In Brief

Air Deccan Unveils In-Flight Shopping Scheme

Air Deccan, the Bangalore-based low-cost carrier, has tied up with Delhi-based AVA Merchandising to begin an innovative in-flight shopping scheme 'Brand For Less,' that will sell branded products at substantial discounts - 20 to 60 per cent on MRP. The scheme was implemented with immediate effect. This is a value addition to those flying with Air Deccan. The facility would be available in all 146 daily flights of the company", said, Captain G.R. Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan. The company has targeted sales of approximately 25,000 branded products per month and the figure is likely to go up as the airline increases its fleet strength in the near future.

Air-India Express To Increase Flights

Air-India Express, the low cost airline of Air-India, has announced plans to increase the number of flights it operates. V Thulasidas, chairman and managing director of Air-India, said, "We are planning to increase flights to Sharjah and Dubai and are also looking to connect Sharjah with Calicut and then with Kochi."

The airline is also looking to operate on the Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai sector. It plans to more than double its fleet to seven aircraft by April 2006 by inducting four more Boeing 737 aircraft, which are likely to be used to operate daily flights from Chennai to both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The airline, that took to the skies earlier this year, operates a single-class Boeing 737 aircraft and offers fares up to 25 per cent less than full service airlines. Dismissing rumours about the airline not performing well, Thulasidas said, "We have not cancelled a single flight between Kerala and Gulf. In fact, these flights have been doing very well and have an average load factor of 94 per cent."

To expand its route network and operate more flights on existing sectors, the airline recently recruited foreign pilots on a contractual basis. Its proposal for purchase of 18 Boeing 737-800 W aircraft is pending with the government and is likely to be considered by the Public Investment Board.

BA Ends Contract With Saatchi

British Airways has ended a 23-year old relationship with the Saatchi brothers, whose advertising agency had coined for BA the slogan "The world's favourite airline" - which was later abandoned in 1999 amid the downturn in air travel.

Maurice and Charles Saatchi's agency, MANDC Saatchi had lost the BA contract after the airline instigated the first review of the account for 10 years, a newspaper said, citing advertising industry sources. A BA spokesman told the newspaper: "The decision-making process continues and we hope to announce who we will appoint as our advertising agency in the coming weeks."

According to industry sources, the front-runner for the account was Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH). The Saatchi brothers' relationship with BA had begun in 1982 following a contract won by their agency Saatchi and Saatchi.

A decade ago, after being ousted in a boardroom coup, the brothers succeeded in preserving the BA account when they set up a new agency called MANDC Saatchi. But following a review in July, BA had decided to look elsewhere, delivering a severe blow to MANDC Saatchi.

The agency's chief executive David Kershaw admitted last month that the BA account amounted to between 6-7 per cent of MANDC's worldwide revenues and that losing the BA business could have a "major influence" on the company's second-half performance.