Jet Airways new strategies

Jet Airways started operations in Nepal in 2004 and is represented by Hansa International. India’s second largest airline this year posted its highest ever annual profit in its 23 year history. Jet Airways is also launching its first large scale multi media campaign in nearly a decade. The campaign is expected to cost close to INR 20 crores and comes with the tagline, Get More. It is also restructuring to a full service brand. 
Jet Airways is now offering Fare Choices which enables customers’ choices similar to the plans offered by telecom companies based on their preference and requirements. The various fare categories are based on changeability and refundability of a ticket, mileage accrual, upgrade eligibility, priority check in and lounge access. All choices come with free meals and baggage allowance.

Colin Neubronner is the Senior Vice President – Sales & Marketing of Jet Airways and was in Kathmandu recently to share Jet Airways new strategies. He also said that they are aiming to have 35 departures every week by year end. Excerpts from a conversation with him:

Jet Airways has posted a net profit of USD 185 million in FY 16 compared to a loss of USD 342 million in FY 15, what is this owed to?
A large part of it is due to the lower fuel price. We were not the only beneficiary. All the airlines benefited from this. So that was the primary difference between the year before and the recent close of the last financial year.  Beyond that we also benefited from the robust Indian growth. India as an economy has grown. Domestic and international travel has continued to grow at phenomenal rates that you don’t see anywhere else in the world. The average compounded annual growth rate is 11.6%. What that means is every six years the volume doubled. Five six years ago domestic travel was around 50 unit movements a year but at the end of this financial year it’s projected to go to 100. So the numbers double every 5-6 years because it is continuous compounded growth. So we benefited from that because we are an Indian based airline. 
The idea that has helped us in terms of our profitability is that we have restructured our business. We were previously two brands. We have gone back to our core value of having one full service brand. Focusing on full service Indian hospitality, differentiating ourselves from locals and the other airlines. 
We are using our own assets more. Today amongst all the airlines that use Boeing fleet, we use more hours than anyone else in the world in terms of operating hours. The more you run your fleet the better your efficiency is. So those factors helped.

Could you share a little about your marketing campaign based on the tag line - Get More – also from a Kathmandu perspective?
The idea behind this campaign was with the level of competition not only in India but in Kathmandu and elsewhere, and with the launch of new airlines in the market, consumers are swamped. We felt that the lines between LCC (Low Cost Carrier) and FSC (Full Service Carrier) were getting blurred, especially for consumers to understand. They are not sure what they get for what they pay. LCC will put up a really low fair and later you end up paying for drinks and baggage and what not. The net total of that is probably higher than let’s say if you had bought from Jet Airways which is all inclusive. So we decided to run this campaign – Get More –essentially to communicate our value preposition and to get consumers to think and not be misled by just LCC’s floating a low fare. When you buy Jet, you get the full gamut of services, meals, baggage, your seat and whole lot of other services that you would otherwise have had to pay for.