High frills in the skies

The new trend for flying for corporate executives and businessmen is low-cost, high-frill.

Two young entrepreneurs, M Thiagarajan and Manav Singh, are redefining the concept of flying. While one has turned around the concept of low-cost, no-frills into low-cost high-frills, the other has introduced the concept of fractional ownership of aircraft for corporates.

While one targets the masses, the other looks at the elite. What's even more exciting is they have turned their passion into their profession.

Thiagarajan, who has been a hobby pilot, diversified his family business of textiles and started Paramount Airways, and Singh, who started an aviation engineering company 10 years ago, moved on to letting out jet services to industrialists through Club One Air. But both seem to have a common objective: Pamper the traveller.

So if a passenger wishes to get a four course meal with a choice of north Indian, south Indian or Continental menus, spread over table linen, with coconut water, fruit juices and areated water to choose from as a welcome drink - all at an economy class fare - he can get them on Paramount Airways.

Similarly, if a top corporate executive from Delhi has to go to Bhubaneshwar or Vizag and then rush back to Delhi to attend an urgent meeting the same evening, he can hire Manav Singh's Club One Air.

"What we offer are value-added services at no extra cost - and this will enable us build a solid customer base," says Thiagarajan, the managing director of Paramount Airways.

With smaller businessmen, traders and mid-level executives as its target, Paramount has two-by-two seats, accomodating a maximum of 70 passengers at a time. Similar aircraft can have anywhere between 120-130 seats.

And to serve these 70 passengers, the airlines have four cabin crew attendants. Thiagarajan's strategy is to pull business class travellers from the likes of Jet Airways, Sahara and Indian Airlines, and also attract passengers who no longer see the charm in low-cost, no-frill flying, where a passenger is left completely on his own.

That's not all. Paramount is also looking at converting part of the aircraft into a private space with some flat beds - at a fare that is equivalent to that of business class in regular airlines. But why do we need flat beds for a journey that, at the very maximum, will be three hours long?

"Well, it is a value-added service, and there will definitely be takers, especially frequent fliers," says Thiagarajan. Covering routes popular among the business community, such as Delhi-Cochin, Delhi-Coimbatore, Coimbatore-Cochin and Chennai-Cochin, Paramount today has five Embraer jets (E-jets) from Brazil, and conducts eight flights a day.

It has plans to have a pan-India presence with 25 flights a day carrying 2,500 passengers by the next fiscal. It is also looking at spreading its wings to link cities like Pune, Jaipur, Surat, and Raipur.

Even while Thiagarajan is looking at the volumes business, Manav Singh, managing director, Club One Air, wants to cash in on value for time. So, there will be no tickets in advance, no problem of seat availability and no tension of missing the flight.

All that an industrialist needs to do is to give Club One Air two hours notice. One can also expect very personalised services.

"The moment a corporate house shows its intention of booking our jets, our hospitality department talks to the secretary of the chairman or the CEO about what kind of meal he and those travelling with him would like. Besides, if the CEO wants to organise a meeting in the aircraft, all the requirements will be taken care of - from laptop connections to providing a working lunch," says Singh.

Today Singh has five jets, one turbo prop and one helicopter, and he claims that the aircraft have been frequenting Dubai, Singapore and Muscat, for instance, apart from also touching the remotest areas in India. "We provide holistic travel solutions to meet sporadic individual needs," says Singh.

And corporate executives are finding that Singh's solutions comes in handy. For instance, a Ludhiana-based textile baron who has factories in Madhya Pradesh is actively considering hopping onto Club One's jet, which will allow him to reach his unit in two hours. Singh also says that Club One is currently priced low. "In order to make money, we will need at least 30 aircraft," he adds.

Singh and Thiagarajan have also devised new strategies to market their products.

While Paramount is making tickets available through a large number of sources, including websites, internet kiosks, travel agents and its call centre, Club One is giving discounts on travel of over 50 or 100 hours through its Jet Cards. Besides, its fares are based on fractional ownership and chartering, with the former offering the lowest fare and all the benefits.

Paramount's model is already being followed. For instance, Indus Airlines, which is expected to start by the end of this year, says it will be a low-cost high-frill airline.

"We will have only two-by-two seats, and offer only executive class but at affordable rates," says Captain ADC Kapoor, CEO, Indus Airways. Indus will cover routes like Delhi and Mumbai, and smaller cities like Chandigarh, Jammu, Bhopal, Indore, Amritsar.

As of now, the two models seem to be working. But for both, volumes and sustained revenues are important, since they are already running on wafer-thin margins.

Flying high

For a round trip of Delhi-Coimbatore-Delhi, the fare on Paramount Airways is likely to be in the region of Rs 9,220 with taxes. Similarly a Chennai-Cochin return ticket can cost over Rs 4,720, that between Cochin-Coimbatore and back Rs 2,720 and Delhi-Cochin-Delhi can cost Rs 10,220.

Club One Air has two types of jets . Its Citation II, a seven-seater, costs Rs 1,25,000 per flying hour and its Citation XL, an eight-seater, with much larger cabin space, costs Rs 1,95,000 per flying hour.

The company recommends corporates opting for its Jet Card block hour which will help them save up to 10 per cent.

For 80 hours and above, Club One recommends factional ownership, where savings can be substantial.