Deccan, the pioneer low-cost carrier in India, may be rechristened Kingfisher Max. Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Air- lines is expected to unveil the new brand next month before the mother carrier flies the international skies in August.
The Deccan brand will certainly go, and so will its low-cost character, says a Kingfisher Airlines executive. But he adds that Kingfisher Max is only one of the names under consideration, and “we haven’t closed on it yet.”
The new brand will be in consonance with the value proposition of Kingfisher Airlines. “Deccan is a known brand but its value proposition is not good enough.” he says.
Mallya’s UB Holdings took over Deccan Aviation last year. The carrier’s name was changed from Air Deccan to Simplifly Deccan. The executive explains that the renamed carrier will no longer have a no-frills business model.
Changes to that effect have already begun.
There are now on-board meals and better on-time service. There will be no business class though in Kingfisher Max.
At the time of the merger, Captain G R Gopinath, Deccan founder, had said that both Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan would continue as separate brands and models. However, the Kingfisher Airlines official says the rebranded airline will have a full value proposition. “The Kingfisher brand brings in certain amount of pedigree and quality. It brings with it a sense of installed positive rub-off.”
Industry sources believe that in the dual Kingfisher brand strategy with full services on both, the rebranded carrier could operate only on sectors with high load factor and low cost of operations.
International operations will be under the Kingfisher Airlines brand, which will ride on the benefit of the merger with Deccan which, after five years of operations, is now eligible to go international. The late August international launch will see Kingfisher Airlines fly non-stop to the US.