Kingfisher- the flightless airline

It has been an interesting few days considering the week before saw some 3 commercial airliners and a military chopper fall out of the sky for various reasons. Today the newspapers had two headlines featuring two Indian airline companies for two different reasons- Spice Jet asked to reimburse passengers on a flight delayed for over 5 hours due to technical issues and the other being a bank statement on the loan defaults of Kingfisher Airlines.

Considering the number of discount fares for far off future being offered each month, I have my suspicions on the available operating cash reserves with Spice Jet. Sadly, Kingfisher Airlines is a living case study of what can eventually happen to an airline in a high debt ridden civil aviation sector in India. Each time I fly, I see Kingfisher planes, baggage trollies, ladders, etc. parked away in remote corners of almost all major airports. The check-in counters which once boasted of a staff worthy of being ramp models are empty and as we all know; they either migrated to the hospitality industry or are rendered jobless.

An airline which was once the Captain Pompous in the Indian skies has definitely left a bad taste for employees, investors, vendors and suppliers and the travellers alike. It has indirectly affected the overall business environment as the name or the brand of any company no longer has the capacity to command over vendors. Human resource policies where employees were not paid for months together but also not allowed to change over to other jobs without forfeiting their part claims have set a very bad example. As for the airline industry, it has set a benchmark of what can happen if profitability through operations get ignored.

Kingfisher Airlines and its acquisition Air Deccan both had been ground breaking concepts in Indian aviation. Jet Airways had established a leadership position against Indian Airlines and Sahara- the three emerging as the survivors of the first batch of open skies after ModiLuft, East West Airlines, Damania shut shop. Air Deccan was the first low cost airline in India and it can be said that the skies have been never the same again. While Deccan enabled the common man to fly, Kingfisher changed the flying experience with a young and vibrant appeal and also introduced the economy passenger to services like in-flight entertainment (IFE); a service rendered only to first class passengers so far.

Deccan and Kingfisher were riding on what Southwest and Virgin Atlantic had successfully shown the world. Both these airlines had an impact on the aviation industry to a fair extent. It was evident from the fact that Jet and Indian Airlines also offered IFE and on board catering got revamped. Kingfisher also prompted some rather rash moves like Paramount Air which had a 100% first class concept. Deccan on the other hand set off a string of low cost airlines like Indigo, Spice Jet and Go Air.

This triggered a price war in an industry which was already grappling with high airport tariffs and fuel bills. In 2007, while Jet and Indian were surviving with profitability on international routes, Sahara was plagued with low occupancy and went up for sale. Deccan was also grappling with a high debt crisis and sustainability became difficult. This was possibly the place where Kingfisher pushed things a little beyond its grasp. While Jet was all set to take over Sahara, Kingfisher attempted to challenge its rival by staking claim for Deccan. The move was motivated for the international flying license granted only after 5 years in service; which Kingfisher would get 3 years in advance by virtue of the merger. Sadly, what it brought along was a lot of debt as well.

I guess it was ambition driven rash decisions which led to the downfall of Kingfisher. IFE on planes is heavy on its set up cost and has an even higher running cost. Suppose a flight has 3 channels and every seat pays Rs 150 as royalty to the content owners, a plane with 180 seats will be paying about Rs. 27000 per flight for just IFE. And let me tell you, this is a very conservative estimate. Not to forget, with IFE came the IFE equipment which adds in weight, plus cost for head phones and maintenance. What all can you push back to the customer when the market is bleeding in a price war?

Kingfisher believed that going international was the way to get into profits. The biggest reason to believe was Jet Airways could garner profits in a cut-throat scenario. Sadly, it was operational efficiency that works in the aviation sector. Both Deccan and Kingfisher were failing to achieve it. Kingfisher was notorious for attracting pilots with lucrative salaries and high incentives, lavishness across the board and thanks to the owner- sponsorship on Formula 1 cars. Sadly, all this was adding to the debt and not so much to the revenues. Then it was the ego and arrogance of Mallya- where he pledged his personal assets and his flagship UB Spirits to keep the airline afloat. His political weight also ensured that the airline; though bankrupt, was not grounded.

The license for Kingfisher was finally revoked in 2012, but the airline still is a willful defaulter on the list of its lending banks. The highly paid staff is yet to be paid their dues and has been practically rendered jobless. Those who had invested in assets against a high income at one point are fighting for survival. And as for Kingfisher, apart from loss of credibility, the group also came on the brink of losing its majority stake in its flagship companies. 

Every industry has their skeletons and ghosts which haunt their working for months and years after they happened. Kingfisher is going to be one such ghost for the aviation sector; and when I come across a discount ticket sale for tickets as much as 6 months in future, it triggers a thought on the cash-flow situation for the airlines. It is also going to be a standing example for every vendor and also employees as a brand where by virtue of its clout defaulted on payments and set arm twisting business terms. 

Have I made it BIG???

Since the time I took reading as a hobby (not too long ago), amongst the first novels I read was the Godfather. The impressionable mind was exposed to a like that comes in at the start of the book reading ‘Behind every successful fortune, there is a crime’. Though this line was talking how the Italian Mafia was formed when a good man takes to the gun in times of depression, it had no real impact on how I see things around me.

In the years that followed, I read the success stories of people who made it big in business in India or the world over. Some were pure genius in terms of talent and ideas while some exploited the loopholes in the system and made it big. Either ways, the journey from Zero to Hero in every case was fascinating. Not surprising then that a Branson losing virginity, the yarn spinning out from the polyester prince Dhirubhai or the great story of Indian retail from Biyani were of great interest.

It was not until very recent when I read two articles that got me thinking about what are successful fortunes made up of? I read two articles in Forbes; one on business tips from College dropouts and on Kishore Biyani and his Big Future Group Sale!!! Most of the success stories had people who rose to success in a matter of a decade or two; very few like Dell or Biyani who have risen in sectors where technology or software was not the deciding factor. But somehow, most of them have always been on the wrong side of the law at some point for monopoly, tax evasion, financial irregularities or just simply using their money might to kill off competition.

Amongst college dropouts; some like Michael Dell were in my opinion brilliant in understanding market dynamics. Dell was an assembler of PCs in a market dominated by branded computers. I’m not completely sure if anyone in India with a market dominated by assemblers could have succeeded in the same way; but his Just-in-time inventory concept was definitely path breaking. But when the article spoke of Zuckerberg or Bill Gates- somehow I always seem to find that at some stage, they did violate laws to grow. Both I say are genius as computer programmers. But the very origination of facebook began with the hacking of personal data off the college server for images. Microsoft, with its entire GUI succeeded due to a water tight monopoly with Intel and bundling of IE.

Sir Richard Branson is one college dropout I admire as I see his success coming from simple joys of life. I mean you have people like you who hang around reading about the Beatles and listening to records; but it took a Branson to write a youth journal or get into the records sale business. But the rise of Virgin was its music via mail order own records label, something which did see Branson step on the wrong side of the law. It was a temptation too strong to make more money by smuggling records from countries where the tax was low and selling them in UK.

Though Dhirubhai Ambani built Reliance Industries from zilch, somehow from his day in Aden, he was flirting with the law by smelting coins for silver, trading inside information on government policies or evading tax by importing machinery as spares. In fact chopping down competition by delays in port clearance to an extent where the machinery rots in the hold was actually the dark side of the rise. Biyani built the retail empire which has made the National holidays of 15th August and 26th January the days sending cash registers into a fit, the fact that the group had to sell Pantaloons (the mother brand) to offset debt is a reflection of how the vendors under the retail giant were being squeezed.

On a day I sit back and ask myself, ‘Have it made it big?’(no whiskey endorsed here), all I say is not having to depend on anything against the law, being honest and not squeezing anyone with the weight of the brands I have worked with is possibly how much I have invested towards enriching my life in the Biggest possible way.