Air India Project Report

A Detail Study on Air India
INTRODUCTION TO
AVIATION INDUSTRY
Aviation is the activities surrounding mechanical flights and the aircrafts industry. Aircraft
includes fixed wings and rotatory wing types, morphable wings, wing less lifting bodies, as
well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air balloons and airships. The flying boats were in
their turn replaced by land planes, and the new and immensely powerful jet
engine revolutionised both air travel and military aviation.
Soundarya Institute of Management and Science 1|Page

ETYMOLOGY
The term aviation, noun of action from stem of Latin avis "bird" with suffix - action meaning
action or progress, was coined in 1863 by French pioneer Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La
Landelle (1812–1886) in "Aviation ou Navigation aérienne sans ballons.
HISTORY OF AVIATION
Aviation began in the 18th century with the development of the hot air balloons, an apparatus
capable of atmospheric displacement through buoyancy. Some of the most significant
advancements in aviation technology came with the controlled gliding flying of Otto
Lilienthal in 1896; then a large step in significance came with the construction of the first
powered airplane by the Wright brothers in the early 1900s. Since that time, aviation has been
technologically revolutionized by the introduction of the jet which permitted a major form of
transport throughout the world.
The modern aeroplane with its characteristic tail was established by 1909 and from then, the
history of the aeroplane became tied to the development of more and more powerful engines.
The first great ships of the air were the rigid balloons pioneered by Ferdinand von Zeppelin,
which soon became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the
1930s, when large flying boats became popular.
In the latter part of the 20th century, the advent of digital electronics produced great advances
in flight instrumentation and "fly-by-wire" systems. The 21st century saw the large-scale use
of pilotless drones for military, civilian and leisure use. With digital controls, inherently
unstable aircraft such as flying wings became possible.

TOWER JUMPING
Daedalus
Since antiquity, there have been stories of men strapping bird like wings, stiffened cloaks or
other devices to themselves and attempting to fly, typically by jumping off a tower. The
Greek legend of Daedalus and Icarus is one of the earliest known; others originated from
ancient Asia and the European Middle Age. During this early period, the issues of lift,
working on Icarus wings stability and control were not understood, and most attempts ended
in serious injury or death.
According to John Harding, Ibn Firnas' glider was the first attempt at heavier-than-air flight
in aviation history. In 11th century Benedictine monk Eilmer of Malmesbury attached wings to
his hands and feet and flew a short distance, but broke both legs while landing, also having
neglected to make himself a tail. Many others made well-documented jumps in the following
centuries. As late as 1811, Albrecht Berblinger constructed an ornithopter and jumped into
the Danube.

KITES
The kite may have been the first form of man-made aircraft. It was invented in China possibly
as far back as the 5th century BC by Mozi (Mo Di) and Lu Ban (Gongshu Ban). Later designs
often emulated flying insects, birds, and other beasts, both real and mythical.
Some were fitted with strings and whistles to make musical sounds while flying. Ancient and
medieval Chinese sources describe kites being used to measure distances, test the wind, lift
men, signal, and communicate and send messages. Kites spread from China around the world.
After its introduction into India, the kite further evolved into the fighter kite, where an
abrasive line is used to cut down other kites.
MAN-CARRYING KITES
Man-carrying kites are believed to have been used extensively in ancient China, for both civil
and military purposes and sometimes enforced as a punishment. Stories of man-carrying kites
also occur in Japan, following the introduction of the kite from China around the seventh
century AD.

HOT AIR BALLOONS
A sky lantern.
From ancient times the Chinese have understood that hot air rises and have applied the
principle to a type of small hot air balloon called a sky lantern.
A sky lantern consists of a paper balloon under or just inside which a small lamp is placed.
Sky lanterns are traditionally launched for pleasure and during festivals. According to Joseph
Needham, such lanterns were known in China from the 3rd century BC.
ROTOR WINGS
The use of a rotor for vertical flight has existed since 400 BC in the form of the bamboo-
copter, an ancient Chinese toy. The similar rotor on a nut appeared in Europe in the 14th
century AD.

RENAISSANCE
One of Leonardo's sketches
Eventually, after Ibn Firnas's construction, some investigators began to discover and define
some of the basics of rational aircraft design. Most notable of these was Leonardo da Vinci,
although his work remained unknown until 1797, and so had no influence on developments
over the next three hundred years. While his designs are rational, they are not scientific, and
particularly underestimate the amount of power that would be needed.
Leonardo studied bird and bat flight, claiming the superiority of the latter owing to its
unperforated wing. He analysed these and anticipating many principles of aerodynamics. He
understood that "An object offers as much resistance to the air as the air does to the object.”
Isaac Newton would not publish his third law of motion until 1687.
In 15th century, Leonardo wrote about and sketched many designs for flying machines and
mechanisms, including ornithopters, fixed-wing gliders, rotorcraft, parachutes and a wind
speed gauge. His early designs were man-powered and included ornithopters and rotorcraft;
however he came to realise the impracticality of this and later turned to controlled gliding
flight, also sketching some designs powered by a spring.

LIGHTER THAN AIR
In 1670, Francesco Lana de Terzi published a work that suggested lighter than air flight
would be possible by using copper foil spheres that, containing a vacuum, would be lighter
than the displaced air to lift an airship. While theoretically sound, his design was not feasible:
the pressure of the surrounding air would crush the spheres. The idea of using a vacuum to
produce lift is now known as vacuum airship but remains unfeasible with any
current materials.
In 1709, Bartolomeu de Gusmao presented a petition to King John V of Portugal, begging for

support for his invention of an airship, in which he expressed the greatest confidence. The
public test of the machine, which was set for 24 June 1709, did not take place. According to
contemporary reports, however, Gusmao appears to have made several less ambitious
experiments with this machine, descending from eminences. It is certain that Gusmao was
working on this principle at the public exhibition he gave before the Court on 8 August 1709,
in the hall of the Casa da India in Lisbon, when he propelled a ball to the roof by combustion.

BALLOONS
Lithographic depiction of pioneering events (1783 to 1846).
1783 was a watershed year for ballooning and aviation. Between 4 th June and 1st December,
five were achieved in France:
 On 4th June, the Montgolfier brothers demonstrated their unmanned hot air

balloon at Annonay, France.
 On 27th August, Jacques Charles launched the world's first unmanned hydrogen-filled

balloon, from the Champ de Mars, Paris.
 On 19th October, the Montgolfiers launched the first manned flight, a tethered balloon
with humans on board, at the Folie Titon in Paris. The aviators were the
scientist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier, the manufacture manager Jean-Baptiste
Réveillon, and Giroud de Villette.

 On 21th November, the Montgolfiers launched the first free flight with human
passengers. King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would
be the first pilots, but Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, along with the Marquis François
d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor. They drifted 8 km (5.0 mi) in a
balloon-powered by a wood fire.
 On 1st December, Jacques Charles and the Nicolas-Louis Robert launched their

manned hydrogen balloon from the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris, as a crowd of
400,000 witnessed. They ascended to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m) and landed
at sunset in Nesles-la-Vallee after a flight of 2 hours and 5 minutes, covering 36 km.
After Robert alighted Charles decided to ascend alone. This time he ascended rapidly
to an altitude of about 9,800 feet (3,000 m), where he saw the sun again, suffered
extreme pain in his ears, and never flew again.
In the early 1900s, ballooning was a popular sport in Britain. These privately owned balloons
usually used coal gas as the lifting gas. This has half the lifting power of hydrogen so the
balloons had to be larger, however, coal gas was far more readily available and the local gas
works sometimes provided a special lightweight formula for ballooning events.

AIRSHIPS
Airships were originally called "dirigible balloons" and are still sometimes called dirigibles
today. Work on developing a steerable balloon continued sporadically throughout the 19th
century. The first powered, controlled, sustained lighter-than-air flight is believed to have
taken place in 1852 when Henri Giffard flew 15 miles (24 km) in France, with a steam engine
driven craft.
Another advance was made in 1884, when the first fully controllable free-flight was made in a
French Army electric-powered airship, La France, by Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs. The
170-foot (52 m) long, 66,000-cubic-foot (1,900 m3) airship covered 8 km (5.0 mi) in 23
minutes with the aid of an 8½ horsepower electric motor.
However, these aircraft were generally short-lived and extremely frail. Routine, controlled
flights would not occur until the advent of the internal combustion engine. The first aircraft to
make routine controlled flights were non-rigid airships (sometimes called "blimps".) The most
successful early pioneering pilot of this type of aircraft was the Brazilian Alberto Santos-
Dumont who effectively combined a balloon with an internal combustion engine. On 19 th
October 1901, he flew his airship Number 6 over Paris from the Parc de Saint Cloud around
the Eiffel Tower and back in under 30 minutes to win the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize.
Santos-Dumont went on to design and build several aircraft.
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17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES
Italian inventor Tito Livio Burattini, invited by the Polish King Władysław IV to his
court in Warsaw, built a model aircraft with four fixed glider wings in 1647. Described as
"four pairs of wings attached to an elaborate 'dragon', it was said to have successfully lifted a
cat in 1648 but not himself. He promised that "only the most minor injuries" would result
from landing the craft. His "Dragon Volant" is considered "the most elaborate and
sophisticated aeroplane to be built before the 19th Century".
The first published paper on aviation was "Sketch of a Machine for Flying in the
Air" by Emanuel Swedenborg published in 1716. This flying machine consisted of a light
frame covered with strong canvas and provided with two large oars or wings moving on a
horizontal axis, arranged so that the upstroke met with no resistance while the downstroke
provided lifting power.
Swedenborg knew that the machine would not fly, but suggested it as a start and was
confident that the problem would be solved. He wrote: "It seems easier to talk of such a
machine than to put it into actuality, for it requires greater force and less weight than exists in
a human body. The science of mechanics might perhaps suggest a means, a strong spiral
spring. If these advantages and requisites are observed, perhaps in time to come someone
might know how better to utilize our sketch and cause some addition to be made so as to
accomplish that which we can only suggest. Yet there are sufficient proofs and examples from
nature that such flights can take place without danger, although when the first trials are made
you may have to pay for the experience, and not mind an arm or leg". Swedenborg would
prove prescient in his observation that a method of powering of an aircraft was one of the
critical problems to be overcome. On 16 May 1793, the Spanish inventor Diego Marín
Aguilera managed to cross the river Arandilla in Coruña del Conde, Castile, flying 300-400m,
with a flying machine.

SIR GEORGE CAYLEY AND THE FIRST MODERN AIRCRAFT
Sir George Cayley was first called the "father of the aeroplane" in 1846. During the last years
of the previous century he had begun the first rigorous study of the physics of flight and
would later design the first modern heavier-than-air craft. Among his many achievements, his
most important contributions to aeronautics include:
 Clarifying our ideas and laying down the principles of heavier-than-air flight.
 Reaching a scientific understanding of the principles of bird flight.
 Conducting scientific aerodynamic experiments demonstrating drag and streamlining,
movement of the centre of pressure, and the increase in lift from curving the wing
surface.
 Defining the modern aeroplane configuration comprising a fixed-wing, fuselage and
tail assembly.
 Demonstrations of manned, gliding flight.
 Setting out the principles of power-to-weight ratio in sustaining flight.
Cayley's first innovation was to study the basic science of lift by adopting the whirling arm
test rig for use in aircraft research and using simple aerodynamic models on the arm, rather
than attempting to fly a model of a complete design.

19TH CENTURY
Drawing directly from Cayley's work, Henson's 1842 design for an aerial steam
carriage broke new ground. Although only a design, it was the first in history for a propeller-
driven fixed-wing aircraft.
1866 saw the founding of the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain and two years later the
world's first aeronautical exhibition was held at the Crystal Palace, London, where John
Stringfellow was awarded a £100 prize for the steam engine with the best power-to-weight
ratio. In 1848, Stringfellow achieved the first powered flight using an unmanned 10 feet
(3.0 m) wingspan steam-powered monoplane built in a disused lace factory in Chard,
Somerset. Employing two contra-rotating propellers on the first attempt, made indoors, the
machine flew ten feet before becoming destabilised, damaging the craft. The second attempt
was more successful, the machine leaving a guidewire to fly freely, achieving thirty yards of
straight and level powered flight. Francis Herbert Wenham presented the first paper to the
newly formed Aeronautical Society (later the Royal Aeronautical Society), On Aerial
Locomotion. He advanced Cayley's work on cambered wings, making important findings. To
test his ideas, from 1858 he had constructed several gliders, both manned and unmanned, and
with up to five stacked wings. He realised that long, thin wings are better than bat-like ones
because they have more leading edge for their area. Today this relationship is known as
the aspect ratio of a wing.

LEARNING TO GLIDE
The Biot-Massia glider
In the last decade or so of the 19th century, a number of key figures were refining and
defining the modern aeroplane. Lacking a suitable engine, aircraft work focused on stability
and control in gliding flight. In 1879, Biot constructed a bird-like glider with the help of
Massia and flew in it briefly. It is preserved in the Musee de l'Air, France, and is claimed to
be the earliest man-carrying flying machine still in existence.
The Englishman Horatio Phillips made key contributions to aerodynamics. He conducted

extensive wind tunnel research on aerofoil sections, proving the principles of aerodynamic lift
foreseen by Cayley and Wenham. His findings underpin all modern aerofoil design. Between
1883 and 1886, the American John Joseph Montgomery developed a series of three manned
gliders, before conducting his own independent investigations into aerodynamics and
circulation of lift.
Otto Lilienthal became known as the "Glider King" or "Flying Man" of Germany. He

duplicated Wenham's work and greatly expanded on it in 1884, publishing his research in
1889 as Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation. He also produced a series of hang gliders,
including bat-wing, monoplane and biplane forms, such as the Derwitzer Glider and Normal
soaring apparatus. Starting in 1891, he became the first person to make controlled untethered
glides routinely, and the first to be photographed flying a heavier-than-air machine,
stimulating interest around the world.

LANGLEY
On 6 May 1896, Langley's Aerodrome No. 5 made the first successful sustained flight of an
unpiloted, engine-driven heavier-than-air craft of substantial size. It was launched from a
spring-actuated catapult mounted on top of a houseboat on the Potomac River near Quantico,
Virginia. Two flights were made that afternoon, one of 1,005 metres (3,297 ft) and a second
of 700 metres (2,300 ft), at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). On both
occasions, the Aerodrome No. 5 landed in the water as planned, because, in order to save
weight, it was not equipped with landing gear. On 28 November 1896, another successful
flight was made with the Aerodrome No. 6. This flight, of 1,460 metres (4,790 ft), was
witnessed and photographed by Alexander Graham Bell. The Aerodrome No. 6 was
actually Aerodrome No. 4 greatly modified. So little remained of the original aircraft that it
was given a new designation.
With the successes of the Aerodrome No. 5 and No. 6, Langley started looking for funding to
build a full-scale man-carrying version of his designs. Spurred by the Spanish–American War,
the U.S. government granted him $50,000 to develop a man-carrying flying machine for aerial
reconnaissance. Langley planned on building a scaled-up version known as the Aerodrome A,
and started with the smaller Quarter-scale Aerodrome, which flew twice on 18 June 1901, and
then again with a newer and more powerful engine in 1903.

WHITEHEAD
The No. 21
monoplane
Gustave was a German who emigrated to the U.S., where he soon changed his name to
Whitehead. From 1897 to 1915, he designed and built early flying machines and engines. On
14 August 1901, two and a half years before the Wright Brothers' flight, he claimed to have
carried out a controlled, powered flight in his Number 21 monoplane at Fairfield,
Connecticut. The flight was reported in the Bridgeport Sunday Herald local newspaper. About
30 years later, several people questioned by a researcher claimed to have seen that or other
Whitehead flights.
In March 2013, Jane's All the World's Aircraft, an authoritative source for contemporary
aviation, published an editorial which accepted Whitehead's flight as the first manned,
powered, controlled flight of a heavier-than-air craft. The Smithsonian Institution (custodians
of the original Wright Flyer) and many aviation historians continue to maintain that
Whitehead did not fly as suggested.

WRIGHT BROTHERS
The Wrights appear to be the first to make serious studied attempts to simultaneously solve
the power and control problems. Both problems proved difficult, but they never lost interest.
They solved the control problem by inventing wing warping for roll control, combined with
simultaneous yaw control with a steerable rear rudder. Almost as an afterthought, they
designed and built a low-powered internal combustion engine. They also designed and carved
wooden propellers that were more efficient than any before, enabling them to gain adequate
performance from their low engine power. Although wing-warping as a means of lateral
control was used only briefly during the early history of aviation, the principle of combining
lateral control in combination with a rudder was a key advance in aircraft control.
While many aviation pioneers appeared to leave safety largely to chance, the Wrights' design
was greatly influenced by the need to teach themselves to fly without unreasonable risk to life
and limb, by surviving crashes. This emphasis, as well as low engine power, was the reason
for low flying speed and for taking off in a headwind. Performance, rather than safety, was the
reason for the rear-heavy design because the canard could not be highly loaded anhedral
wings were less affected by crosswinds and were consistent with the low yaw stability. The

Wrights continued flying at Huffman Prairie near Dayton, Ohio in 1904. In May 1904 they
introduced the Flyer II, a heavier and improved version of the original Flyer.
On 23rd June 1905, they first flew a third machine, the Flyer III. After a severe crash on 14
July 1905, they rebuilt the Flyer III and made important design changes. They almost doubled
the size of the elevator and rudder and moved them about twice the distance from the wings.
They added two fixed vertical vanes between the elevators and gave the wings a very slight
dihedral. They disconnected the rudder from the wing-warping control, and as in all future
aircraft, placed it on a separate control handle. When flights resumed the results were
immediate. The serious pitch instability that hampered Flyers I and II was significantly
reduced, so repeated minor crashes were eliminated. Flights with the redesigned Flyer III
started lasting over 10 minutes, then 20, then 30. Flyer III became the first practical aircraft
flying consistently under full control and bringing its pilot back to the starting point safely and
landing without damage.
PIONEERS IN EUROPE
Although full details of the Wright Brothers' system of flight control had been published in
L’Aerophile in January 1906, the importance of this advance was not recognised, and
European experimenters generally concentrated on attempting to produce inherently stable
machines. On 13th September 1906, a day after Ellehammer's tethered flight and three years

after the Wright Brothers' flight, the Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont made a public flight in
Paris with the 14-bis, also known as Oiseau de proie (French for "bird of prey").
This well-documented event was the first flight verified by the Aero-Club de France of a
powered heavier-than-air machine in Europe and won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize for the
first officially observed flight greater than 25 m (82 ft). On 12th November 1906, Santos-
Dumont set the first world record recognized by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale
by flying 220 m (720 ft) in 21.5 seconds. Only one more brief flight was made by the 14-bis
in March 1907, after which it was abandoned.
In March 1907, Gabriel Voisin flew the first example of his Voisin biplane. On 13th January
1908, a second example of the type was flown by Henri Farman to win the Deutsch-
Archdeacon Grand Prix d'Aviation prize for a flight in which the aircraft flew a distance of
more than a kilometer and landed at the point where it had taken off. The flight lasted 1
minute and 28 seconds.
MILITARY USE
Almost as soon as they were invented, airplanes were used for military purposes. The first
country to use them for military purposes was Italy, whose aircraft made reconnaissance,
bombing and artillery correction flights in Libya during the Italian-Turkish war. The first
mission occurred on 23 October 1911. The first bombing mission was flown on 1 November
1911. The first war to see major use of airplanes in offensive, defensive and reconnaissance
capabilities was World War I. The Allies and Central Powers both used airplanes and airships
extensively.
While the concept of using the airplane as an offensive weapon was generally discounted
before World War I, the idea of using it for photography was one that was not lost on any of
the major forces. All of the major forces in Europe had light aircraft, typically derived from

pre-war sporting designs, attached to their reconnaissance departments. Radiotelephones were

also being explored on airplanes, notably the SCR-68, as communication between pilots and
ground commander grew more and more important.
BETWEEN THE WORLD

WARS (1918 – 1939)
The years between World War I and World War II saw great advancements in aircraft
technology. Airplanes evolved from low-powered biplanes made from wood and fabric to
sleek, high-powered monoplanes made of aluminium, based primarily on the founding work
of Hugo Junkers during the World War I period and its adoption by American designer
William Bushnell Stout and Soviet designer Andrei Tupolev. The first successful rotorcraft
appeared in the form of the autogyro, invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva and first
flown in 1919. In this design, the rotor is not powered but is spun like a windmill by its
passage through the air. A separate powerplant is used to propel the aircraft forwards.
After World War I, experienced fighter pilots were eager to show off their skills. Many
American pilots became barnstormers, flying into small towns across the country and showing
off their flying abilities, as well as taking paying passengers for rides. Eventually, the
barnstormers grouped into more organized displays. Air shows sprang up around the country,
with air races, acrobatic stunts, and feats of air superiority. Amelia Earhart was perhaps the

most famous of those on the barnstorming/air show circuit. She was also the first female pilot
to achieve records such as the crossing of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
WORLD WAR II (1939 – 1945)
World War II saw a great increase in the pace of development and production, not only of
aircraft but also the associated flight-based weapon delivery systems. Air combat tactics and
doctrines took advantage. Large-scale strategic bombing campaigns were launched, fighter
escorts introduced and the more flexible aircraft and weapons allowed precise attacks on
small targets with dive bombers, fighter-bombers, and ground-attack aircraft. New
technologies like radar also allowed more coordinated and controlled deployment of
Air-defense.
The first jet aircraft to fly was the Heinkel He 178 (Germany), flown by Erich Warsitz in
1939, followed by the world's first operational jet aircraft, the Me 262, in July 1942 and
world's first jet-powered bomber, the Arado Ar 234, in June 1943. British developments, like
the Gloster Meteor, followed afterwards, but saw only brief use in World War II. The first
cruise missile (V-1), the first ballistic missile (V-2), the first (and to date only) operational
rocket-powered combat aircraft Me 163—with attained velocities of up to 1,130 km/h
(700 mph) in test flights—and the first vertical take-off manned point-defense interceptor,
the Bachem Ba 349 Natter, were also developed by Germany. However, jet and rocket aircraft

had only limited impact due to their late introduction, fuel shortages, the lack of experienced
pilots and the declining war industry of Germany.
DIGITAL AGE - 21ST

CENTURY
21st century aviation has seen increasing interest in fuel savings and fuel diversification, as
well as low cost airlines and facilities. Additionally, much of the developing world that did
not have good access to air transport has been steadily adding aircraft and facilities, though
severe congestion remains a problem in many upcoming nations. Around 20,000 city pairs are
served by commercial aviation, up from less than 10,000 as recently as 1996.
At the beginning of the 21st century, digital technology allowed subsonic military aviation to
begin eliminating the pilot in favor of remotely operated or completely
autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In April 2001 the unmanned aircraft Global
Hawk flew from Edwards AFB in the US to Australia non-stop and unrefuelled. This is the
longest point-to-point flight ever undertaken by an unmanned aircraft and took 23 hours and
23 minutes. In October 2003, the first totally autonomous flight across the Atlantic by a
computer-controlled model aircraft occurred. UAVs are now an established feature of modern
warfare, carrying out pinpoint attacks under the control of a remote operator.

INTRODUCTION TO
AIR INDIA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Air India is the oldest carrier in the domestic aviation industry. It has been the main stay for
domestic air travel in India for more than 50 years. With the arrival of other private airlines,
its interests have been hurt, but it is continuing its quest to be the leader in this industry.
During the research, the main objectives of the study have been:
 To understand the perception of travellers towards Air India

 Also to apprehend the perceptions of travel agents towards Air India.

 To know how Air India can improve its overall performance.
 The specific objectives are to improve service quality of Air India
 To have a better marketing strategy.
 Market image of Indian Airlines as compared to its counterparts.
To find out the required information primary data was collected through self-administered
questionnaire for the passengers and travel agents and secondary data from library and the
internet. A sample size of 200 was taken including 150 passengers and 50 travel agents.
The passengers and travel agents felt that private airlines were better in certain service factors.
They also could identify a change in Air India, after the arrival of private airlines and believed
that it was overcoming it’s ‘I care less’ syndrome. For analysis of the data, statistical tools,
based on the data collected were used and comparative analysis was done. Air India is a
financially strong company and if it carefully plans its strategies, with more focus on
passengers, it will remain the market leader.
INTRODUCTION
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Air
India Limited, a government-owned enterprise, and operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing
aircraft serving 102 domestic and international destinations. The airline has its hub at Indira
Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, alongside several focus cities across India.

Air India is the largest international carrier out of India with an 18.6% market share. [9] Over
60 international destinations are served by Air India across four continents. The airline
became the 27th member of Star Alliance on 11 July 2014. The airline was founded by J. R.
D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932; Tata himself flew its first single-engine de Havilland Puss
Moth, carrying air mail from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome to Bombay's Juhu aerodrome
and later continuing to Madras. After World War II, it became a public limited company and
was renamed as Air India. On 21 February 1960, it took delivery of its first Boeing 707
named Gauri Shankar and became the first Asian airline to induct a jet aircraft in its fleet.
Air India also operates flights to domestic and Asian destinations through its subsidiaries
Alliance Air and Air India Express. Air India's mascot is the Maharajah (Emperor) and the
logo consists of a flying swan with the wheel of Konark inside it.
HISTORY
EARLY YEARS (1932–1945)
AS TATA AIR SERVICES

Air India had its origin as Tata Air Services later renamed to Tata Airlines founded by J. R. D.
Tata of Tata Sons, an Indian aviator and business tycoon. Tata Sons was formed with two
single-engine de Havilland Puss Moths.
On 15 October 1932, Tata flew a Puss Moth carrying air mail from Karachi to Bombay
(currently Mumbai) and the aircraft continued to Madras (currently Chennai) piloted by
Nevill Vintcent, a former Royal Air Force pilot and friend of Tata. The airline fleet consisted
of a Puss Moth aircraft and a de Havilland Leopard Moth. Initial service included weekly
airmail service between Karachi and Madras via Ahmedabad and Bombay. In its first year of
operation, the airline flew 160,000 miles (260,000 km), carrying 155 passengers and 9.72
tonnes (10.71 tons) of mail and made a profit of ₹60,000.
AS TATA AIRLINES

Vintage photograph of an Air India plane
The airline launched its first domestic flight from Bombay to Trivandrum with a six-seater
Miles Merlin. In 1938, it was re-christened as Tata Air Services and later as Tata Airlines.
Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Delhi were added to the destinations in 1938.
During the Second World War, the airline helped the Royal Air Force with troop movements,
shipping of supplies, rescue of refugees and maintenance of aircraft.
NATIONALISATION
In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority
stake in the carrier from Tata Sons though its founder J. R. D. Tata would continue as
Chairman till 1977. The company was renamed as Air India International Limited and the
domestic services were transferred to Indian Airlines as a part of a restructuring. From 1948
to 1950, the airline introduced services to Nairobi in Kenya and to major European
destinations Rome, Paris and Düsseldorf. The airline took delivery of its first Lockheed
Constellation L-1049 and inaugurated services to Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and
Singapore.
AS AIR INDIA

After World War II, regular commercial service was restored in India and Tata Airlines
became a public limited company on 29 July 1946 under the name Air India. After Indian
independence in 1947, 49% of the airline was acquired by the Government of India in 1948.
ALL-JET FLEET
On 21 February 1960, Air India

International inducted its first Boeing
707-420, thereby becoming the first
Asian airline to enter the Jet Age. The
airline inaugurated services to
New York on 14 May 1960. On 8 June
1962, the airline's name was
officially truncated to Air India and on 11 June 1962, Air India became the world's first all-jet
airline.

In 1971, the airline took delivery of its first Boeing 747-200B named Emperor Ashoka and
introduced a new Palace in the Sky livery and branding. In 1986, Air India took delivery of its
first Airbus A310-300. In 1993, Air India took delivery of a Boeing 747-400 named Konark
and operated the first non-stop flight between New York and Delhi.
POST-LIBERALISATION (SINCE 2000)
In 2000–01, attempts were made to re-privatize Air India. In 2000, Air India introduced
services to Shanghai, China. On 23 May 2001, the Ministry of Civil Aviation charged
Michael Mascarenhas, the then-managing director, with corruption. According to the ministry
reports, the airline lost approximately ₹570 million (US$8.0 million) because of extra
commissions that Mascarenhas sanctioned and he was later suspended from the airline. In
May 2004, Air India launched a wholly owned low cost subsidiary called Air-India Express
connecting cities in India with the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Until 2007, Air India
mainly operated on international long-haul routes while Indian Airlines operated on domestic
and international short-haul routes.

COMPANY PROFILE
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, owned by Air India Limited, a government of
India enterprise. The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts serving various
domestic and international airports. It has its headquarters located at the Indian Airlines
House, New Delhi. It has two major domestic hubs at Indira Gandhi International Airport
(New Delhi) and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Mumbai).
Its secondary hubs are at Chennai International Airport (Chennai) and NetajiSubhash Chandra
Bose International Airport. However, international hub is being planned at Dubai
International Airport, Dubai.Its fleet size is 133 (including subsidiaries) which includes
youngest fleets providing superior flight experience. As of June-2014 Air India serves 131
Manuscript received June 03, 2018 destinations. There are 26,000 employees working in Air
India. Air India was once the largest operator in Indian subcontinent with the market share of
over 60%. Indifference financial performance and services, labour trouble pushed it to 4th
place in India behind low-cost carriers like Spice Jet and its full service rivalry Jet Airways.
As of January 2014, Air India is the 3rdlargest carrier in India, after Indigo and Jet Airways
with the market share of just above 19%. History of Air India - Air India is the India’s
National Airline. Its history can be traced to October 15th 1932. On this day J. R. D. Tata, the
father of civil aviation in India and founder of Air India, took off from Drigh Road Airport,
Karachi in a tiny, light single engine de Havilland Puss Moth on his flight to Bombay
(Mumbai) via Ahmadabad. Air India earlier was known as Tata Airlines. After the World War
II, regular commercial service in India went back to normal, Tata Airlines changing its name
to Air India and becoming a public limited company on the 29th of July 1946. On March 8th
1948 Air India International limited was formed to start Air India’s International operations.
On 8th June 1948, Air India introduced a regular service from Bombay to London, and two
years later, Air India started regular flights to Nairobi.

LOGO
Air India's colour scheme is red and white. The aircraft were painted in white with red palace
style carvings on the outside of the windows and the airline's name written in red. The name is
written in Hindi on the port side fuselage and in English on the port side tail. On the starboard
side fuselage, the name is written in English, and in Hindi on the starboard tail.
The window scheme was designed in line with the slogan Your Palace in the Sky. The aircraft
were earlier named after Indian kings and landmarks. In 1989, to supplement its Flying
Palace livery, Air India introduced a new livery that included a metallic gold spinning wheel
on a deep red-coloured tail.
MISSION
 To be rated among top five airlines in Asia Pacific by customers and distribution
partners.
 To achieve best standards through commitment to excelle.

VISION
 To rationalize all business processes around passenger and departure control applications
using industry standards with a view to enhance revenues and reduce cost.
 Upgrade participation levels with various Global Distribution Systems (GDS) to the
highest level.
 Provide for various modes of booking and check-in and thus extend the convenience to
the customers.
 Timely and accurate revenue determination per flight departure due to uplift of e-ticket
coupons and speedier interline settlements.
 Ensure that NACIL hosted system has incorporated latest Industry Standard (IS) changes
relevant for all PSS applications as per requirements
 Provide the Customers using the airline IBE for passenger services an experience to
cherish.
 Provide a world class Frequent Flyer system with comprehensive interface with other
frequent flyer systems of Global Alliances partner airlines.

PRESENT STATUS OF AIR INDIA
Two years ago, a section of Air India pilots went on a 10 days strike demanding better pay.
The strike forced the national carrier to cancel dozens of flights, suffering a loss of revenue
and market share. To regain market share, the loss-making airlines slashed fares that proved
disastrous. “It played havoc with our finances,” says Chairman and Managing director Rohit
Nandan, who took over the airline in August 2011, “After I came, I decided no more low
fares. There is no point in focussing on your market share at the cost of profitability.”
The carrier posted earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of
Rs 19 crore in 2012/2013. The achievement is significant, considering that International
Journal of Engineering Research and Management (IJERM) ISSN: 2349- 2058, Volume-05,
Issue-06, June 2018 6 www.ijerm.com the airline has been making losses for the past seven
years. Air India’s operational parameters have improved as well. Its flights, for instance, stick
to their schedules more often than before. Air India’s on time performance improved to 82 per
cent in May 2013 from 80 per cent a year earlier, according to data from industry regulator
Director General of Civil Aviation. And its local market share leapt to 19.1 per cent in
May2013 from 16.2 per cent a year earlier, the data show.

AIRCRAFT OF AIR INDIA
The total aircraft on order are 111 (68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus)
Aircraft on order include eight B777-200LRs, 15 B777-300ERs, 27 B787 Dreamliners, 18

B737-800s, 19 A319s, 20 A321s and four A320s. Of the 111 aircraft ordered, 24 Boeing (five
B777-200LRs, five B777-300ERs, 15 B737-800s) and 21 Airbus (12 A321s and nine A319s)
have been in the fleet so far.
Aircraft Total
Airbus A 310 8
Airbus A 319 15
Airbus A 320 43
Airbus A 321 12
Airbus A 330 2
Boeing 737-800 22
Boeing 747 6
Boeing 737 5
Boeing 777 14
Airbus A 310 Freighters 4
Boeing 737 Freighters 6
ATR* 7
CRJ 700 3
Total 147

SERVICES
CABIN
The Boeing 777-200LR/777-300ER and Boeing 747-400 aircraft operated on long haul flights

are in a three-class configuration. Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A321 aircraft have a
two-class configuration. Airbus A320 aircraft operated on domestic and short haul
international flights are in either an all-economy configuration or a two-class configuration.
Airbus A319 aircraft have a full economy configuration. Air India serves meals on all
international flights and on domestic flights with a flight duration of over 90 minutes.
FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAMME
Flying Returns is Air India's frequent-flyer programme. It is shared by Air India and its
subsidiaries. The points can be redeemed for awards travel on some other airlines.

PREMIUM LOUNGES
The Maharaja Lounge (English: Emperor's
Lounge) is available for the use of First and Business class passengers. Air India shares
lounges with other international airlines at international airports that do not have a Maharaja
Lounge available.
There are eight Maharaja Lounges
India
 Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai
 Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi
 Chennai International Airport, Chennai
 Kempegowda International Airport, Bangalore
 Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad
 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad
International
 John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City
 Heathrow Airport, London
 San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco

IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT
Air India aircraft are equipped with Thales i3000 in-flight entertainment system. Passengers

can choose from five channels airing Hindi and English content. Air India's Boeing 777, 747
and 787 aircraft are also equipped with personal on demand in-flight entertainment systems
on which passengers can choose from available content. Showtime is the official
entertainment guide published by Air India. Shubh Yatra is a bilingual in-flight magazine
published in English and Hindi by Air India.
SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
 Hotel Corporations of India

 Air India Charter Limited
 Air India Air Transport Services Limited
 Air Engineering Services Limited
 Airline Allied Services Limited
 Vayudoot Limited

COMPETITORS
 Jet Airways
 Indigo Airlines
 Vistara
 Emirates
 Singapore Airlines
 British Airways
 Qatar Airways
 Qantas Airways
 Malaysia Airlines
STAR ALLIANCE MEMBERSHIP
Air India became the 27th member of Star Alliance on 11 July 2014. In August 2015, it
signed an agreement with Citibank and State Bank of India to raise $300 million in external
commercial borrowing to meet working capital requirements. For FY 2014–15, its revenue,
operating loss and net loss were ₹198 billion ₹2.171 billion and ₹5.41 billion compared FY
2011–12, which were ₹147 billion, ₹5.138 billion and ₹7.55 billion (US$110 million). As of
May 2017, Air India is the third largest carrier in India (after IndiGo and Jet Airways), with a
market share of 13%.

FLEET
In 1932, Air India started operations with a de Havilland Puss Moth. It inducted its first
Boeing 707-420 named Gauri Shankar (registered VT-DJJ), thereby becoming the first Asian
airline to induct a jet aircraft in its fleet and on 4 August 1993, Air India took the delivery of
its first Boeing 747-400. Apart from the Boeing aircraft, Air India also operates a wide range
of Airbus aircraft. In 1989, Indian Airlines introduced the Airbus A320-200 aircraft, which
Air India now uses to operate both domestic and international short haul flights.
In 2005, Indian Airlines introduced smaller A319s, which are now used mainly on domestic
and regional routes. After the merger in 2007, Air India inducted the biggest member of the
A320 family, the A321, to operate mainly on international short haul and medium haul routes.
At the same time, Air India leased Airbus A330s to operate on medium-long haul
international routes. Currently Air India has many narrow body aircraft for domestic
destinations like A320, A321 and A320 neo.
Air India has also many wide body aircraft like Boeing 777-200LR, Boeing 777-300ER,
Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 787-8 mainly for international destinations. Air India Express, a
subsidiary of Air India has a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800.

FLEET RESTRUCTURING
As a part of the financial restructuring, Air India sold five of its eight Boeing 777-
200LR aircraft to Etihad Airways in December 2013. According to the airline, plans for
introducing ultra-long flights with service to Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles were
cancelled due to factors like high fuel prices and weak demand. Air India flights to Los
Angeles and San Francisco have been resumed with more new international destinations.
On 24 April 2014, Air India issued a tender for leasing 14 Airbus A320 aircraft for up to six
years, to strengthen its domestic network. Air India has purchased many Boeing 787-8 dream-
liners to strengthen international operations.
DESTINATIONS
As of December 2019, Air India flies to a total of 102 destinations including 57 domestic
destinations and 45 international destinations in 31 countries across five continents around the
world. Its primary hub is located at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, and it has
a secondary hub at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai.

AIR INDIA OPERATES THE FOLLOWING SERVICES
 Domestic scheduled destinations: Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, New

Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Mumbai and
Thiruvananthapuram.
 International scheduled destinations: Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Bahrain, Bangkok,
Birmingham, England, Chicago, Dammam, Dar es Salaam, Doha, Dubai, Frankfurt,
Hong Kong, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, London, Los Angeles, Muscat,
Nairobi, New York, Osaka, Paris, Riyadh, Salalah, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo
and Toronto.
AIR INDIA PASSENGER OPERATIONS
Air India currently caters approximately 44 destinations throughought the world. It also has
code-sharing agreements with many international airlines to expand coverage. The airline
ferried 3.39 million passengers during the financial year ending March 2003 and achieved a
load factor of 71.6 per cent, substantially higher than the 66 per cent load factor recorded in
the preceding year.
The airline strives to achieve the best in-flight standards and receives a 4-star rating for cabin
safety procedures from skytrax airline quality review. Three classes of seats are offered - First
class, Executive class and Economy class. Flat bed seats are offered for first class passengers.
The airline also offers a frequent flyer programme alone and in collaboration with many of its
alliances. The airline also offers luxury lounges in its ground terminals for its First and
Executive class travellers in select destinations within India. Air-India has duty free sale on
board its flights effective June 1, 2003 named 'sky bazaar', meaning Market in the sky.

AIR INDIA CARGO OPERATIONS
In 1954, Air-India commenced its freighter operations with a Douglas DC-3 Dakota aircraft,
giving Air-India the distinction of being the first Asian airline to operate freighters. Currently,
the airline operates regular Cargo flights to many destinations of the world. The airline also
has ground truck-transportation arrangements on select destinations.
An active member of IATA, Air-India carries all types of cargo including dangerous goods
(hazardous materials) and live animals, provided such shipments are tendered according to
IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations and IATA Live Animals Regulations, respectively.
At the warehouse in Mumbai, Air India has developed an indigenous system of inventory
management for cargo handling of import/export functions. This takes care of the entire
management of cargo, supports Electronic Data Interface (EDI) messages with Indian
Customs and replaces to a great extent existing paper correspondence between Customs,
Airlines, and the custodians. This also replaces manual handling and binning of cargo at the
warehouse in Mumbai by Air India.
CHALLENGES
 Unified work practices

 Man power integration
 Pay parity
 Carrier progression
 Succession planning

AIR INDIA STRATEGY
1. A Multi-pronged approach
2. Capacity & Network Expansion
 to increase market share & garner competitive strength

 Achieve dominance in core markets (USA/UK/Gulf/SEA)
 Increase market access through strategic alliances
PRODUCT UPGRADATION
 Deploy modern aircraft with state-of-art passenger amenities

 Operate customer friendly schedules with increased network connectivity
OPERATIONS IMPROVEMENT
 Increased asset (aircraft & manpower) productivity

 Out-sourcing/hiving-off of non-core activities to subsidiaries
 Technology upgradation
 Benchmarking & adoption of “Best Practices”

LITERATURE REVIEW
Passenger satisfaction in airline operations has become critically important and Dennett,
Ineson, Stone, and Colgate (2000) suggest that as competition created by deregulation has
become more intense, service quality in the airline industry has also received more attention.
Airline companies also attempted to differentiate their services through the use of
computerized reservation systems which were also designed to create customer loyalty in the
distribution channels (Lee and Cunningham, 1996). However, despite the airlines‟ efforts to
differentiate their services, an extensive survey of frequent fliers conducted by Ott (1993)
revealed that consumers did not perceive any difference from one carrier to another.
Cronin and Taylor (1992) originate empirical provision for the idea that perceived service
quality led to satisfaction and argued that service quality was actually an antecedent of
consumer satisfaction. Bitner and Hubbert (1994) determined that service encounter
satisfaction was quite distinct from overall satisfaction and perceived quality. Service quality
will vary; the definitions are all formulated from the customer perspective: that is, what
customers perceive are important dimensions of quality.
Gronroos (1982) and Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) were the pioneers in the
conceptualization of the service quality construct, these authors maintained that the overall
perception of quality was a disconfirmation of a customer‟s expectation and evaluation of a
services delivered. Saha and Theingi (2009) pointed out that the emergence of low-cost
airlines has raised concerns on how satisfied are the customers with the services provided.
Doyle and Wong (1998) originate that successful companies have a differential advantage in
overall company reputation and communicate it as quality to their customers (Solomon,
1985). Often, they are able to command premium prices (Tepeci, 1999). It is found that the
most important criterion for customers selecting a bank is reputation (Boyd et al., 1994;
Darby, 1999) while Rogerson (1983) stated that good reputation could increase an
organization's sales, attract more customers, and reduce customer departures.

Maintaining quality are the main concerns of business today. Providing quality is not a
concern of manufacturing companies alone. The delivery of high-quality service becomes a
marketing requirement among air carriers as a result of competitive pressure (Ostrowski et al.,
1993). Chang and Keller (2002) argue that quality in airline service is difficult to describe and
measure due to its heterogeneity, intangibility, and inseparability, and only the customer can
truly define service quality in the airline industry (Butler and Keller, 1992).Previous airline
service studies are concentrated in modeling the effect of perceived service quality at
aggregate construct level, though examining the effects of individual dimensions of service
attributes has potentially great utility for airline managers(Patterson & Spreng, 1997).The
perceptions of airline service quality are quite diverse and do not seem to fit any single
existing quality model such as the service quality.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to understand the perception of travelers towards Air India, to
apprehend the perceptions of travel agents towards Indian Airlines, to know how Air India
can improve its overall performance in terms of its marketing as well as its quality of services
provided and total customer satisfaction and hence with the help of the above to assess the
image of Air India in the market as compared to its counterparts viz. Jet air and Sahara
Airlines.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Passenger satisfaction service arises when a company can provide passengers with benefits
that exceed passengers‟ expectation and this is considered value-added. If customers are
satisfied with the product or service, they will buy more, and do so more often. Passenger
gratification is an essential goal for each airline providing passenger services. The onboard
experience is still something special for the customer. The customer has a wide choice to
select the suitable airline product according to their requirements. Therefore, airlines are
continuously working on the in-flight product development and innovation to differentiate
themselves from competitors. During the last few year’s a variety of in-flight product
innovations have entered into the market.
This includes the aircraft seat on long haul flights as an important product element which is
continuously being improved and renewed according to its life cycle and changing customer
requirements. The current development of business class seat roll-outs shows the significance
of this product element which influences the buying decision of the passenger especially on
long haul flights. If the passenger is not satisfied, due to the negative experience, the client
will reconsider the buying decision for further flights and will probably switch to another
airline. This kind of situation belongs to the daily business in the passenger airline industry.
Excellent passenger satisfaction is one of the greatest assets for air business in today’s
competitive environment. There are many factors that can help an airport to build its customer
base, and passenger service and satisfaction can be a determining factor in the success of an
entire operation. The research related to service quality and customer satisfaction in the airline
industry has been growing in interest because the delivery of high service quality is essential
for airlines‟ survival and competitiveness. A number of studies have conducted in service
quality related theories and methods in the airline industry.

Conversely, most previous airline service studies have relied mainly on passenger satisfaction
and service quality to describe passenger evaluations of services and have focused on the
effect of airline service quality at the aggregate construct level. Although examining the effect
of individual dimensions of service attributes has potentially great utility for airline managers,
the effects of individual dimensions of airline service quality has not been fully investigated
in previous airline service studies. In addition, the findings would enhance the airliners to
improve their customer relations management as well as their brand loyalty.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
 To understand the perception of travelers towards Air India.
 To know how Air India can improve its overall performance
 The specific objectives are to improve service quality of Air India
 Market image of Air India as compared to its counter parts

RESEARCH PLAN
Type of research Market Survey

Market Segment Passengers/ Travellers
Geographical Area New Mumbai/Thane
Data Sources Primary Survey Research
Secondary Print Media
Internet
Company Documentation
Research Instrument Questionnaire

Sampling Plan Sampling Unit Airline passengers
Travel agents
Sample Size 150 passengers
50 travel agents
Sampling Procedure-Non-
probability judgmental.
Contact Method Personal Interviews
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problems. It has

understood as a science of studying how research is being done scientifically. In it we study
the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem
along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know not only he
research method/techniques but also the methodology.
As we know that for the achievement of any goal, a proper methodology should be adopted
in the same manner for the success of a project, it is necessary to have a clear methodology.
Therefore, in the research methodology following terms are included
 Research Design
 Data at a Glance
 Data Collection
RESEARCH DESIGN
A Research design is purely and simply the framework or plan for the guide’s collection and
analyzing of data. Research design is a systematic way to achieve the desired objective in a
right manner. It is a blue print used to guide the future course of actions. It may be worthwhile
to mention here that a research design is nothing more than the framework for the study.
There are three kinds of research designs namely;

 Exploratory research
 Descriptive research
 Experimental research
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH DESIGN
All marketing research projects must start with exploratory research design. This is the
preliminary phase and absolute in order to obtain a proper definition of problem at hand. The
Exploratory study is particularly helpful in breaking broad and vague problems in to smaller,
more precise sub problem statements, helpful in the form of hypothesis for future research.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
One simply describes something such as demographic characteristics of customers who use
the products. The descriptive study is typically concerns determining frequency with which
something acquires. This study is typically guided by initial hypothesis.
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
It is defined as a process where event requires in a setting at the discretion of the

experimental and controls are used to identically of the sources in subject’s response.
DATA COLLECTION
 Primary data

 Secondary data
Data would be collected through both primary and secondary data for carrying out the
research project.
PRIMARY DATA
Primary data relates to data which has been collected first hand and which has been collected
for the purpose of analysis. It is undertaken, when data needed by the researcher does not
exist, or are dated inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, the researcher has to collect primary
data. The primary data was collected through questionnaires.
SOURCES OF PRIMARY DATA
 Corporate travellers.
 Professional’s
 Students.
SECONDARY DATA

Secondary research invariably precedes primary research. Secondary data are data that were
collected for another purpose and already exists somewhere.
SOURCES OF SECONDARY DATA
 Travel Magazine.
 Business Travel Journals.
 Brochures,
 Libraries
 Annual Report.
DATA AT A GLANCE
 Observation Method
 Experimentation Method
 Survey Method
SAMPLE DESIGN

Doing research via sampling was important because of impossibility of finding all of a
population, as well as other restrictive parameters like cost, time etc. Our sampling decision
should be in-coordination with the research and data objectives. The method opted for taking
samples was `Non-probability sampling’. It was a `Purposive Nonprobability sampling/
Judgment Sampling’ was used.
The key assumption underlined this type of sampling is that, with sound judgment or
expertise, and an appropriate strategy, one can carefully and consciously choose the elements
to be included in the sample, so that samples can be developed that are suitable for one’s
needs. My objective for using `Judgment Sampling’ was that since airline travel is not
experienced by everybody, so `Judgment Sampling’ was a must to get the closest and the
correct response.
SAMPLE SIZE
 150 passengers/ respondents

 50 travel agents.

METHODA OF DATA COLLECTION
SURVEY/ PERSONAL CONTACT METHOD
In a survey, the researcher carries out opinion polls involving customers, sales persons,
dealers, traders and experts. In the survey, the main method of interviewing was by Personal
Interviews, as this gave me a better understanding of the needs and preferences of the
passenger. Most of the data is quantitative in nature and supported by qualitative data.
INSTRUMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION
The research instruments used for this survey were structured questionnaires. The
questionnaires were designed to find the satisfaction levels of Domestic Airlines, in particular,
Indian Airlines.
QUESTIONNAIRE
A questionnaire consists of a set of questions prepared to respondents for their answers.

Because of its flexibility, the questionnaire is by far the common instrument used to collect
primary data. Closed Ended as well as Open Ended questionnaire were used in my market
research.

DRAFTING OF A QUESTIONNAIRE
The formulation of the questionnaire, i.e., the structure and the disguise to be used in the
questionnaire depends upon the kind of information that is desired. Questionnaire was
prepared over a period of 5 days by intensive brainstorming. Valuable advice regarding
changes was given by my marketing teacher, Ms. Laxmi Reddy, has resulted in the
formulation of the questionnaire through which responses were collected and analysed. A
copy of the questionnaire has been attached as an annexure to the project.
Since my objective was to derive out the maximum information out of the passengers without
making the whole exercise boring and troublesome, I decided to keep majority of the
questionnaire close-ended.
In order to generate and sustain the interest of the respondents, the initial questions pertained
to the gathering of simple information like the frequency of travel, the choice of airline and
the purpose of travel. Since, I had to balance the twin objectives of gathering maximum
information and at the same time retaining the interest of the customers, I was compelled to
squeeze in a lot of questions and club them up in a single question.
The question pertaining to assessing the impact of private airlines on Indian Airlines, for this
the respondents ticked in the various options under different parameters. Last but not the least,
the respondents were asked to pen down some personal information purely for statistical
purposes, with an assurance that it would be kept confidential.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
After the collection of data, the answer sheets are scored. Then, the data are tabulated and Pie
charts are formed using Microsoft Excel.
FACTORS ANALYSIS
It was employed to measure the airline overall service quality on the service provided to
satisfy the passengers. The principal factor component analysis with variable rotation was
carried out. The overall pattern of rotated factor loadings suggested a three dimensional
solution and the factors are re-titled as in-flight services, in-flight digital services and back-
office operations. While checking in-flight services cuisines provided and seat comfort is
biggest factor to select aircraft to fly. Personal entertainment is important factor in flying
decisions of passenger. Online seat booking, call center facilities and reservation/cancellation
is highest influencing factor in flying decisions of the passengers.
ANALYSIS OF PASSENGER SURVEY
On collection of all the completed questionnaire from passengers and travel agents, the data
was aggregated and methods of its analysis applied so as to interpret the required information
and meaning

1) Purchasing decision of tickets for the passengers
Out of the 150 respondents surveyed, it was found most of the passengers, purchased their
tickets from a travel agent. Primarily because travel agents offered discounts and provided
better options.
 47% of the passengers purchased their tickets from travel agents.
 32% say that their company books it.
 21% purchased their tickets directly from an airline counter
Ans: The domestic airlines sector only has 3 major players and all 50 (i.e 100%) travel agents
stocked the tickets of all the three major airlines (i.e. Air India)
2) As, air travel is more convenient and less time consuming than other modes of travelling,
people with now increased purchasing power as well as due to better services in air travel
are flying more often. The results show that
 42% of the passengers travel every week.

 40% of the passengers travel every fortnight.
 16% of the passengers travel every month.
 Only 2% of the passengers travel every year.

Ans: Percentage of tickets sold for Domestic Airlines out of the sample size of travel agents
surveyed, the percentage of tickets for Indian Airlines sold each week has the
maximum share of 52% whereas Jet Airways was second highest at 36% and Sahara
third at 12%.
3) is to determine the trend of the new age traveller. Does he use the airline’s just for
business/work, as was the case in 70’s and 80’s due to high tariff and low purchasing power.
The results indicate that 74% of the passengers surveyed travel both for work as well as
leisure/holiday. 20% of the passengers only travel by air for work purposes and remaining 6%
travel by air only for leisure/holiday.
Ans: Out of the 50, Travel agents surveyed, it was found that the private airline performance
was preferred in relation to the prescribed factors.
For In-flight services: 54% of the travel agents have considered Jet Airways as best airline for
in flight services and 46% have considered Sahara Airlines. Sahara Airlines with it’s recent
improvement in menu is already on it’s way to compete with the best.
Booking/Reservation: 38% of the travel agents have considered Indian Airlines the best
airline for it’s booking services, thanks to the new reservation system, whereas 36% of the
travel agents feel the same for Jet and 26% for Sahara.
Check in Services: 52% of the travel agents consider Jet Airways and 48% Sahara to be the
best in check-in-services to passengers.

SWOT ANALYSIS
A SWOT Analysis of Indian Airlines was conducted from the perception of the travel agents
and the findings of the survey. The analysis revealed the following dimensions. Air India is
the leading airlines in the India. Air India is based on domestic enplaned passengers and
scheduled domestic departures. Air India has shown a strong performance in revenues in
2008. Strong operating performance lends financial stability to the company which could be
leveraged to seek more growth avenues of growth in future. However, the rising prices of
aviation turbine fuel could adversely affect Air India operating margins.

STRENGTH
Operational performance Air India registered a strong operational performance for fiscal
2008-09. The company recorded revenues of Rs 15000 Crore during the fiscal year, an
increase of 70% over 2005-06. During fiscal year 2008, the company’s revenue growth was
driven by increase in passenger segment revenue and merger with Indian airlines.
The increase in passenger revenues primarily was due to an increase in capacity, and an
increase in load factor. In addition the revenue growth is backed by growth in freight and
cargo revenues, which was a result of higher rates charged. This growth was also partly driven
by improved efficiency in the company’s operations. Strong operating performance lends
financial stability to the company which could be leveraged to seek more growth avenues in
the future.
 Networking and scheduling

 Fleet Strength
 Market Share built during the monopoly phase
 Government Infrastructure which can be upgraded at a comparatively low cost.
 Enjoys the strength of NRI traffic as it operates on certain international routes.

WEEKNESS
High dependence on passenger revenues Passenger revenues accounted for major part of the
Air India total revenue. Cargo services allow airlines to generate additional revenues from
existing passenger flights. In addition, cargo revenues are usually counter-cyclical to
passenger revenues and have lower demand elasticity than passenger business, which allows
airlines to pass on fuel price hikes to customers. Small cargo business exposes Air India to the
demand fluctuations in passenger business.
 Bureaucratic Organization
 Strict Hierarchical System followed in the organisation
 Low employee morale and motivation
 Customers dissatisfied with the certain aspects (as compared to competitors) in-flight
service and To increase flight operations on those routes, which have a high tourism
potential, so as to reap the benefits of an upward moving Tourism Industry.

OPPORTUNITIES
Growing demand for low-cost airlines In mature markets demand for air travel is increasingly
being driven by ticket price and consumer confidence. A survey by the US Commerce
Department shows that ticket price is the number one criterion for passengers when selecting
a flight, well ahead of the availability of a non-stop service. As markets have progressively
matured, the GDP elasticity of air travel demand has declined. In the US for example, a 1%
growth in GDP will typically result in a 1.2% growth in domestic air travel, compared with a
growth of almost 2% in air travel some 20 years ago.
 Awareness and realisation among the employees of the growing competition.

 The decision to increase the fleet strength
 To gear up to the domestic competition at a time, when the majority share is still in
Indian Airlines kitty.

THREATS
Increasing aviation turbine fuel prices

The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has soared to record highs in the past few years and
continues to hold at that level. Last few years have once again clearly highlighted the highly
cyclical nature of the Aviation industry worldwide. ATF consumption has roughly doubled
from 2002 to 2007
The ATF prices in India are substantially higher than its price in international markets.
Aircraft fuel is a major contributor to Air India operating expenses.
 Growing competition from the private airlines.

 Customer services being redefined by private airlines.
 Dissatisfied travel agents may prove to serious threat of IA existing market share.

FINDINGS
The Questionnaire study has provided me with the information on the levels of customer
satisfaction and understanding the needs and preferences of travellers. After doing an in-
depth survey of the passengers and travel agents, the following was found
 This result hence proves the hypothesis correct, that Indian Airlines is still the largest
domestic airline in the country – in terms of sales of tickets and number of
destinations.
 Thus proving the hypothesis wrong. According to the survey conducted, Jet Airways
is the most preferred domestic airline, followed by Indian Airlines and then by Sahara
Indian Airlines. Although the result was in favour of Jet Airways, it also indicated that
Indian airlines was not far away in the preference results, indicating a growing trend
for travelling by Indian Airlines. There were also other indirect questions for
preference asked both from Travel agents as well as passengers for their opinion on
the various attributes that come in passenger satisfaction viz. In-flight service, cabin
behaviour etc.
 For the third hypothesis that is, passengers are giving importance to the service levels
offered by the airlines, the response has been gauged indirectly. In Question No. 8 of
passenger questionnaire, the passengers were asked about the factors considered
important for relative influence on the ‘Choice of Airline’. In this, questions about
factors relating to service were asked viz. Inflight service, in-flight comfort
appearance and hospitality of crew. Also a question relating to passenger interest was
asked in travel agent questionnaire. The results for both indicate that service levels
have become paramount for customers along with other factors. The information
gathered from passenger questionnaire indicates that these factors have been
considered important or very important by majority of the passengers. While in the
travel agents questionnaire (Q. No. 7) their majority response was for In-flight service,
indicating that passengers are increasingly looking for better levels of service from the
airlines.

 From the analysis of Question 1 of the passenger questionnaire, it was found that
maximum number of travellers, purchase their ticket through travel agents, followed
by company bookings and airline counter. Primarily, people preferred travel agents
because, travel agents offered discounts and provided better options.
 According to the passengers survey conducted, (in Question No. 10 of passenger
questionnaire) considering the parameters for customer satisfaction viz. On time
performance, in-flight service, In-flight comfort cabin crew behaviour etc. The results
based on ‘Excellent performance’ of these factors, Jet Airways was the airline which
was the most preferred and provided maximum satisfaction to it’s passengers, as most
people surveyed believed that Jet Airways provides the best in-flight, food, check- in
services etc. to the passengers.
 People feel that Jet Airways being a new airline is very professional in their approach,
while dealing with passengers. Indian Airlines is considered by many as an average
airline as regards to customer satisfaction but it has some of the best discounts and
cheap airfares. Also, due to it’s large fleet, it’s flight schedule is also unmatchable.
 The survey conducted also showed that all the passengers surveyed, had travelled by
Indian Airlines, while majority of them had travelled also by Jet followed by Sahara.
 Passenger’s perception about Indian Airlines is also changing, through better levels of
customer service, which have been initiated by the airline and the passengers are also
feeling the same. The response in Question ‘No. 10’ indicates that, efforts are being
done by the airlines to uplift their standards of their service.
 The result chart shows that there is a good percentage of travellers who feel that the
airline’s levels of cabin crew behaviour, Inflight service, Ontime performance etc. are
improving and are much better than before.
 Regarding the frequent flier programme, the travellers felt that not enough was being
done by all the airlines to attract travellers to such a programme. Another reason why,
they did feel it was not popular was the lack of much air travel by individuals to be
entitled to it’s rewards.

 In the travel agents questionnaire, it was found that maximum number of travel agents
have corporate clients (in Question No. 3 of Travel Agent Questionnaire), but felt that
with increase in purchasing power and the convenience offered by other airlines, it
was also getting popular for holiday travel.
 The information gathered from the questionnaire states that travel agents mostly
recommend Indian Airlines, because it flies to maximum number of destinations and
has goodwill in the industry, because it is the oldest airline in India.
 In the opinion of travel agents, the maximum number of short-term promotional
schemes is carried out by Sahara India Airlines followed by ‘Indian Airlines’. They
felt Sahara does this because, it is relatively new carrier with the fewest destinations,
and in order to gain customer confidence, it kept carrying out such promotional
schemes. Indian Airlines primarily did it, to save its market share as well as to create a
bonus for it’s Goodwill.
 The survey with travel agents also indicated that the customer’s preference while
buying an airline ticket were good in-flight services, cheap fares and discounts,
punctuality, timing and least cancellation of flight. They felt that these factors were the
most important for the customers. Travellers today are demanding higher levels of
service, and comfort them ever before.
 Travel agents also felt that the Private Airlines were more preferred because their
service standards were believed to be higher than Indian Airlines. But, they agree that
Indian Airlines is slowly and gradually improving it’s standards, and majorities of the
travel agents have considered Indian Airlines as the best airline for booking services.

SUGGESTIONS
CUSTOMER VALUE
Customer delivered value is the difference between total customer value and total customer
cost. Total customer value is the bundle of benefits customers expect from a given product or
service. Total customer cost is the bundle of costs customer expect to incur in evaluating,
obtaining and using the product or service.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION:
Satisfaction is a persons feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comprising a

product’s perceived performance (or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations.
Indian airlines must focus on making strategies that create quality and value that will meet or
exceed customer’s expectations, by completely satisfying the customer there is no reason for
them to consider alternative airline.
IN FLIGHT SERVICE
As Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways in India has written, ‘Any airline may get you
from place to place, but what happens between take off and landing is what makes the
difference’. In-flight service is being given far more importance than every before, since the
arrival of private airlines. It should give on its all main routes, complementary gifts, not only
for first class and business class passengers but also to the economy class passengers. They

should encourage innovative and fresh ideas for in-flight service. Overall, they should
encourage and believe in service with a smile.
CABIN CREW BEHAVIOUR
The ‘I care less’ attitude which was once trademark of Indian Airlines Cabin Crew, is slowly
and gradually shedding away. Firstly, it calls for focussed HRD initiatives from the company
itself. The company must help and teach the present staff to be more courteous and
understanding. The company, must also recruit smart, young and active people who can
handle the job profile better. The major disadvantage of Indian airlines, since it is a
Government undertaking the cabin crew age limit is the same as of a person in another job, so
it has a old workforce in its flight’s also, this discourages the traveller and does not give a
fresh look to the airline. Indian Airlines must give encouragement to its cabin crew in every
way possible, to improve their standards, as this is a service industry and behaviour does
matter.
ON TIME PERFORMANCE
The on time performance was a cause of concern for travellers, as we found during the
survey. The on time performance of Indian Airlines is not great, as is required in this
business. The private airlines are a major cause of envy on this particular factor for Indian
Airlines. The major delay facts is the delay due to VVIP flights and VVIP’s travelling with
the other traveller’s on the same flight. The delay due to this factor must be totally avoided by
better co-ordination between the airline and VVIP’s agencies. Another facts of delay is
considered to be, the lazy approach by the allied services staff before the take-off i.e.
engineering staff, security staff etc. This must totally be avoided by the Airline, by better
training to set new standards for on time performance for the airline.

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
Relationship Marketing as explained earlier in literature review, should be evolved in itself by

developing, maintaining and having more interactions with the customer. When compared
with other private airlines, passengers felt that there was a lack of warmth shown by the staff.
Therefore the staff must be very professional in their approach and very efficient, but the
Indian passenger is used to being pampered, especially when they pay so much for the
services. Therefore, Indian Airlines should train their staff accordingly.
Indian Airlines must give calls to its regular travel agencies and maintain a good rapport with
them. They should also give gifts to the travel agents which they can keep on their counters as
this will keep reminding them of the airline. The concept of ‘Relationship Marketing’ must
also be used for travel agents as they are a very influential medium between the airline and the
traveller.
Indian Airlines, in order to increase its market share and fight competition, must introduce
short-term promotional schemes, especially in the lean season. Short term promotional
schemes can offer a lot of advantage to the company, firstly it is benefiting the traveller in
every manner, so he is happy, it also gives the chance to the company to create and improve
its goodwill among its traveller, and the short term promsotional schemes also offer the
company better market presence.
Indian Airlines can offer short-term promotion schemes because, it is a financially stronger
compared to its competitors, plus it is more experienced and therefore can offer better deals.
Encouragement must also be given to low traffic sectors, and for that sales promotion
measures must be used.

ADVERTISING
Another major area in which Indian Airlines is weak, is advertising field. Advertising is the
missing link between the brand name and the customer’s perception. Even if the
product/service has been designed to target the customer’s want with pin-point precision, it is
only the communication with the customers, in general and advertising at it’s most patent
form, in particular that will inform them just how one is trying to provide value to them.
Advertising had been scarce by Indian Airlines before the prIvate airline operators arrived
• Their advertisement should be differentiated from that of competitors.

• The benefits offered by their advertising must match their service usage.
• Advertisements should focus on brand name
• Their advertising should be designed to wake an emotional response.
Indian Airlines enjoyed its monopoly, so they never felt the need to advertise. Now, it has
become an altogether different ball game, with advertising forming an important part to
inform the customers, so as to create more awareness about the airline, and its schedule and its
was felt by the travel agents and travellers that private operators were advertising more.
Indian Airlines should develop different advertisements targeting towards different consumer
i.e. international travellers, domestic travellers, corporate clients etc. The clever use of media
can clean a path through the clutter for the advertising message, it must be unique enough in
its own right to make a statement. Indian Airlines advertisement mix should have benefits

offered by the airline and also something, which tells about the company, so as to create a
better image.
FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAMME
While doing the survey, travellers indicated that frequent flier programme were not very
popular in India, but felt if the right rewards/ benefits are attached, it can turn into a lucrative
option for the company as well as for the traveller. The frequent flier programme of Jet was
the most popular, therfore Indian Airlines must focus more on this scheme, this option can
create more demand and happier customers for it. Since it is the largest domestic airline and
carries maximum no. of passengers it can encourage repeat usage. The recent frequent flier
programme must be reviewed and more benefits added.
GAINING COMPETITIVE KNOWLEDGE
Since competiton has arrived the market share of Indian Airlines has declined, as it ended its
monopoly, so it must formulate more effective strategies and knowledge about competitor’s
activities must be known.
For improving the service of Indian Airlines Limited, Indian Airlines should know what their
competitors are doing. But to out think them, you have to know them thoroughly. Through
travel agents, travellers and other company sources, Indian Airlines should track what
competitors are doing and what the company can do to create differentiated service. It will
help the company to address preferences, service requirements of the travellers better.

MORE FOCUS ON CORPORATE CLIENTELE
Indian Airlines has all kinds of clientele, from tourists passengers to students, to corporate
clients. But after the arrival to private airlines, the number of corporate clientele travellers has
come down.
Indian Airlines must not forget that these are, and are going to be the maximum users of the
airlines, in order to counter the loss, it should start re-focussing on corporate clients as well.
This can done by promoting it’s executive and business class more as well as increasing it’s
standards of service, as well as refurnish the interiors of the plane’s in which they commute,
offer better comfort and inflight service as well as frequent flier benefits. If Indian Airlines
follows this strategy of differentiated working, it will be able to re-gain its market share with
corporate clients.
 Air India should invest in other mediums, for promoting and creating awareness of it’s
airline also. For e.g. It should encourage and promote for extensive use of internet
website by travellers.
 According to the data collected, Indian Airlines should also target at those people
who fall in the category of – ‘very likely to buy’ and probably will buy. The people
who fall in ‘very likely to buy’ is about 28%. They just need a little push in the form
of an added incentive to fly with Indian Airlines and the people who cannot decide
whether to fly Indian Airlines ticket i.e probably will buy, are potential
customers/passengers and therefore they can be made permanent by offering more
benefits in services and through greater awareness about the airline.

 One of the major competitive advantage Indian Airlines enjoys is the best flight
schedules which it offers. Now this competitive advantage should be further
strengthened by Indian Airlines with an ever expanding air network, and more
destination’s opening, Indian Airlines must continuously upgrade it’s fleet size and
exploit those destinations first before the competitors do
LIMITATIONS
 The study could have been more comprehensive and more representative of the
universe, had the sample-size been larger, but it was not possible mainly due to lack of
time and some other constraints.
 The areas covered were restricted to Delhi city only and as such the results of
questionnaires are valid for Delhi city only.
 All this report has been an individual attempt and also it involves the human process
of interpretation and analysis, so there are chances of human error.
 The marketing research is done on the basis of certain assumptions as regards to the
future of the industry, but due to environmental changes, research results may not be
valid.
 Despite repeated proof-reading, there is a possibility of spelling error of otherwise,
which may have been overlooked.
 As the subject under study involves large population size so generalizations can’t be
made.
 Due to time and financial constrains the study is restricted to Northern region.
 Sometimes respondents give altogether biased answers in responding to the different
questions.
 Lack of time
 Lack of financial resources

RECOMMENDATION
As most of the employees find Retirement gifts poor, so I want to suggest modifying it. Group
Insurance and community centre should also be communicated among employees because I
find that most of the employees are unaware with it. Thus what I want to suggest that Air
India should market all those facilities which are being provided by the company to its
employees. In this way employees will realize what their company is giving to them and they
will feel a sense of responsibility towards it.
I don’t find as such any big problem with this company except lack of motivation. So
company should work in this direction. One thing for policy makers that they should assign
task to employees with a deadline connected with PLI. I want to suggest something to
Commercial department related to the scheme of corporate houses. Currently for different
corporate houses we have a discount scheme that we revise on yearly basis. Every year new
agreements form with new terms and conditions and rate of discount, depending on the
bargaining power of business house and company.

CONCLUSION
From the findings and comparative analysis of the data two of the hypothesis have been
proved correct. The two which are proved correct are that, Indian Airlines is still the largest
domestic airline in the country – in terms of sales of tickets and number of destinations. The
other hypothesis, which has been proved correct, is that passengers are giving importance to
the service levels offered by the airlines. The one which was proven wrong was Indian
Airlines is still the most preferred airline, by passengers, amongst the many competitors. Thus
this wrong should be converted into right by Indian Airlines, and for that suggestions and
recommendations have been given in the earlier chapter. Although the margin of preference is
not much, but in today’s competitive scenario, one needs to be the best in all aspects.
It was found during the period of data collection that travel agents also agreed that Indian
Airlines is still the largest domestic carrier. Although, majority of them believed Jet Airways
to be preferred than Indian Airlines. They also felt that passengers are giving importance to
the service levels offered by the airlines. Travel agent’s felt that suggestive and proactive
approach was required by Indian Airline’s to be the most preferred airline, and felt that it had
begun to take the right approach. They also felt that they lacked innovativeness and were only
concentrating on providing air travel but did not aim for excellence in service levels.
The biggest problem a travel service marketer faces is determining what to sell and to whom,
thus there is a need to be both circumspect and selective. Over promising and under delivery
of a service can lead to a loss of money and loss of client and in a trade which is as insular as
the travel trade, the ripple effect is disastrous. While purchasing an airline ticket, about 54%

of the travel agents say that most of the customers generally look for good in flight services of
the airline. Around 45% of the travel agents felt that most of the customers look for cheap
fares and discounts offered by the airline and 40% of the travel agents feel that most of the
customer’s look for punctuality, timing and least cancellation of flight.
Therefore it can be said that In-flight service, schedules, punctuality and fare/tariff are the
most important considerations that a customer keeps in mind before deciding in purchasing an
airline ticket. Indian Airlines is a financially strong company and should work on a
turnaround strategy which consists of a focussed attention in improving in-flight services,
increased utilisation of aircrafts, Human Resource Development initiatives, increased
international operations, creations of profit centres and better commercial initiatives.
Aviation Industry in India is one of the fastest growing aviation industries in the world. With
the liberalization of the Indian aviation sector, aviation industry in India has undergone a
rapid transformation. In this era where people want to get more and more facilities, AIR
INDIA is here with its full carrier airline services. AIR INDIA is providing all possible
services and policies for all its customers and employees. But still the market share of this
company is going down day by day. In the first quarter of this year market share of Air India
was 14.7%. On the other hand many private airline companies who learned, how to make
business in the field of aviation, from Air India have more market share. Such as, Kingfisher
and Jet airways, they come just few years back in the market but having higher market share
and market value than this company. In the first quarter of this year, market share of Jet
Airways was 22.7% which is much more than the share of Air India.
After carefully analyzing this company I came to know the pros and corns of it and I want to
point it out that first Air India should modify its work culture. Air India has all resources
available with it but still they are not being utilized optimally.

BIBLOGRPHY
 www.wikipedia.org
 http://search.ebscohost.com
 http://www.airindia.in
 http://www.flyingreturns.co.in
 http://www.google.com
 www.airindia.co.in

REFERENCES
 Chang, Y. and Keller, M. R. (2002). “A survey analysis of service quality for domestic
airlines”, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 139, pp. 166-177.
 Solomon M. (1985). “Packaging the service provider”, Service Industry Journal.
 Tepeci M. (1999). “Increasing brand loyalty in the hospitality industry”, International

Journal of Contemporary Hospitality and Management.
 `Indian Airlines’ – Annual Report, 1997-98 19.
 `Indian Airlines’ – Annual Report, 2009-2010

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A Detail Study on Air India

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HOT AIR BALLOONS

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One of Leonardo's sketches

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LIGHTER THAN AIR

In 1709, Bartolomeu de Gusmao presented a petition to King John V of Portugal, begging for

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Lithographic depiction of pioneering events (1783 to 1846).

 On 4th June, the Montgolfier brothers demonstrated their unmanned hot air

 On 27th August, Jacques Charles launched the world's first unmanned hydrogen-filled

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 On 1st December, Jacques Charles and the Nicolas-Louis Robert launched their

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17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES

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SIR GEORGE CAYLEY AND THE FIRST MODERN AIRCRAFT

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The Biot-Massia glider

The Englishman Horatio Phillips made key contributions to aerodynamics. He conducted

Otto Lilienthal became known as the "Glider King" or "Flying Man" of Germany. He

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pre-war sporting designs, attached to their reconnaissance departments. Radiotelephones were

BETWEEN THE WORLD

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WORLD WAR II (1939 – 1945)

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DIGITAL AGE - 21ST

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 To understand the perception of travellers towards Air India

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 Also to apprehend the perceptions of travel agents towards Air India.

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AS TATA AIR SERVICES

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Vintage photograph of an Air India plane

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On 21 February 1960, Air India

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POST-LIBERALISATION (SINCE 2000)

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PRESENT STATUS OF AIR INDIA

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