The Hindu Business Line : Sahara Airlines targets rail-users

Innovative marketing to increase the numbers of flyers by luring them from the pool of rail-users, attracting and retaining corporate customers and simultaneously increasing fleet strength and coverage are the means to cornering for itself a major share of this growth, believes Sahara Airlines.

As a part of this strategy, Sahara Airlines Ltd is looking to enhancing its market in the South with Chennai as a focus while enhancing its overall regional coverage. The regional coverage is expected to feed the hub connections to the metropolises, according to the officials.

Mr Uttam Kumar Bose, Chief Executive Officer, Sahara Airlines Ltd, addressing a press conference here, said that over the coming months, Sahara will position two 50-seater jets each in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. Involving an investment of about $20 million, the CRJs will be sourced from Bombardier, Canada. These would provide regional connections and be capable of operating on the hub routes.

For instance, Sahara plans to operate them morning and evening on the regional runs like Visakhapatnam and these would be dovetailed with a hub connection to a metropolis in the afternoon. Connections to Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Goa were on the anvil, he said.

In addition to connections between Chennai and Mumbai, Sahara will add destinations such as Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Tirupati. Chennai will be the fourth hub in addition to those of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, and emerge one of the busiest sectors, he said. To Chennai, there would be one direct flight from Delhi and another via Bangalore. There would also be two daily flights between Chennai and Bangalore.

Sahara has also introduced marketing strategies that have till now been in vogue in the international scene.

The online Flexi-auctions to sell tickets, "steal-a-seat'' and buy-fairs have contributed to a significant chunk of the company's revenue. Most of these are what Mr Bose describes as "train converts". They pay just about 20 per cent more than a rail ticket but reach the destination in 2.5 hours rather than 36. . Just 10 per cent of the Rs 1,200-crore revenue that the rail service enjoys could prove a boon for any airline, he said.

The other major resource pool that is being tapped is the corporate sector. The company has identified over 1,000 companies that contribute a significant portion of the corporate flyer segment. Of these, the lion's share is from 500 with most of whom Sahara has entered into agreements for specific packages.

For instance, companies like GE spend around Rs 20 crore on flying annually. An 8 - 10 per cent reduction in flight cost is a significant saving to the company while the airline would be equally happy to have that revenue.

As further value-addition, one of the 50-seaters that the company plans to acquire would be VIP luxury version with just 18 seats. This would be available for charter, he said.

The company was also looking at acquiring 11 larger aircraft, and a decision on whether these are to be Boeing or Airbus 319 is likely in the first week of November. The estimated cost of that project would be $400 million, he said.

Since last November Sahara has been on an expansion spree with its fleet strength going up to 20 aircraft from four. The company now serves 14 sectors with 57 flights.

The happy news for Sahara is that in the last week or so these have been operating at about 70 per cent of the total capacity of 7,700 seats compared to about 55 - 60 per cent, earlier.

This being the beginning of the busy season, things can only get better, believes Mr Bose.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
Comment on this article to BLFeedback@thehindu.co.in

Stories in this Section
Air India posts Rs 33-cr profit in April-August

Sahara Airlines targets rail-users

Paradip seeks TAMP nod to rationalise box charges

Insurance cos must refund excess motor premium

Delhi Metro Rail Ordinance okayed