Will Common Man soars Kingfisher style?

After Kingfisher Airlines acquired an initial 26% stake in low cost carrier Air Deccan earlier this year, rebranding the airline was just a matter of time. The all-new Deccan promises to make a splash in the low cost carrier space with a new logo and improved brand promise. But will this new avatar dilute its core brand positioning of being the common man’s or the Aam Aadmi’s airline.

For the last four years this brand has been the quintessential Indian low cost airline, with the common man as its brand ambassador. Based on a model similar to the American airline Southwest, Air Deccan was struggling to fend off competition in highly cluttered low cost airline space. After Kingfisher acquired its stake, the rationale for the Deccan rebranding exercise was to find synergies with the premium Kingfisher. So, the all new Deccan with its folding hands, globally paved way for the Kingfisher bird. It now hopes to leverage brand Kingfisher.

Vijay_Mallya/404' class='bl-12-u' target='_blank'>Vijay Mallya, Chairman and CEO, Kingfisher Airlines, said, “Clearly, the Deccan rebranding exercise is to leverage the Kingfisher brand equity and that is pretty obvious to everyone. With that, there has been a huge effort in improving the level of service. Deccan used to outsource all its down handling even at passenger touch points and that has all changed. It is now Deccan staffed Kingfisher trend.”

The consumer reaction to the rebranding is mostly positive. Consumers feel prices are not really the consideration. It would certainly be a better-upgraded airline. “With the tie up, tickets might be a little more expensive.” They feel the service would be a little more improved.

But here is the downside, increase tickets prices have resulted in plummeting tickets sale. Its market share has been slipping from 18.1% in the second quarter to 16.5% in the third quarter. New players like Indigo and Go Air are cornering the low cost market. Going forward, Deccan looks to improve its services with mobile payment of tickets, in flight commerce, and better cancellation facilities. The Kingfisher-Deccan duo is banking on this Rs15 crore rebranding exercise to give the brand a leg up, although sceptics say a dominant Kingfisher look and feel may not be able to deliver long-term gains for the airlines.

Anand Halve, Founder, Clorophyll, said, “For all practical purposes, you might as well call it Kingfisher D and nothing would be different. There is no Deccanness left in Deccan. They have so completely Kingfisherised it that where is Deccan?”

Experts said having lost out on the strong equity of Air Deccan, which made it the first choice for first time upgraders, Deccan is now left with no clear target group to address. A cusp branding which holds little of the old Deccan and with a bit of premium Kingfisher is only worrisome for the Deccan brand at least for now. So, has Kingfisher managed to simplify Deccan or has diluted its brand positioning?