Creative Business Strategy in India

Paramount Airways - Business Class South Indian Airlines

2006-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Paramount Airways - Business Class South Indian Airlines

Paramount Airways in the first airlines in India to provide seeks a business class only service on a smaller fifty odd seater Brazil manufactured Embraer Aircraft. They initially launched their service with a single Embraer aircraft based out of Coimbatore that follows the Coimbatore - Chennai - Coimbatore - Kochi - Delhi - Kochi - Coimbatore - Chennai - Coimbatore route from early morning to late night. More recently they aquired another Embraer aircraft and dropped out of Delhi and the Kochi-Delhi long route to become a purely South Indian airline. Its current route is as follows:

1) Chennai (7.25hrs) - Coimbatore - Chennai - Hyderabad - Cochin - Hyderabad - Chennai - Cochin - Chennai - Coimbatore - Chennai (22.05 hrs)

2) Chennai (07.05hrs) - Madurai - Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai - Madurai - Chennai (14.50hrs) gap (18.15 hrs) - Hyderabad - Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai (23.15 hrs).

The turnover time is only 25 minutes and each aircraft does ten trips a day. The second route has a gap of 3 hours which may be used to fly a new route out of Chennai in the near future. As of now it gives enough leeway for delays in congested airports like Bangalore so that evening flights for business travellers are not delayed. It is now the only airline to offer a link from Bangalore to Madurai.

Paramount has an advantage on shorter routes due to its choice of Embraer aircraft. Unlike the larger planes such as the Airbus, the breakeven number of passengers for this aircraft is low and this makes this aircraft viable to be used on a daily basis on lower demand routes. Also unlike the smaller and cramped ATR aircraft which can travel only short distances, this aircraft is capable of travelling long distances with flying time of over three hours. Thus it does not require frequent refuellling on shorter routes. The versatility of this aircraft makes it a natural choice a number of other routes in India that are currently starved of good airline connectivity.

Kingfisher Airlines: Moving into Unexploited Routes

2006-02-06T01:11:00.000-08:00

Kingfisher Airlines is the only large lowcost full service airline in India and has so far attempted to draw passengers away from the other full service airlines Jet Airways and Indian Airlines on their popular trunk routes by offering cheaper tickets with better on board service.

Of their total ten aircrafts, these are the five aircrafts that Kingfisher Airlines has deployed on those initial routes where Kingfisher is competing head-on with these two airlines Jet Airways and Indian Airlines :

1. Bangalore (6.30) – Hyderabad – Kolkata – Gauhati – Agartala/Dibrugarh – Gauhati – Kolkata – Hyderabad – Bangalore (21.40)

2. Bangalore (6.50) – Mumbai – Kochi – Mumbai – Bangalore – Mumbai – Bangalore – Mumbai (22.35)

3. Bangalore (7.30) – Delhi – Bangalore – Kochi – Bangalore – Delhi – Bangalore (23.25)

4. Mumbai (6.20) – Kolkata – Mumbai – Mangalore – Mumbai – Kolkata – Mumbai (22.55)

5. Delhi (6.50) – Bangalore – Hyderabad – Bangalore – Goa – Bangalore – Hyderabad – Bangalore – Delhi (23.00)

However, many Jet Airways and Indian Airlines passengers are frequent flyer members who would lose frequent flyer miles by opting for travel by Kingfisher on these trunk routes. Given the schedule convenience on Jet Airways and Indian Airlines, the lower fare is not of much consequence for them as most of them are business travellers. To counter this Kingfisher has gone for the King Club frequent flyer program to attract such customers - but its success remains to be seen.

What is interesting is the more recent attempt by Kingfisher to go for those unexploited or underexpoited routes where direct convenient connections are not provided by Jet Airways and Indian Airlines. The day-return connection between Pune and Delhi on the following two aircrafts that starts today is an interesting way to provide convenience to an underserved Pune market without taking away the existing trunk routes on these sixth and seventh aircrafts of Kingfisher.

6. Pune (6.15) – Delhi – Mumbai – Goa – Mumbai – Delhi – Mumbai – Delhi (23.05)

7. Delhi (6.10) – Mumbai – Delhi – Mumbai – Goa – Mumbai – Delhi – Pune (23.25)

Another addition is the Pune - Ahmedabad link that no other airline offers without taking away the existing trunk routes on their eighth aircraft.

8. Mumbai (6.30) – Bangalore – Chennai – Bangalore – Pune – Ahmedabad – Pune – Bangalore – Chennai – Bangalore (22.50)

Also the Kolkata - Ahmedabad - Goa link thrice a week and the Kolkata - Jaipur link four times a week are two links that no other airline offers though it remains to be seen if it will achieve adequate load factor. Kingfisher offers these links using their ninth aircraft on alternate days as given below.

9a. (Wed, Fri, Sun) Delhi (7.25) – Kolkata – Ahmedabad – Goa – Ahmedabad – Kolkata – Delhi (23.10)

9b. (Mon, Tue, Thurs, Sat) Delhi (7.25) – Kolkata – Jaipur – Kolkata – Gauhati – Kolkata – Delhi (23.10)

Puzzling however is the current route on the last of their ten aircrafts as the links do not seem to add up - with a long halt from 11.10 to 18.00 hrs at Pune.

10. Mumbai (6.25) – Delhi – Pune (11.10) – (18.00) Pune – Delhi – Mumbai (23.05)

My guess is that Kingfisher will soon introduce a Pune to Kolkata direct flight with Pune (dep 11.50) – Kolkata (arr 14.15) – Kolkata (dep 14.55) – Pune (arr 17.20). Then the route on the tenth aircraft will become as follows:

10. Mumbai (6.25) – Delhi – Pune - Kolkata - Pune – Delhi – Mumbai (23.05)

Pune to Kolkata direct will be another example of a link that is underserved by other airlines but load factor is a question.

Alternately a Pune - Hyderabad - Chennai - Hyderabad - Pune connection may also work on this aircraft as given below - giving a convenient day-return Delhi - Pune link and a very early morning day return Mumbai - Delhi link as well as a new unexpolited Pune - Hyderabad link.

10 (alt). Mumbai - Delhi - Pune - Hyderabad - Chennai - Hyderabad - Pune - Delhi - Mumbai

I expect that Kingfisher and its "guests" will benefit more by the airline offering links on underserved routes that do not have links offered by Jet Airways and Indian Airlines or by offering day-return links on buiness traffic routes where only midday flights are offered by Jet Airways and Indian Airlines.

Unexploited High Potential Direct Air Connections

2006-01-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

There are many unexploited high potential direct air connections in India. I have attempted to list them here in approximately increasing order of distance:

1 Hyderabad To Allahabad and vice versa
2 Surat To Hyderabad and vice versa
3 Hyderabad To Agra and vice versa
4 Hyderabad To Bhubaneshwar and vice versa
5 Lucknow To Hyderabad and vice versa
6 Jaipur To Hyderabad and vice versa
7 Hyderabad To Ahmedabad and vice versa
8 Bhubaneshwar To Agra and vice versa
9 Agra To Mumbai and vice versa
10 Pune To Agra and vice versa
11 Lucknow To Bhubaneshwar and vice versa
12 Bangalore To Vijayawada and vice versa
13 Pune To Lucknow and vice versa
14 Jaipur To Bhubaneshwar and vice versa
15 Bhubaneshwar To Ahmedabad and vice versa
16 Pune To Jaipur and vice versa
17 Patna To Lucknow and vice versa
18 Bangalore To Agra and vice versa
19 Bhubaneshwar To Bangalore and vice versa
20 Chennai To Agra and vice versa
21 Patna To Ahmedabad and vice versa
22 Chennai To Bhubaneshwar and vice versa
23 Lucknow To Bangalore and vice versa
24 Kolkata To Agra and vice versa
25 Goa To Agra and vice versa
26 Chennai To Lucknow and vice versa
27 Pune To Chennai and vice versa
28 Goa To Bhubaneshwar and vice versa
29 Jaipur To Bangalore and vice versa
30 Lucknow To Kolkata and vice versa
31 Pune To Kolkata and vice versa
32 Lucknow To Goa and vice versa
33 Jaipur To Chennai and vice versa
34 Chennai To Ahmedabad and vice versa
35 Kolkata To Jaipur and vice versa
36 Jaipur To Goa and vice versa
37 Kolkata To Ahmedabad and vice versa
38 Kolkata To Goa and vice versa

Broadly they link places of high tourist or business interest where passengers may benefit from airlines providing direct connections.

GoAir: Entering Ignored High Traffic Routes

2006-01-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

GoAir has recently started operating in India as a low fare airline with Mumbai as the base. By not touching Delhi at all, the airline has been able to keep its schedules on track during this winter, when all other airlines that touched Delhi suffered extensively. The airline uses only A320's and initially made several trips to Goa from Mumbai during the winter to take advantage of the Christmas and New Year traffic to Goa.

GoAir's new schedule starting from February 1 shows some interesting initiatives that many other low cost airlines have not adopted. All new routes are introduced with a initial free ticket offer to attract attention and subsequently a Rs. 999 fare. This is particularly useful when the airline introduces direct flights on high traffic routes. Some relatively ignored direct routes that the airline has entered are Chennai - Pune and Mumbai - Baroda. The airline is likely to enter more such direct routes where currently only connecting flights are available. Also unlike other low cost airlines that have scheduled halts as low as 30 minutes, GoAir schedules halts at 40 to 45 minutes so that there is enough slack to absorb unexpected delays. They have also taken the relatively less congested IA terminal at Mumbai to reduce ground delays.

The airline currently uses three aircraft to give 20 individual flights a day as given below:

1) Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Goa - Mumbai - Baroda - Mumbai ( 6 flights - 07.15 hrs to 20.05 hrs)

2) Mumbai - Coimbatore - Mumbai - Jaipur - Mumbai - Cochin - Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Mumbai ( 8 flights - 06.00 hrs to 23.30 hrs)

Two aircrafts are alternated between route 1 and route 2 above everyday. The third aircraft is based at Chennai.

3) Chennai - Pune (long halt) - Chennai - Hyderabad - Bangalore - Hyderabad - Chennai (6 flights - 05.45 hrs to 19.15 hrs)

It will be interesting to see the growth of this airline - it has potential if it takes up more high potential routes.

Spicejet: Maximising Fleet Utilization to Give Low Fares

2006-01-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

Spicejet has been operating in India as a low fare airline for some time now. This airline was the first to take advantage of the single type medium sized aircraft with high fleet ulilization format first used by low cost airline Southwest Airlines in the USA. Spicejet's choice of 737-800 aircraft is ideal for the two hours or less flight durations that it uses. It further economises by utilizing the aircraft effectively as shown by its routing plan deciphered from its current timetable (its likely to be further optimised after the Delhi fog situation improves).

The airline currently uses just five aircraft to give 39 individual flights a day as given below.

1) Delhi - Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Delhi - Mumbai - Chennai - Hyderabad - Kolkata ( 7 flights - 06.15 hrs to 21.30 hrs)

2) Kolkata - Hyderabad - Chennai - Mumbai - Delhi - Kolkata - Delhi - Ahmedabad - Mumbai (8 flights - 05.40 hrs to 01.20 hrs next day)

3) Mumbai - Ahmedabad - Jammu - Srinagar - Delhi - Pune - Bangalore - Ahmedabad - Delhi ( 9 flights - 04.00 hrs to 21.50 hrs)

4) Delhi - Ahmedabad - Bangalore - Pune - Delhi - Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Delhi (7 flights - 07.00 hrs to 23.10 hrs)

5) Delhi - Goa - Mumbai - Goa - Delhi - Hyderabad - Chennai - Hyderabad - Delhi (8 flights - 11.20 hrs to 04.45 hrs next day)

My guess is that each aircraft is rotated between the routes to give it adequate overnight time about thrice a week. This route planning gives the airline a high fleet ulilization compared to other airlines and thus enables it to charge lower fares that also increases its load factor. Its single class 189 seat format enables it to carry more passengers than dual format aircraft.

Nagpur: An Overnight Hub and Spoke Airline Base

2005-12-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Nagpur has the Zero Mile depicting the geographical center of India. It is well connected by roadways and railways in the north-south as well as east-west directions. However, the location of Nagpur has not yet being exploited in India to provide a fast and cost effective logistic solution for the country as a whole.

Recently there is an initiative to make Nagpur a logistics base for courier companies. If international cargo flights land directly in Nagpur the goods can be rapidly transported to any corner of the country at the lowest overall cost through multimodal methods - air, rail or road.

By the same logic it is possible to run a hub and spoke passenger airline service with Nagpur as the hub that provides rapid connections between smaller towns in India.

Currently most air travelers moving from one smaller town to another smaller town in India have to go through one or two of the major metros and hope to catch connections that are usually at least three to four hours apart. This usually means that it would take the whole day to travel from say Mangalore to Patna as you have to go via Mumbai and/or Kolkata. While there are not enough passengers who need to travel between these cities to warrant a regular direct service, it is nevertheless a nuisance for passengers and the airlines also use up space on trunk routes to accommodate these passengers who are taking a roundabout route at a higher cost.

The potential innovative solution to this is to operate a hub and spoke operation with at least one daily flight from each smaller town to the central hub - Nagpur - with guaranteed connections to other smaller towns. The smaller towns to hub route can be served with smaller aircrafts like the ATR while the metro to hub routes can use larger aircrafts like the Airbus 320. This will ensure that utilization of planes is high and connections made such that all passengers can reach from any one smaller town to any another smaller town in less that six hours including waiting time for connections at Nagpur.

Currently the major airlines may be averse to running such hub and spoke routes during the day as this may lead to overall under utilization of the fleet and dissatisfaction among the bulk of passengers who are availing direct flights between metros.

However there is potential to make this happen by utilizing the present fleet to run overnight hub and spoke operations with Nagpur as the hub. If combined with high value cargo (such as courier documents) carried on these flights, it will also become more profitable for the airlines. This may require airlines to restrict passengers to hand baggage only so that the cargo hold can be utilized fully for courier cargo to make the flight more profitable. This restriction may be quite acceptable to most business travelers moving from one small town to another, as the airlines will be able to give through fares with less travel time that are far cheaper than normal fares that take them through the metro airports.

This is not a new idea - Indian Airlines used to do this about two decades ago but discontinued it - probably because the passenger density was low (it operated only a couple of trunk routes via Nagpur at that time). However this idea has high potential now as the real value is in connecting smaller towns rather than offer an alternative on trunk routes and many smaller towns are able to support one small aircraft traffic per day if it provides convenient connections to all major and smaller towns.

The practical issue is to design an overnight routing system that allows airlines to exploit this opportunity and yet have their aircraft back to home bases by early morning for running the day routes. The routes should be such that each leg does not exceed two hours flying time. The suggested typical flight will start after 10 pm from each of the centers stated below and reach Nagpur at about midnight and will start from Nagpur after 2.00 am and reach the home base by early morning. The gap of at least two hours enables all passengers to get their guaranteed connections - even across airlines if required and since passengers are restricted to hand baggage there are no problems of inter-aircraft baggage transfer.

Based on this norm and assuming that the major cities continue as home bases for starting the morning routes by all the airlines, some suggested routes in order or priority with road distances in kilometers from Nagpur in brackets are given below.

Metro Airbus capacity routes (less than 90 minutes flying time):
1) Delhi (1012) to Nagpur to Delhi (1012)
2) Mumbai (863) to Nagpur to Mumbai (863)
3) Bangalore (1049) to Nagpur to Bangalore (1049)
4) Kolkata (1124) to Nagpur to Kolkata (1124)
5) Chennai (1083) to Nagpur to Chennai (1083)

Other potential Airbus capacity routes (less than 90 minutes flying time):
6) Hyderabad (487) to Nagpur to Hyderabad (487)
7) Ahmedabad (970) to Nagpur to Ahmedabad (970)
8) Pune (880) to Nagpur to Pune (880)
9) Goa (1137) to Nagpur to Goa (1137)

ATR Capacity routes (less than two hours flying time):
1) Lucknow (879) to Nagpur to Lucknow (879)
2) Jaipur (936) to Nagpur to Jaipur (936)
3) Agra (809) to Nagpur to Agra (809)
4) Patna (939) to Nagpur to Patna (939)
5) Allahabad (605) to Nagpur to Allahabad (605)
6) Bhubaneshwar (840) to Nagpur to Bhubaneshwar (840)
7) Kanpur (802) to Nagpur to Kanpur (802)
8) Surat (747) to Nagpur to Surat (747)
9) Indore (440) to Nagpur to Indore (440)
10) Ranchi (907) to Nagpur to Ranchi (907)
11) Vijayawada (687) to Nagpur to Viyajawada (687)
12) Vishakhapatnam (960) to Nagpur to Vishakhapatnam (960)

This routing also allows the airlines to run a late night route from a metro to the nearby smaller town and an early morning route from the nearby smaller town to the major metros - for example the Agra - Nagpur - Agra route given above can become a Delhi - Agra - Nagpur - Agra - Delhi route with the benefit of a late evening Delhi - Agra leg and an early morning Agra - Delhi leg. Both these flights are likely to be popular with business travelers in these smaller towns as it provides a day -return option to travel to the nearest metro. Currently they are unable to do so as they have to use the only available mid-day flight in most cases - this means that they have to stay in expensive hotels in these metros. In fact using this format the airlines can cancel some of their midday routes from metros to smaller towns in preference to early morning and late night routes which are likely to be better options as indicated.

With these 42 flights the airline can offer the following 244 viable one way connections via Nagpur (122 two way links) as given below with total road distance:

1 Indore To Hyderabad 927
2 Hyderabad To Indore 927
3 Hyderabad To Allahabad 1092
4 Allahabad To Hyderabad 1092
5 Vijayawada To Indore 1127
6 Indore To Vijayawada 1127
7 Surat To Hyderabad 1234
8 Hyderabad To Surat 1234
9 Indore To Bhubaneshwar 1280
10 Bhubaneshwar To Indore 1280
11 Kanpur To Hyderabad 1289
12 Hyderabad To Kanpur 1289
13 Vijayawada To Allahabad 1292
14 Allahabad To Vijayawada 1292
15 Hyderabad To Agra 1296
16 Agra To Hyderabad 1296
17 Pune To Indore 1320
18 Indore To Pune 1320
19 Hyderabad To Bhubaneshwar 1327
20 Bhubaneshwar To Hyderabad 1327
21 Lucknow To Hyderabad 1366
22 Hyderabad To Lucknow 1366
23 Ranchi To Hyderabad 1394
24 Hyderabad To Ranchi 1394
25 Vishakhapatnam To Indore 1400
26 Indore To Vishakapatnam 1400
27 Jaipur To Hyderabad 1423
28 Hyderabad To Jaipur 1423
29 Patna To Hyderabad 1426
30 Hyderabad To Patna 1426
31 Vijayawada To Surat 1434
32 Surat To Vijayawada 1434
33 Bhubaneshwar To Allahabad 1445
34 Allahabad To Bhubaneshwar 1445
35 Hyderabad To Ahmedabad 1457
36 Ahmedabad To Hyderabad 1457
37 Mumbai To Allahabad 1468
38 Allahabad To Mumbai 1468
39 Pune To Allahabad 1485
40 Allahabad To Pune 1485
41 Indore To Bangalore 1489
42 Bangalore To Indore 1489
43 Vijayawada To Kanpur 1489
44 Kanpur To Vijayawada 1489
45 Vijayawada To Agra 1496
46 Agra To Vijayawada 1496
47 Hyderabad To Delhi 1499
48 Delhi To Hyderabad 1499
49 Indore To Chennai 1523
50 Chennai To Indore 1523
51 Vijayawada To Mumbai 1550
52 Mumbai To Vijayawada 1550
53 Kolkata To Indore 1564
54 Indore To Kolkata 1564
55 Vishakhapatnam To Allahabad 1565
56 Allahabad To Vishakapatnam 1565
57 Vijayawada To Lucknow 1566
58 Lucknow To Vijayawada 1566
59 Vijayawada To Pune 1567
60 Pune To Vijayawada 1567
61 Indore To Goa 1577
62 Goa To Indore 1577
63 Surat To Bhubaneshwar 1587
64 Bhubaneshwar To Surat 1587
65 Vijayawada To Ranchi 1594
66 Ranchi To Vijayawada 1594
67 Kolkata To Hyderabad 1611
68 Hyderabad To Kolkata 1611
69 Vijayawada To Jaipur 1623
70 Jaipur To Vijayawada 1623
71 Vijayawada To Patna 1626
72 Patna To Vijayawada 1626
73 Kanpur To Bhubaneshwar 1642
74 Bhubaneshwar To Kanpur 1642
75 Bhubaneshwar To Agra 1649
76 Agra To Bhubaneshwar 1649
77 Bangalore To Allahabad 1654
78 Allahabad To Bangalore 1654
79 Surat To Ranchi 1654
80 Ranchi To Surat 1654
81 Vijayawada To Ahmedabad 1657
82 Ahmedabad To Vijayawada 1657
83 Mumbai To Kanpur 1665
84 Kanpur To Mumbai 1665
85 Mumbai To Agra 1672
86 Agra To Mumbai 1672
87 Pune To Kanpur 1682
88 Kanpur To Pune 1682
89 Surat To Patna 1686
90 Patna To Surat 1686
91 Chennai To Allahabad 1688
92 Allahabad To Chennai 1688
93 Pune To Agra 1689
94 Agra To Pune 1689
95 Vijayawada To Delhi 1699
96 Delhi To Vijayawada 1699
97 Mumbai To Bhubaneshwar 1703
98 Bhubaneshwar To Mumbai 1703
99 Vishakhapatnam To Surat 1707
100 Surat To Vishakapatnam 1707
101 Lucknow To Bhubaneshwar 1719
102 Bhubaneshwar To Lucknow 1719
103 Pune To Bhubaneshwar 1720
104 Bhubaneshwar To Pune 1720
105 Kolkata To Allahabad 1729
106 Allahabad To Kolkata 1729
107 Bangalore To Vijayawada 1736
108 Vijayawada To Bangalore 1736
109 Goa To Allahabad 1742
110 Allahabad To Goa 1742
111 Mumbai To Lucknow 1742
112 Lucknow To Mumbai 1742
113 Pune To Lucknow 1759
114 Lucknow To Pune 1759
115 Vishakhapatnam To Kanpur 1762
116 Kanpur To Vishakapatnam 1762
117 Vishakhapatnam To Agra 1769
118 Agra To Vishakapatnam 1769
119 Ranchi To Mumbai 1770
120 Mumbai To Ranchi 1770
121 Jaipur To Bhubaneshwar 1776
122 Bhubaneshwar To Jaipur 1776
123 Ranchi To Pune 1787
124 Pune To Ranchi 1787
125 Surat To Bangalore 1796
126 Bangalore To Surat 1796
127 Mumbai To Jaipur 1799
128 Jaipur To Mumbai 1799
129 Patna To Mumbai 1802
130 Mumbai To Patna 1802
131 Bhubaneshwar To Ahmedabad 1810
132 Ahmedabad To Bhubaneshwar 1810
133 Pune To Jaipur 1816
134 Jaipur To Pune 1816
135 Patna To Lucknow 1818
136 Lucknow To Patna 1818
137 Pune To Patna 1819
138 Patna To Pune 1819
139 Vishakhapatnam To Mumbai 1823
140 Mumbai To Vishakapatnam 1823
141 Goa To Vijayawada 1824
142 Vijayawada To Goa 1824
143 Surat To Chennai 1830
144 Chennai To Surat 1830
145 Vishakhapatnam To Lucknow 1839
146 Lucknow To Vishakapatnam 1839
147 Vishakhapatnam To Pune 1840
148 Pune To Vishakapatnam 1840
149 Ranchi To Jaipur 1843
150 Jaipur To Ranchi 1843
151 Kanpur To Bangalore 1851
152 Bangalore To Kanpur 1851
153 Delhi To Bhubaneshwar 1852
154 Bhubaneshwar To Delhi 1852
155 Bangalore To Agra 1858
156 Agra To Bangalore 1858
157 Vishakhapatnam To Ranchi 1867
158 Ranchi To Vishakapatnam 1867
159 Surat To Kolkata 1871
160 Kolkata To Surat 1871
161 Patna To Jaipur 1875
162 Jaipur To Patna 1875
163 Ranchi To Ahmedabad 1877
164 Ahmedabad To Ranchi 1877
165 Kanpur To Chennai 1885
166 Chennai To Kanpur 1885
167 Bhubaneshwar To Bangalore 1889
168 Bangalore To Bhubaneshwar 1889
169 Chennai To Agra 1892
170 Agra To Chennai 1892
171 Delhi To Pune 1892
172 Pune To Delhi 1892
173 Vishakhapatnam To Jaipur 1896
174 Jaipur To Vishakapatnam 1896
175 Vishakhapatnam To Patna 1899
176 Patna To Vishakapatnam 1899
177 Patna To Ahmedabad 1909
178 Ahmedabad To Patna 1909
179 Chennai To Bhubaneshwar 1923
180 Bhubaneshwar To Chennai 1923
181 Kolkata To Kanpur 1926
182 Kanpur To Kolkata 1926
183 Lucknow To Bangalore 1928
184 Bangalore To Lucknow 1928
185 Vishakhapatnam To Ahmedabad 1930
186 Ahmedabad To Vishakapatnam 1930
187 Kolkata To Agra 1933
188 Agra To Kolkata 1933
189 Kanpur To Goa 1939
190 Goa To Kanpur 1939
191 Goa To Agra 1946
192 Agra To Goa 1946
193 Ranchi To Bangalore 1956
194 Bangalore To Ranchi 1956
195 Lucknow To Chennai 1962
196 Chennai To Lucknow 1962
197 Pune To Chennai 1963
198 Chennai To Pune 1963
199 Vishakhapatnam To Delhi 1972
200 Delhi To Vishakapatnam 1972
201 Goa To Bhubaneshwar 1977
202 Bhubaneshwar To Goa 1977
203 Jaipur To Bangalore 1985
204 Bangalore To Jaipur 1985
205 Mumbai To Kolkata 1987
206 Kolkata To Mumbai 1987
207 Patna To Bangalore 1988
208 Bangalore To Patna 1988
209 Ranchi To Chennai 1990
210 Chennai To Ranchi 1990
211 Lucknow To Kolkata 2003
212 Kolkata To Lucknow 2003
213 Pune To Kolkata 2004
214 Kolkata To Pune 2004
215 Lucknow To Goa 2016
216 Goa To Lucknow 2016
217 Bangalore To Ahmedabad 2019
218 Ahmedabad To Bangalore 2019
219 Jaipur To Chennai 2019
220 Chennai To Jaipur 2019
221 Patna To Chennai 2022
222 Chennai To Patna 2022
223 Ranchi To Goa 2044
224 Goa To Ranchi 2044
225 Chennai To Ahmedabad 2053
226 Ahmedabad To Chennai 2053
227 Kolkata To Jaipur 2060
228 Jaipur To Kolkata 2060
229 Delhi To Bangalore 2061
230 Bangalore To Delhi 2061
231 Jaipur To Goa 2073
232 Goa To Jaipur 2073
233 Patna To Goa 2076
234 Goa To Patna 2076
235 Kolkata To Ahmedabad 2094
236 Ahmedabad To Kolkata 2094
237 Delhi To Chennai 2095
238 Chennai To Delhi 2095
239 Goa To Vishakhapatnam 2097
240 Vishakhapatnam To Goa 2097
241 Goa To Delhi 2149
242 Delhi To Goa 2149
243 Kolkata To Goa 2261
244 Goa To Kolkata 2261

I await the adoption of this concept by the airlines in India. Nagpur airport will probably have to be upgraded to accommodate the larger number of flights arriving and departing from there every night but any airline can currently take up this concept without incurring any major additional costs or expanding their fleet strength.

Ganesh N. Prabhu

Electric Scooter Launch by Ekovehicle India

2005-11-23T02:22:00.000-08:00

On January 21, 2005 a Bangalore based company Ekovehicle India http://www.ekovehicle.com/ launched an electric battery operated scooter. The product was launched in Bangalore in two models Cosmic-1 and Cosmic-2 in five alternate colours at an on road price of Rs.29,000 each (all inclusive). Cosmic-1 is a low seat vehicle that is suitable for persons of average height while Cosmic-2 is a higher seat vehicle with more storage space that is suitable for taller persons.

Apparently sales have picked up slowly since the launch and in a recent interview the company CEO, Anil Ananthakrishnan said that 400 electric scooters had been sold so far (in about 8 months time). http://www.indiacar.net/news/n12149.htm

A dealer in Mysore has also sold some scooters and some users have purchased scooters in Bangalore for use in other cities.

The product launch was quite low-key with a few local newspapers reporting on the launch function and one or two local TV channels covering the novelty product. The company released no print advertisements at all and prospective buyers typically had a hard time reaching the company. The company had appointed a few dealers in Bangalore city and all these dealers were new to the two-wheeler business. This was a sound approach, given the radically different nature of this product to the petrol two-wheeler as explained later.

The Ekovehicle dealers had minimum promotional material - a small coloured mailer with the product details and colour photographs or a black and white handout with product details. Bookings were taken with advance payments by these dealers for their allocated areas and the vehicle was delivered within two to three days at the customer’s home after the RTO registration and insurance procedures was completed. The vehicle was available for test rides at the dealer’s showrooms as well as at the centrally located company premises. Display and test ride demonstrations was also organized at popular shopping malls in Bangalore.

The interesting question is why Ekovehicle chose to launch this product with a low-key approach. To understand this, we need to understand the product, as it exists today, and the prospective improvements that are possible on this product. The first electric scooter was made by the same company in the 80s but was too heavy, bulky and unwieldy and therefore did not last in the market. Therefore this time, the company has been very careful in launching the product even though it is a vastly superior product to the one they launched decades back.

The Ekovehicle scooters are manufactured entirely in China by the Wuxi Xufeng Electric Bicycle Company with the design given by Ekovehicle. The Xufeng range of products is apparently very popular in China http://www.exufeng.com/product3.htm. Ekovehicle India imported two models of the high-end electric scooters in their range as a complete knockdown kit and assembled it at the Ekovehicle assembly plant in Bangalore. The vehicle was then driven on road to the dealers showrooms in Bangalore. The company placed consignment orders for the kits on the Chinese company based on expected demand in Bangalore and assembled the vehicles rapidly in its Bangalore plant. While continuing with the import of the kit from China, more recently the company has redesigned the vehicle to make it look better and now uses more parts made in India.

Unlike petrol vehicles that have a complex integral architecture, the electric scooter is completely modular in architecture, making assembly easy and fast even in a batch assembly mode. This means that the overall operating costs are held low for the Indian company as they hold only a minor inventory of goods in both the kit and the finished state. Even dealers hold only a few vehicles on display at any time. Given relatively low initial costs, the low-key launch and slow sales probably did not adversely affect the profitability of the company’s operations at the initial stage.

The electric scooter is a relatively low horsepower vehicle that is ideally suited for short distance travel for single riders in urban areas. While a small child can be carried additionally with no difficulty, a second adult passenger can be a struggle on inclined roads. The scooter can be charged at any standard 5Amp household electric outlet with about four to five hours required for a full charge (consuming about one unit of electricity that costs about four to five rupees in Bangalore).

A full charge of the sealed no-maintenance gel battery in the vehicle takes the rider a distance of about forty kilometers or more without using the headlights and slightly lesser distance in night conditions. This low running cost of 10 to 15 paise per kilometer is a major attraction of this vehicle compared to petrol vehicle of similar utility like the TVS Scooty that has running costs that are several times this.

On the other hand the battery pack that is worth Rs.4000 and is included in the initial purchase price, has to be replaced after about 15000 kilometers. This effectively adds about 25 paise per kilometer to the running costs making the total running costs about 40 paise per kilometer if you assume that the vehicle’s initial price of Rs.29,000 consists of Rs.25000 for the vehicle and Rs.4000 for the battery pack. Even this is quite low compared to the running costs of a TVS Scooty given high petrol prices.

Additionally, the electric scooter is a reliable product with very low maintenance costs. Unlike petrol vehicles that need to be tuned and serviced regularly, the electric vehicle can effectively run for long periods with no servicing. Most common parts that need to be replaced – such as tires, tubes, bulbs are readily available in two-wheeler stores as the sizes used are the same as that used for the popular TVS Scooty.

Moreover, the electric scooter does not need to be kick started like petrol vehicles, thus allowing the user to stop and restart the scooter at traffic signals without any idling or any starting trouble. The vehicle is almost noiseless, quite free of engine vibrations and completely smokeless – making riding it far more comfortable and a lot less stressful than petrol two-wheelers (more so that you never have to line up at a petrol bunk every two days to fill your vehicle petrol tank with probably adulterated petrol).

However, the Ekovehicle electric scooter is currently not suitable for all users. It is ideally suited for users who use the scooter as a single rider for going short distances such as a shopping center or a work place that is near to their residence. Charging the vehicle for five hours is usually better at night as interruptions in charging are not desirable. The ideal place to charge the vehicle is inside any lockable area such as a garage on the ground floor. Users staying on upper residence floors will have to find a convenient way to charge the vehicle that is parked on the ground floor. While riding, users need to keep an eye on the charge status displayed on the dashboard and ensure they maintain adequate battery charge if they are going for longer distances. A full charge is desirable if the user is planning on making a trip of thirty kilometers or more.

The company is currently working on improvements and the second version of the vehicle launched recently, has improved looks and better quality and functionality for Indian conditions. For example the new model has better shock absorbers than the initial model, making it more comfortable for bumpy Bangalore roads.

Given the modular architecture of the product, any part in the vehicle (mechanical or electrical) can be replaced at any time. It is expected that a new battery pack using alternate battery technology that gives higher mileage per charge will be introduced at a higher price - giving present users the option to replace their battery pack with the new one for greater reach.

The low-key launch of this product was suitable as it enabled the company to road test the vehicle with a few users who have literally sought out and bought it. These initial users are more likely to tolerate teething problems that are common in any new vehicle and seek the company’s help in fixing them - thus giving the company valuable feedback. They may also provide the company with valuable suggestions that the company can use in improving the vehicle. They also spread information about the vehicle through word-of-mouth that is very effective in promoting an innovation that is currently not suitable for all users. Thus the users for whom this vehicle is appropriate are more likely to buy it and current users may advise others against buying it if is not appropriate for them.

In contrast, a major launch may have attracted more users for whom the initially launched product was not suitable and these users may have potentially spread negative word-of-mouth about the product. The company’s low investment and cash flow management using advances means that the low sales rate does not affect its finances adversely.

As of now, the company is potentially building a base for establishing the electric two-wheeler on Indian roads. But the product will actually become a bestseller only when the gel battery technology is upgraded to a high performance NiHi battery that can enable the vehicle to run over 100 km per charge. Currently used in cellular phones, the NiHi battery is too expensive at present for use in a vehicle of this size but the prices are falling rapidly while the technology is improving. That is when this electric two-wheeler will effectively replace low-end two-wheelers like the TVS Scooty among the bulk of users.

Unlike in petrol vehicles where once you buy a vehicle, you are stuck with that technology, the modular architecture of the electric two-wheeler will allow present users to upgrade their batteries when available and get the same performance as that of new vehicles.

It would be interesting to observe future developments in this high potential and innovative product that is suitable for Indian users.

Big Apple: Importing Used Computer Monitors

2005-11-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Big Apple Manufacturing based in Bangalore has created an innovative and niche business out of importing used computer monitors in bulk from the USA and selling it at low prices in retail in the Indian domestic market.

Most computer users in the USA replace their computers including the monitor every three years. After three years of use, the operating system is outdated, the comprehensive coverage is over and there is higher risk of the hard disk crashing. These used computers and monitors are usually taken back by the firms that sell the new computers. Used computers that have an architecture that is currently compatible with components available are usually refurbished at low additional cost and sold in the US market as used computers with warranty coverage.

However, the computers that have an outdated architecture can only be disposed off by selling them to buyers such as Big Apple in developing country markets such as India where the demand for such computers still exists. However the margins in this business for an Indian importer are likely to be low, as parts are difficult to replace due to non-compatibility of the system with new parts and low reliability of old parts. Refurbishing the computer is also labour intensive and not wothwhile for very old machines.

However the business opportunity with good margins is in buying used CRT monitors of well-known MNC brands at low prices from the USA for the Indian market. CRT monitors usually have a life of about eight years but are usually replaced in three years along with the computer. The recent fall in prices of TFT monitors has lead to many more CRT monitors in the USA being replaced with TFT monitors. Thus the market for new CRT monitors has fallen in the USA and its even more difficult for companies to sell used monitors within the USA. Also it is difficult to provide any reasonable warranty for the used picture tube in these monitors for the US market. This means that used CRT monitors will have to be sold in bulk at low prices to buyers in developing countries such as Big Apple.

Big Apple sells these typically three year old used monitors of well known MNC brands to the Indian customer after quality testing, but without any warranty, at about half the cost of a new CRT monitor or less. This is a sound bargain for the Indian customer as the monitor is likely to last for three to five more years of regular use. While the customer is taking a risk of product failure, the risk is probably quite low as these branded CRT monitors from the US market are usually of good quality and are quite robust. Many CRT monitors that are sold, though being about three years old, may actually have not been used regularly in that period. Therefore both the company and the customers benefit in the bargain.

Big Apple has recently started selling a consignment of brand new but outdated Intel compact computers at six thousand rupees - a good bargain for low end domestic users who use the computer mainly for internet access and simple word and data tasks that do not require high speed computers at high prices.

Paramount Airways - Innovation in Connecting Small Towns with a Small Aircraft

2005-11-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

The recently launched Paramount Airways in India seeks to provide a business class only service on a smaller fifty odd seater Brazil manufactured Embraer Aircraft. They are attempting to provide a high quality full service airline that connects smaller but important towns with major cities thus improving the reach of these towns. The current service uses a single Embraer aircraft that is based out of home office of the airways at Coimbatore and follows the following route from early morning to late night:

Coimbatore - Chennai - Coimbatore - Kochi - Delhi - Kochi - Coimbatore - Chennai - Coimbatore.

This route plan effectively provides full connectivity between all these four cities and the routes that are unique and therefore in demand are non-stop service both ways from Kochi to Delhi; one stop service between Coimbatore and Delhi and day return service both ways between Chennai and Coimbatore. All these routes probably had reasonable demand so far but were starved of a daily and direct service by all the major airlines because of their larger aircraft. Thus air travel from Kochi to Delhi was usually a full day event on major airlines and was so expensive that the Paramount business class fares seem reasonable.

Paramount is eminently suitable to take up this demand due to its choice of aircraft. Unlike the larger planes such as the Airbus, the breakeven number of passengers for this aircraft is low and this makes this aircraft viable to be used on a daily basis on lower demand routes - where other airlines ran half filled planes on alternate days at high prices on short routes or ran long routes with multiple stopovers involving change of aircraft.

Also unlike the smaller and cramped ATR aircraft which can travel only short distances, this aircraft is capable of travelling long distances such as Kochi - Delhi with flying time of over three hours. The versatility of this aircraft makes it a natural choice for the routes that Paramount has taken and potentially a number of other routes in India that are currently starved of good airline connectivity.

Worldspace's Innovative Diwali Offer

2005-11-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

The Worldspace digital radio service that charges a subscription fee for listening to multiple, specialised, advertisement free channels (currently 40) of digitally coded radio has been in the Indian market for several years now, but has in my opinion still not full tapped the latent demand in India. A major reason for that till recently, has probably been the relatively high cost of both the digital radio device as well as the annual subscription fee. The digital radios cost anywhere between Rupees four thousand to ten thousand and the subscription was fixed earlier at Rs.1200 per year (when there were fewer channels) and is now Rs.1800 per year. Paying over Rupees five thousand at the minimum at one time for the service and Rs.1800 every subsequent year, did not seem very appealing for individual users but was a bargain for restaurants and similar public establishments that wanted to give good streaming music to their customers but could not afford a DJ and did not want advertising filled FM radio channels disturbing their customers.

Unless you were the sort of person who had to have a radio running all the time in the background during your waking hours, many individuals who had not actually experienced the service probably did not find the total cost of taking the service worthwhile. Moreover this service cannot be used in a moving vehicle such as a car, as the antenna has to face a specific direction at all times, and this ruled out the use of this radio while travelling - the most common occasion for listening to the radio. While prospective buyers could check out the quality of the radio reception and range of programming at the Worldspace lounges in major cities, this is probably no match to experiencing the service throughout the day and throughout the week at home so that the prospective buyer could assess the complete experience and its fit with their lifestyle and therefore judge its worth relative to its price. Thus new subscribers were probably fewer than expected even though latent demand was apparently present.

Evidently, the best way to get new customers for this service is to make trial easier and cheaper and hope that many of the trial customers stay on as long term customers. This is what Worldspace actually did this Diwali when they offered the rack type Diva Worldspace digital radio made by BPL and a three month subscription to the service bundled for Rs.1999 - roughly a third of the inital cost faced by new customers in the recent past. Apparently this scheme has lead to an unexpected surge in sales and the company's installation staff have been working overtime to meet the demand - given their promise of installing the set at the customer's location within 24 hours. They have even extended the inital subscription period for those customers for whom they could not get the installation done in time. Clearly a lot of the latent demand that was deterred by the high inital cost of the service has been tapped by this scheme. The discounted cost of the digital radio (Rs.1499) is low enough for many customers to try the product and three months trial period (subscription Rs.500) is sufficient time for a customer to determine if its worth renewing the subscription annually at Rs.1800 per year. Possibly the rack type model (without inbuilt amplifier) that is on offer is also suited for most prospective customers as they can integrate it with their existing music system.

Worldspace must be hoping that most of these trial customers will stay on as long term customers. This does not seem far fetched, as there is a fair degree of lock-in once you take the service - you cannot use the radio at all if you do not subscribe and you cannot easily sell the radio to any other person. But at Rs.1999 that is a risk that many new customers are apparently willing to take and those who have taken that much risk for trial are most likely to stay on as subscribers at Rs.1800 per year if the service is satisfactory for them! Once the subscriber base increases, there are better prospect of offering more specialised radio channels and even offering data services (the Diva radio already has an inbuilt data port).

Non-stop Mobile: A Potential Indian Innovation

2005-11-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

Tata Indicom recently launched a "non-stop" mobile service. An innovation that was waiting to happen in India since the advent of the "caller party pays" regime, However Tata Indicom, in my opinion, stopped short of creating a mobile phone service that could revolutionise this business in India. The present "non-stop" mobile service scheme of Tata Indicom offers new users who purchase a phone at full price from the company, the facility to receive any number of calls free without paying any rental for the period of two years.

Why do I consider this a very significant scheme given the dozens of complicated schemes available from the several mobile service providers? To understand this we need to look at both the economics of the business as well as the potential customers for such a service. Mobile phone companies in India have paid large sums of money as licence fees for each area of operation. To recover this fee and make profits mobile phone companies in India have always sought to increase their customer base so that they can charge these customers phone rentals and call charges. Given intense competition among players, these phone rentals and call charges have moved downwards steadily to become one of the lowest in the world. While new subscribers are still being added at a rapid pace at this time, that potential customer base of customers who can afford the cost of the phone, the monthly rental and the call charges will soon be saturated, and growth rate of new subscribers will soon be lower than considered adequate by the mobile phone companies.

But there is another source of revenue for mobile phone companies - the charges that other companies pay per minute when their customers use their phone to access your customers. If your customer base can be considerably enhanced and is of the type that gets a large number of calls, more of such revenue will accrue to your company. This is where the non-stop mobile service of Tata Indicom makes sense. If a potential customer can afford only the cost of the phone and cannot afford to pay rentals or call charges for the next two years, that customer may opt for the "non-stop" service from Tata Indicom. As long as the customer receives an adequate number of calls in those two years, Tata Indicom will be able to cover the costs of maintaining that account through receiving connect charges from other companies or call charges from its own subscribers.

Ideally, such a scheme should be a lifetime rent free scheme such as the lifetime free credit cards offered by credit card companies. However, Tata Indicom has stopped short on this by offering only a two year's scheme. Therefore what will happen after two years is not clear now and that may be a dampner for potential customers.

If a mobile phone company in India offers a lifetime zero rental free inward call recieving service, the potential market for increasing new subscribers and increasing call volume is immense. To start with, a lot of people such as maid servants, cooks drivers whom a present mobile phone owner would like to reach by a mobile phone occasionally and is willing to call at his/her cost, are not reachable as they do not have a mobile phone.

A large number of potential users do not have a mobile phone as the cost of the phone and the operating costs of the service makes it unaffordable and unviable for them. Given a lifetime zero rental free inward call recieving service, a large number of such potential users may be willing to buy a phone and opt for such a service as their major requirement is receiving calls rather than making them. Individuals may be willing to buy several mobile phones with such a lifetime zero rental free inward call receiving service and gift it to their immediate relations without burdening them with running costs. Companies may be able to lend such phones with such a lifetime zero rental free inward call receiving services to their small service providers as they will always be reachable at a one time cost of buying the phone. Such purchasers of this service do not have to worry about misuse of the phone or large phone bills.

Small service providers such plumbers and self employed persons such as vegetable sellers may themselves buy the service as this has the potential to increase their revenues given that they are more easily reachable. Every such new subscriber would receive calls that earlier could not be made as he/she was not reachable - with connect charges paid to the provider of the lifetime zero rental free inward call recieving service.

This potential can be further enhanced if the company deviced and developed a cheaper phone - costing say less than US$20 - a phone that has only a call recieving facility. Many potential users of mobile phones are daunted by the complexity of the usual mobile phone interface and would probably like a phone that had only a call receive and close button.

Let us see when this happens - as of now it seems a largely wasted opportunity!

Mass Cataract Surgery: An Indian Innovation

2005-11-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

On Friday November 11, Dr. M.C. Modi the founder of the Dr. M.C. Modi Charitable Eye Hospital in Bangalore and pioneer of the mass cataract surgery techique, died at the age of 89. He had conducted eye camps regularly since 1943, and is credited with having examined over ten million patients and having conducted over seven hundred thousand cataract surgeries in his lifetime. He holds the world record of conducting 833 cataract surgeries in one day.

Dr M.C. Modi built and refined the techique of conducting mass cataract surgery that has subsequently been adopted by several eye hospitals in India. Mass cataract surgery is eminently suited to meet the Indian problem of a very large number of cataract cases and a very low availability of opthalmic surgeons. Since the opthalmic surgeon was the critical resource, Dr. M.C. Modi built both the surgical techique as well as the logistic process that allowed him to optimise his time with patients without compromising on quality. An assembly line of cataract patients with trained nurses handling all the pre-operative and post-operative procedural tasks enabled him to perform only the critical surgical procedure on a series of patents throughout the day thus raising his productivity as a surgeon quantum fold. Cataract surgey being relatively simple and fairly standardized opthalmic procedure was suited to this assembly line approach as surgical variations required were minimal. Mass cataract surgery as a process enabled Dr. M.C. Modi to perform cataract surgeries at low cost and reach more patients. This method of optimising on the surgeon's time was adopted by other eye hospitals. The Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai has become the largest eye hospital in the world in terms of patients covered and conducts cataract surgeries at the lowest cost in the world - largely by adopting this innovative technique along with several other pricing and organizational innovations of its own.