The New 'Indian' Airlines

The aircraft seats, crew uniforms, crockery as well as customer contact points would bear evidence of the new brand 'Indian' and its new logo. Until the liberalization of the airline industry in the early 1990s, IA enjoyed a monopoly in India's domestic air transport. After liberalization, many private air carriers entered the Indian domestic airline industry and began gaining more and more market share. IA's bureaucratic management style caused it additional problems. The airline began making losses in 1989-90, but recovered to post profits from 1997-98. However, in 2000-01, IA again slipped into the red.⁸ By the early 2000s, there was new competition in the form of low cost carriers.

To improve the quality of the services being offered, the company conducted training programs for its cabin crew, upgraded the quality of food being offered on board, etc. When faced with competition from low cost carriers, IA reacted by cutting its fares and offering a variety of promotional schemes.

IA became profitable in 2003-04 after posting losses for three years. The re-branding exercise of IA was another move to counter the competition. According to analysts and industry observers, re-branding alone will not help IA beat the competition. Opined R Krishnan, an aviation analyst, "The new name and brand looks expressive, the colour looks impressive.