A-I To Refurbish Its Brand

ET&T Staff - Mumbai

Air-India is all set to refurbish its brand. The airline will introduce changes in its work culture and rebrand itself within a time span of one year. The Air-India chairman and managing director, V Thulasidas, said, "By rebranding, I do not mean changing the colour or the logo. We will attempt to rediscover the brand, its soul, and what it means to our customer. All this will be part of the national carrier's ongoing effort to undergo change in size, quality and image."

He said that although the changes would be gradual, they would have to manifest themselves by the time new aircraft reached the Air-India stable. The next one year would also see the airline go in for management change. "We need to address our customer's needs and manage costs. While we may not have any control over rising fuel costs, there are other areas where we do. Lowering costs will have to be our new mantra. The changes would manifest more as an evolution and not lead to any revolution," he added.

Referring to the new aircraft acquisition that the Public Investment Board recently cleared, Thulasidas said that the purchase of 68 aircraft was indeed a massive order, both in size and scope. This was the single largest approval this fiscal and constituted one-third of the total investments of Rs 1,00,000 crore that were approved in the first six months of the current financial year. The Air-India plan to purchase 68 long-range aircraft from Boeing includes 50 aircraft for the national carrier and 18 aircraft for Air-India Express. It has been reported that these 50 aircraft will cost around US$ 6.9 billion while the rest will cost US$ 1.2 billion.