AirAsia India, and the competition, gets real

This piece looked at AirAsia India's in flight product, as experienced first hand by The Flying Engineer on the airline's first commercial flight on 12 June 2014.

The opposition

Two airlines seemed most troubled by AirAsia India's arrival: SpiceJet and IndiGo. IndiGo had reportedly tried tactics to stop AirAsia India from taking off. SpiceJet was believed to have played clean, trying instead to become an AirAsia to fight AirAsia. From the ruling BJP, Subramanian Swamy wrote to the DGCA and to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking that the first flight be stopped. The Federation of Indian Airlines wrote to the DGCA questioning the AOP on grounds including schedule approval with one aircraft, substantial ownership, and court cases still pending.

Yet at noon on 12 June 2014, CEO Mittu Chandilya stood smartly dressed above a crowd of reporters, tall and confident. The first commercial flight, i5 1320 from Bangalore to Goa, was due out at 15:10 IST, and AirAsia India drew closer to reality with every minute.

At the airport

Staff were buzzing, proud of the "wings of change" they felt they were bringing. The first visible change was at check in, where the boarding pass was just one and a half slips of thermal paper that looked like a supermarket receipt. It caused a stir at security, where the CISF staff were amused and at first unconvinced by such a strange document.

We chatted with the security staff, who asked why so many airline employees were travelling. We told them it was the first flight and that fares had gone as low as around INR 300 all inclusive. Their stern faces turned to smiles as they started planning a Goa trip of their own.

The airline's only aircraft, Airbus A320 VT-ATF, the 6,015th A320 built, stood on the aerobridge at Gate 1 of Bangalore's Kempegowda International Airport, decorated with flowers. Of the almost 180 passengers, a full A320 load with a few no shows, 40 were staff and guests and 140 were paying passengers. CEO Mittu and CFO Vijay Gopalan were on board with their families.

At the aircraft door the welcome was standard, and that was where "standard" ended. Engineers, cabin crew, department heads, the CFO and the CEO handed out mugs and caps with the AirAsia logo. Boarding music, something lost in Indian low cost travel, played. The aircraft was spotless and still smelt like the Airbus delivery centre in Toulouse.

With all the celebration the flight ran a little late. Push back was at 15:33, 23 minutes behind schedule, and AirAsia India's first revenue flight lifted off at 15:45 IST to loud applause.

The real deal

One off celebrations and one time fares were just that. Passengers cared about four things, in order: timing, fare, on time record and in flight experience. For tourists and casual travellers the first two swapped places.

Until its fleet grew, AirAsia India could not offer several options on a route like its rivals. But for similar timings, its low fares would be matched by IndiGo and partly by SpiceJet. That shifted part of the market to AirAsia India and IndiGo, and if on time records and fares matched, that part should split evenly. Unless the fourth factor, the in flight experience, tipped it. That was where AirAsia India would win.

In flight

AirAsia's advantage was its youth: it could change fast and carried no baggage from past passenger experiences. SpiceJet was transforming, with hot meals, clean aircraft and warm service, but had not yet got there or shifted public perception.

AirAsia offered everything SpiceJet was striving for: warm crew, good service, clean aircraft, comfortable seats, boarding music and hot meals. The menu was wide, and food arrived warm, if not hot, in rows far from the galleys. The carts were neat and appealing. Meals came in lively red sealed packaging rather than plain silver foil, were well cooked and good value. Travel Food Services (TFS) prepared them. SpiceJet used TAJ-SATS and Cafe Coffee Day; IndiGo had no ovens on board.

The cabin crew were warm, patient and very helpful.

The cabin itself was almost new and clean. Seats were dark grey leather with a matt finish, and the premium rows had bright red headrests. Female crew wore bright red, male crew jet black. Seat belts were bright red. Against the white cabin, none of it felt depressing, unlike the competition's colours.

The B/E Aerospace seats were almost five inches thick at the headrest, well cushioned, and 17 inches wide between armrests, the same as SpiceJet and IndiGo. That left a 25 inch aisle, which helped turnarounds. Seat pitch was 29 inches, except 33 inches in the first row and at the emergency exits (the red capped "hot seats"). At 29 inches, a 171 cm person of average build had about two inches between knee and seat pocket, which held the magazine, menu, safety card and sick bag.

Conclusion

With what looked like the best in flight product in India, AirAsia India became the preferred airline whenever fares, timings and on time performance matched the competition. IndiGo had made low cost not feel cheap; AirAsia India took it further with ambience, service and a proper meal menu. Nothing inside the aircraft felt cheap. Low cost, high appeal, for corporate and casual travellers alike.

AirAsia India got real, and so did the threat to the competition.

We also interviewed CEO Mittu Chandilya; that appeared as a separate piece. First flight crew: Captain Manish Uppal, First Officer Diganta Mohanty, Cabin Crew in Charge Monica, and cabin crew Ayesha, Sindhu and Sanket.