
RTKms (Millions) 827.553 765.209
Passengers Carried 8.38 8.17
(Including Alliance Air)
Financial performance of Indian Airlines:-
The net profit has dropped from the previous year from 47.27 crores in the year 1997-98 to 15.6
crores in 1998-99. Although in the current financial year, i.e, 1999-2000, it is expected to rise to
Rs. 70 crore.
The Passenger reservation system of Indian Airlines was switched on to the new IBM ES-900
computer on the 8,March 1998 replacing the UNISYS mainframe computer which was in use
since March 1985.The improved central processing response time of the system has resulted in a
three fold increase in the capacity to handle queries. The new system uses the IBM hardware and
reservations service to its clients. The reservation system is being maintained through a powerful
mainframe computer, which is accessed by more than EDP 2000 terminals across the length and
breadth of India, apart from the International Stations. Access to the reservation system is also
Indian Airlines participates in the following major CRS' in the world thereby providing access to
Galileo
Amadeus
Abacus
World Span
Gemini
Infiniti
GETS
Access
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS OF PASSENGER SURVEY
On collection of all the completed questionnaire from passengers and travel agents, the data was
aggregated and methods of its analysis applied so as to interpret the required information and
meaning.
Out of the 150 respondents surveyed, it was found most of the passengers, purchased their tickets
from a travel agent. Primarily because travel agents offered discounts and provided better
options.
2) As, air travel is more convenient and less time consuming than other modes of travelling,
people with now increased purchasing power as well as due to better services in air travel are
flying more often.
Out of the 150 passengers surveyed, all had traveled by Indian Airlines, as it is the oldest and has
better connections than rest of the airlines and it still is the leader. These results indicate the
following: -
In accordance to the survey, the passengers are seeking better levels of service and quality than
ever before. Out of the 150 respondents surveyed the results are indicating a growing preference
for private airlines over Indian Airlines. But, passengers also feel, Indian Airlines is improving
after being bitten in the knee.
Out of the 150 travelers, who prefer Indian Airlines for domestic travelling say that they prefer
Indian Airlines because of the following reasons: -
It has better connections all over India and it has a wide coverage all over the country.
For it’s flight timing and improving punctuality.
Since it is a Government undertaking, all the government employees travel by this airline
Oldest airline, therefore goodwill.
5) Purpose Of Travel
The purpose of this question No. 5 is to deter mine the trend of the new age traveller. Does he
use the airline’s just for business/work, as was the case in 70’s and 80’s due to high tariff and low
purchasing power. The results indicate that 74% of the passengers surveyed travel both for work
as well as leisure/holiday. 20% of the passengers only travel by air for work purposes and
remaining 6% travel by air only for leisure/holiday.
Frequent flier programmes were started first by Indian Airlines, to promote travel with them, as
they faced threat from various private airlines. All, the airlines now have a frequent flier
programme, but as of now it has not gained much popularity as the results show.
7) The number of respondents who were members of a frequent flier programme out of 150
were 38. Out of these 38 people 20 were the members of ‘Jet Privilege’, the frequent flier
programme of Jet Airways and the rest ‘15’ were members of Indian Airlines frequent flier
programme. 2 were members of both and 1 was a member of Sahara and Indian airlines.
The travellers are mostly corporate travelers who are members of these programmes. And
they get following benefits: -
• Priority reservation.
In the buying process decision for an airline ticket, consumer usually goes through these
factors viz, suitability of timings, on time performance, in – flight service, in – flight comfort,
appearance and hospitality of crew, ease of reservation and cancellation, baggage handling,
frequent flier benefits and airfare. In the questionnaire I have taken all these factors with a rating
of 1 to 4.
1) Stands for Not Important
2) Least Important
3) Important
4) Very Important
Suitability of timings: - in accordance to the important survey conducted, the following results
were achieved.
(Suitability of Timings) (%)
1) Not Important 4%
2) Least Important 2%
3) Important 58%
4) Very Important 36%
On time performance: - On time performance is an important consideration for corporate
travellers but when compared on time performance standards of domestic airlines are relatively
poor as compared to the west.
(On time performance) (%)
1) Not Important 0%
2) Least Important 28%
3) Important 54%
4) Very important 18%
In flight service: - With the recent entry of private airlines, the in flight service standards have
improved both for national domestic carriers and private airlines. Continuos improvements seem
to be a part of the programme.
( In Flight Service) (%)
1) Not Important 0%
2) Least Important 0%
3) Important 62%
4) Very Important 38%
Ease of reservation and cancellation: - Indian Airlines, Jet and Sahara are all in the race for
providing better service, and ease of reservation and cancellation is another important factor
considered by the respondents
(Ease of reservations And Cancellation) (%)
1) Not Important 10%
2) Least Important 40%
3) Important 40%
4) Very Important 10%
VISIT
HTTP://PAKISTANMBA.JIMDO.COM