Indigo And Air India Are Taking The Battle To Each Other Like Never Before

(MENAFN- Live Mint) As 6E-6814 took off for Mumbai on Thursday from Delhi, history will be made for IndiGo, as it will start offering dual-class seating. Progressively, all flights between Delhi and Mumbai will be covered before other metros start seeing this dual-class product, which IndiGo has named IndiGoStretch. The airline has been careful not to call it a business class, as it is not in the true sense. With the seat being a stripped-down version without leg rests and a recline which is not comparable to Air India's business class, the airline has taken adequate care to label it well.

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The flight is historic for both IndiGo and Indian aviation and comes in the same week of another historic event taking place - the merger of Vistara with Air India . IndiGo has defied Indian aviation's bad luck and grown to be what it is today. IndiGo alone has more aircraft today than the entire industry had in 2006 when the airline began operations. Vistara, on the other hand, was iconic in its own way, with an ultra-premium product.

As Vistara merged into Air India, overnight there was a change in leadership position between India's top routes. IndiGo, which had patiently built its portfolio of slots and routes in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru amongst others, had become the market leader on most of the top 10 routes in the country. The top two routes, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Bengaluru, saw Air India overtake IndiGo by both frequencies and seats overnight when Vistara merged with Air India.

Being a route leader in both frequency and capacity means a lot on a route where there are last-minute bookings, changes and corporates who are willing to travel at any fare for urgency. The more the options, the more the chances of attracting travellers who are around to take the next available flight. The benefit Air India has over IndIGo, at least in Delhi, is that it is housed in a single terminal, unlike IndiGo.

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Air India , though, has a long way to go in terms of improving and spreading the schedule since with the merger there are Vistara and Air India flights which are flying at the same time between Delhi and Mumbai at multiple hours in the day, almost like a formation flight.

IndiGo is offering 12 seats in IndiGoStretch as compared to 8 business class seats that Air India offers in a typical A320 configuration, which it is now converting itself to, and the Vistara planes are in currently. With a pitch which is lesser than Air India and a seat which does not have as elaborate features as Air India, the positioning by IndiGo has been such that the fares too are lower.

What is IndiGo trying to achieve here? The strategy looks two fold. First, moving some customers up to IndiGoStretch, possibly those who are already willing to pay for the first row along with meals and cancellation benefits. Second are those who are Premium Economy or Business class customers of competition and are cost- conscious with willingness to move.

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With IndiGo launching its frequent flyer programme, the benefits that passengers look forward to with a frequent flyer programme will also get replicated with IndiGo, though IndiGo has a while to evolve the programme into something bigger, better and comparable.

IndiGo, the low-cost carrier and frequency and capacity leader, and Air India, the full-service carrier, were the two ends of the spectrum. Within days, that is changing with Air India assuming the lead on the capacity and frequency front and IndiGo starting dual-class service, which also comes with a loyalty programme.

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