Air Deccan to Simplify Deccan

Air Deccan has the achievement of first low cost carrier to 

target burgeoning middle class in India. It was termed as South West Airlines of India. It was the brand, which wrote history in the Indian Airlines sector. After the entry of Air Deccan into the Indian airline sector, people changed the way they used to fly. Air Deccan has made it possible for more than 20% of population to experience the air travel for the first time. This went well with their first positioning i.e.  “Simplifying the flying experience”.  The target customer of Air Deccan is one and everyone who travels by First and Second class AC trains. Later Air Deccan under the ownership of Captain GR Gopinath Changed the positioning to No frills carrier for middle class.  

Air Deccan made into news by launching Re1 air ticket.  It was a vision of Captain to make air travel available to all. R.K Laxman’s Common Man was chosen as the ambassador of Air Deccan. 

“My Common Man”, is one of the popular creations of R.K Laxman who lent his creation free of cost to Air Deccan.  Initiatives like Re 1 Ticket gave them thumbs up start that has eaten the market share of already existing air carriers like Air India, Jet, and Kingfisher etc. Within 6 months of entry into the market, Air Deccan had revenues of more than $ 100 million on the account of shining economy, burgeoning middle class, and frequent flying of corporate executives.

Air Deccan did not raise its price even after there is more than 70% increase in prices of crude oil. The taxes levied by the Govt. were increasing and Air Deccan was unable to keep its cashbooks positive. In late 2007 when Kingfisher bought majority stake in Air Deccan, most of the marketers thought that the brand value of premium brand like Kingfisher would dilute. However, Kingfisher very strategically kept two brands in different boxes with different names. Air Deccan was rebranded as just DECCAN with tagline SIMPLIFY DECCAN.  

Kingfisher very successfully changed the image of Air Deccan to a low cost airline with better services. Initially there were cases of poor customer service, delays, old buses used at airports etc.  I think with this takeover, Kingfisher is successful in selling different experiences under two different brand names.