As Air-India abandons its old mascot, an editorial in The Indian Express:
Air India needs some drastic brand therapy. But why would it wilfully destroy the portly Maharajah, arguably the last shred of emotional connection with the airline? Created for an internal letterhead by Air India’s Bobby Kooka and JWT, the Maharajah’s showed up in the unlikeliest places — sumo wrestler, Spanish matador and more — smiling benevolently over Times Square and Kemps Corner. He’s a supple icon, having proved that he can bend with the times. He was briefly deposed in 1989, but restored after popular protest. After the Air India and Indian Airlines merger in 2007, there were rumours that he would be retired. And now, it’s been suggested that the Maharajah calls up associations of louche irresponsibility, and that Air India must shed its flabby PSU image by finding a new icon, like a guy in a “designer suit”. More:
From the New York Times:
Mumbai: In what has been a bad year for airlines everywhere, Air India has suffered from a series of particularly painful – and at times embarrassing – misfortunes.
The struggling government-owned carrier’s already uneven reputation has been further tarnished in recent months by rats on a plane, a strike by senior pilots and a midair fistfight between pilots and flight attendants. In September, a flight to Riyadh was grounded after a passenger saw sparks coming from an engine.
The embarrassing chain of events and the airline’s dire financial situation – it is expected to lose more than $1 billion in the current business year, and the government tentatively pledged about $1.1 billion in bailout money to it recently – has prompted many to ask: Why is the Indian government still running an airline? More:
Forget the bottomline and upaid salaries for the moment. Forget also the dowdy sarkari image. India’s national air carrier, Air India has picked up a Silver Outdoor Lion at Cannes for its tongue-in-cheek ads on the benefits of international travel (Bangalore-Dubai and Mumbai-New York). The campaign was developed by DDB Mudra (Bangalore) by chief creative officer Bobby Pawar. Clearly, a lot can happen during an international flight. Someone up there still has a sense of humour.
Bangalore-Dubai
Mumbai-New York
From the Times of India:
Air India has begun shedding flab on its domestic network. Nine airhostesses of the national carrier received the bad news over New Year with a month’s salary in advance – their services had been terminated with immediate effect for being overweight. The move, officials at the erstwhile Indian Airlines, now AI (domestic), said, came after the airhostesses had been grounded for about three years and had not been able to get back in shape. They have now been declared permanently medically unfit. More here:
