ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE – INDIAN INSTITUTE OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT,

GWALIOR

Service Marketing

SPICEJET
SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Manoj Kumar Dash

SUBMITTED BY:

SHIKHAR GOSWAMI 2018IMG-058

VIDYA SINDHU DUBEY 2018IMG-071
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SpiceJet: Red, Hot, Spicy

Introduction

In 2005, Spice Jet was established as a low-cost carrier based in Gurgaon, India. With a market share of
approximately 13 percent, it is currently the fourth largest airline in India. Originally, the business was
founded in 1984 as an air taxi with the name Modi Lift. The company was then purchased in 2004 by
Ajay Singh and was renamed Spice Jet. A media tycoon, Kalanithi Maran, acquired a control stake in
spice jet through the Sun Group in 2010. Sun Group barely tasted any profit, and in January 2015, the
company sold the airplane again to Ajay Singh. The airline has 26 Boeing 737s and 14 Bombardier Q400
aircraft in its fleet. 306 flights are operated daily by the airline to 35 Indian and 6 international
destinations. Since Ajay Singh's rejoinder, the company continues to focus on lowering costs and much of
the energy is transferred to the company's business model. The company's mission statement states that it
aims to become India's favorite low-cost airline that offers the lowest air fares to price sensitive
consumers with the highest customer value. (Exhibit 1)

By May 2017, 12 years had passed since SpiceJet's first flight from Delhi to Mumbai. In the airline game,
SpiceJet was on a roller-coaster trip and the performance of the financial year 2016-17 always had to roll
through. "Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh surprised shareholders by showing a profit of
Rupees 4 billion, stating, “I strongly believe that these achievements affirm our enthusiastic and
consistent focus on delivering an outstanding customer experience.” Three months ago, in an interview
with ET Now, Singh said, “We want to be the most profitable airline in the world. We want to be the best
airline in terms of on-time performance and we want to have the least cancellations. For us this is
significant.” (ET Now, 2017)

Ajay Singh, SpiceJet's chairman & managing director, claims the aviation sector in India is bouncing
back. By his own admission, Ajay Singh has always disliked leading a placid life. That's precisely why he
enjoys taking up new challenges every now and then, particularly those that his friends and well-wishers
consider impossible. He decided to buy an airline that had nearly gone bankrupt.

SpiceJet has suffered more business losses than earnings. In February 2015, Singh infused about Rs. 5 billion
(PTI, 2015), just one-third of the promised Rs.15 billion required for its rehabilitation. At around Rs. 6.31
billion, the company's net worth was negative, with a debt of around Rs. 10.28 billion. Stakeholders wondered
how SpiceJet would be profitable for Singh, let alone the best performer on time.
Indian Aviation Industry

Tata Airline, the first Indian passenger airline, flew in 1933. It became a public corporation later on, And
Air India was renamed. The Indian government nationalized the business in 1953. A lot of restructuring
took place in the Indian skies thereafter: Indian Airlines, the domestic airlines, As a result of the
nationalization of eight airline companies, national carriers have arisen. In India, airlines they were
state-owned and run both for government and public purposes. Yet, as a public sector agency, utility
vehicles were largely based on government deals that specified air travel, routes and trends. There was no
competition in the Indian airline industry until the late 80s.

The monopoly ended with the entry of 9 private players during the Open Sky Policy. It was applied in the 90s.
Air Sahara was the first Low Cost Carrier (LCC), but the industry did not survive. Of the LCCs Approximately
two thirds of the domestic aviation industry was involved. By 2006, there were 7 national air carriers,
including SpiceJet, were involved. In addition, regional carriers have also arisen. India was witnessing
competition in an underpenetrated aviation market.

However the state-owned Air India has suffered regular losses. The Airports Economic Regulatory
Authority (AERA) bill was passed by the Indian Parliament and In 2009, AERA was established to
control the economic aspects of airports (Chakravarty M., n.d.). In 2010, 79 million individuals travelled
to/from/or within India and the number is expected to increase by 2037 to 520 million. 7.5 million
Workers are funded by the Indian aviation sector and contribute Around 30 billion US dollars a year to
India's GDP.

During the 2000-2010 decade, the transformation of the Indian aviation sector into a more transparent,
liberal and investment-friendly sector led to several structural reforms, with private players joining the
sector. It has also made the market more attractive for many low-cost carriers. In turn, this has paved the
way for strong economic growth and increased FDI in the country's business. What followed was an
increased tourist inflow, combined with increased cargo movement, the main drivers for the growth of the
sector. In 2013, air passengers in the country increased to 160 million. In 6 years, it was 75 million. It was
predicted that this would hit 275 million in 2017 and 450 million in 2020.

A study from FCCI-PwC projected that Indian aviation industry will be among the top three markets in
the world by 2020. The rise in FDI by around 49 per cent is one of the key drivers (FICCI - PwC Report,
2015). Led by lower crude oil prices in the month of October-November 2015, the Indian aviation market
continued its double-digit growth. Domestic airlines carried 19.96 percent more passengers in October
than in the same month last year. By flying 36.8 percent of passengers, Indigo managed to rule the sky,
led by 21.2 percent Jet airways, 15.5 percent Air India and 12.8 percent Spice jet "At same period, Spice
Jet had the largest load factor of 92.1 percent amongst the airlines, whereas Vistara had the highest
performance of 93.7 percent on time."

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SpiceJet

With the name Genius Leasing Finance Investment Firm, which targeted private air taxi operations,
SpiceJet initially became a private limited company in 1984. It was eventually rechristened several times
and ultimately ended up as SpiceJet Limited in 2006. When it was known as Kansagra in 2004, Singh
joined the airline. Singh, who owned other companies such as Telespice Wireless, Spice Homes, Spice
Mining, Spice Cell, and Spice Cars, was the brainchild of the new brand, SpiceJet. On November 4, 2004,
Singh was named as a director. In 2005, SpiceJet began operating as an LCC. In 2012, Outlook Traveler
voted it as India's Favorite Airline. (The Economic Times, n.d.).

Singh concentrated on the Private Equity (PE) market when fuel prices rose in 2008, and the company
was rescued by the American PE company WL Ross & Co, which pumped in about Rs. 3.45 billion to
fund the airline. In 2010, India's domestic growth was largely driven by LCCs, with SpiceJet showing
passenger growth of 44 percent; WL Ross and the Kansagra family sold their stakes in SpiceJet the same
year to media baron Kalanithi

Maran, who acquired a controlling share of 38.7 percent. (NRI Achievers Bureau, 2015). On August 27,
2010, Singh resigned from the commission.

A Chennai-based businessman, Sun Group media baron Kalanithi Maran, purchased the airline from its
founders in 2010. In 2012, the failure of Kingfisher opened a new window for existing airlines with more
demand and spice jet quickly capitalized on it and took second place after Indigo, the industry leader,
controlling more than 20% of the market. The business has never made any money since it was bought by
the Sun.

In 2012, due to a rise in global oil prices, SpiceJet experienced a loss of over 390 million (US$6.1
million) (SpiceJet, 2015). On 9 January 2012, the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation announced that a
number of airlines in India, including SpiceJet, had not retained key data for quality assurance of flight
operations or FOQA. The Bombay stock exchange announced that SpiceJet had been sustaining losses
since June 2011. Kalanithi Maran increased his interest in SpiceJet in 2012, despite the losses, by
investing 1 billion (US$16 million) in the airline. At the end of the year the airline returned to making
money. In 2013, on 16 December 2013, SpiceJet announced the first Tiger Air Interline Pact.

SpiceJet's Downfall

By the end of the year ending May 2014, the company had a record loss of 10 billion INR from December
2010-December 2014, Kalanithi Maran had spent more than 15 billion INR, but never smelled profits.
The airline was highly reliant on cash flows (Business today, 2015)

From Maran, which held 58.46 percent of the company's stake. Once again the airline needed cash, but Maran
was unable to support this time because SEBI only allows an injection of 5 percent a year. The airline began
searching for a savior

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and in the meantime, losses were ignored with the firm hope that a future investor would be identified.

To cut maintenance expenses, SpiceJet had to return 15 of its Boeing 737 aircraft; it defaulted on wage
payments (Bhattacharya R., 2014) and duties such as taxes, fuel charges, terminal fees. After clearing
obligations of around Rs. 4 billion (US$55 million) against income tax and service charges, the airline
faced a "cash crunch."

SpiceJet sought to retrieve discount programs and promotional fares. It announced early bird sales and
mega sales for Diwali Dhamaka, in which it sold all-inclusive tickets at marginal prices. These behavior
marginally increased market share, but culminated in the airline's rapid downturn, which suffered net
negative cash flow. In December 2014, Maran addressed Singh, saying that he was interested in shutting
down the airline (Mukherjee A., 2015).

Figure 1 Nosedive for SpiceJet (Source: The Times of India)

In July 2014, approximately 50 percent discounts owing to competition were announced by SpiceJet.
SpiceJet scrapped several domestic flights around the nation in December 2014. The Directorate-General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given an alert about the non-payment of wages and dues, whereas the
airport operators have moved to place the airline in cash-and-carry mode, which means that the airline
could only use the airport facilities after payment upfront. All flights were suspended on 17 December
after the oil companies declined to refuel their aircraft. The next day, flights began.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation estimated the possible work losses (Mukherjee S., 2014) at 20,000 direct and
indirect jobs. Experts concluded that this downturn was due to weak top-level management, lack of funds, high
loan repayment charges
and increasing ATF costs (Rediff.com, 2014). The airline's Chief Commercial Officer resigned in 2013,
and in just a few weeks (Shukla, 2013) the Chief Executive Officer followed suit vacating the
administrative positions during the rough times. Analysts in the field of aviation were pessimistic about
the unstable top leadership team. While the promoters’ poured money into the airline at regular intervals,
losses were steadily sustained. There were also speculations circulating in the media that the resignation
of top-level executives was due to disputes with management over the cheap ticket system ('Our Bureau'
Hindu business line, 2013), and that investors were hesitant due to an ongoing Maran brothers inquiry
(Rediff.com, 2014).

SpiceJet’s Revival

When Ajay Singh, the company's former co-founder, took control of Spice-jet in 2014, it was almost on
the brink of declaring bankruptcy as the fleet was grounded, the airline was barred from advance ticket
sales by the aviation ministry, thereby stripping the much needed cash flow and oil companies declining
to refuel the aircraft citing payment issues. In December 2014, SpiceJet proposed its revival plan (PTI,
2014) to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, a plan that proposed PE investors bringing in a big chunk of cash
while Singh took charge of management. In the presence of Singh, Kapoor, SpiceJet's CEO, presented a
'Scheme of Reconstruction and Revival' to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. International investors' names
were not disclosed. The 'Scheme of Reconstruction and Revival was approved by the SpiceJet board in
January 2015. The strategy centered on infusing cash, clearing dues, reducing prices, reducing fleet size,
improving operating performance and rationalizing employees. Singh took over the airline for the second
time with government authorization of the system, establishing a new team.

One of the most simple things managers do and advisors recommend, as with many transformation tales, is to
cut costs. As 40-50 percent of the expense is associated with jet fuel, lowering costs becomes far more difficult
than the other sectors when it comes to airline business. The industry expense of the aviation industry is
approximately 40 percent, but that was more than 50 percent for spice jets. So the first goal was to lower the
cost and get it to 40 percent of the industry standard. In order to reach the destination, pilots were instructed to
fly with only the amount of fuel needed to fly, plus a slight safety margin. This made the aircraft lighter there
which resulted in less fuel usage. They were also instructed to lower their landing gears from touchdowns by
7-8 km rather than their previous 14 km drill. Again the purpose for this was to save fuel and reduce the
airline's prices in order to get it to the market level of 40 percent. While crude oil prices have dropped
significantly globally, all these initiatives have resulted in tremendous cost savings for the company, as aircraft
fuel costs range from 2,409.62 crore to 1391.95 crore.

One of the other key reasons why the business was profusely bleeding was that the company was constantly
flying on several routines where the load factor was too low and the company suffered tremendous losses.
Ajay Singh suspended 26 routes and seven stations with immediate effect. In addition, capacity on almost
14 routes has been decreased. In order to cut prices, the airline continued to fly to certain airports that
provided lower state fuel uplift taxes.

The focus of Spice jet was not to increase their fleet size, which they had reduced due to the previous
cash flow crisis, but to reduce their TAT (Turnaround Time) and thus to take full flights with the current
fleet. Spice Jet decreased the TAT to as low as 25 minutes and the airline's planes were in the air for 13
hours as a consequence, while rivals such as Indigo, Air India, Jet Airways etc. were in the sky for an
average of 10-12 hours. Despite the decreased fleet size, Spice Jet was thus able to transport 11.9 million
passengers, which is the same as in the previous year. Fuel prices were dropping at the global level at the
beginning of 2014, and airlines took this opportunity and hedged on fuel, particularly the Singapore
airline, like many international airlines. As per company estimates, this resulted in savings of even more
than Rs.500 crore.

Singh began providing major discounts on the client front and cutting non-profitable flying paths. When
the oil firms declined to refill the jets due to payment crises, almost 1800 flights were cancelled by the
Spice jet. This had a catastrophic impact on the airline's brand image, and because of cancellation
problems, passengers were hesitant to travel with the airline. By introducing three consecutive flash sales
concurrently where the rates were as low as Re1, Ajay Singh solved this problem. This generated new
demand for the company and enhanced the load factor in no time, and the load factor for the airline is
currently the highest among all other domestic airlines and stands at 93.2 percent. This is an
improvement in the total load factor of almost 11.3 percent.

Another field he quickly concentrated on was On-Time Performance (OTP). These actions led SpiceJet
to raise its passenger load factor from 80.0 percent in January 2015 by 93.4 percent in July 2015
(Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)). SpiceJet utilized its IT and Customer Relationship
Management systems to segment consumers and come up with new services using its database. Routes,
which enabled the airline to fill seats, were streamlined and re-priced. To boost interest in the youth
segment, branding and positioning were altered; each plane was labeled after an Indian spice. Apart from
being connected with Indian culture, a new logo and "Red Hot" slogan using red and turmeric colors
signified energy. The new look has been spread via large-scale ads on social media.

In an attempt to be lean, the company has also cut its staff. The wage bill of the sector is 10-12 percent of
its income. Particularly in comparison to the 100 of Indigo Airlines, Spice jet had 140 employees per
plane, which is simply too high (The Economist, 2015). This has had a negative impact on the
profitability as it is a significant metric to look at when the costs are involved. The business was
downsized from 5600 and presently has a workforce of around 5300. The organization has not made
major cuts, but feels they need to do rights-making and the aim is to get the workforce down to 4800.
This also contributed to a decline in expenditure on employee benefits from Rs.5375 million in 2015 to
Rs.4928 million in 2016.
For the first quarter of the financial year 2015-2016, these attempts at reform culminated in a recorded net
profit of about Rs.718 million, achieving the highest quarterly income ever reported by the airline since
its establishment. SpiceJet had zero debt and paid for any pending settlements. The company had begun
producing cash and the kitty had around Rs.4 billion.

The business has managed to recover its market shares and the airline has a total market share of 12.8
percent as of March 2016 from a market share of just 10 percent in 2015 and 18 percent in 2014.
Therefore the airline has not only recovered from the death's doorstep and returned to the air from being
suspended by aviation experts as dead with no potential reach, but also recorded profits. The figure below
exhibits the turnaround in net income.

Figure 2 Turnaround in net income (Source: Company Reports)

Singh said, "We have been through a stage where it was hard to survive. It's a year of restructuring now that we
have gotten through that point. We have to make sure we are strong; our balance sheet is in good shape. We
need to make sure we're able to expand in a profitable way. It is crucial that we do not expand in order to raise
market share, but in such a way that we continue to make greater profits.”

STP and Branding strategy of SpiceJet

1. Segmentation:
Based on surveys of research, audience of spicejet seek comfortable travel, food, Baggage weight,
aordability, availability etc. Among these, adorable tickets, on time service and comfortable travel
came out to be the most prominent ones. Based on these the market can be segmented into the
following three segments:“Budget Conscious”, “On time travelers” and “Comfort Seekers”
- On the basis of demographic Income: Spicejet has segmented the market on the basis of
Income of demography of India who are also Cost Conscious Passengers.
 2. Targeting:
Spicejet target market is middle class income group and lower part of rich segment of India’s
population. The targeng for SpiceJet is mainly budget conscious customers. They offer low price tickets.
However, they are also trying to get some of the “Comfort Seekers” through their SpiceMax program
which offer customers extra comforts like extra leg-room, priority check in,etc. And by establishing
themselves as an on time and punctual domestic airline through exceponal service, they have also
captured the segment whose main priority is reaching the destination on time. It also offer students
discounts and senior citizens discounts to further strengthen its market share in these segments.

3. Positioning:
a. SpiceJet’s tagline; ‘Red. Hot. Spicy.’ positions it as an airline for youngsters. Its ad
campaign of ‘Flying for Everyone’ also positioned it as a low-cost carrier making flying
affordable to everyone.
Service Marketing Triangle

Internal Marketing:
- SpiceJet puts alot of efforts in training and motivating its employees at different levels from time
to time. This helps the company to indirectly position itself in the customers mind.
- SpiceJet also teaches their Employees to deal with safety problems like accidents, fire, bomb
threat, armed robbery etc.
- SpiceJet also gives incentives and bonuses to their employees to help stay motivated to their
work.
- Special distinguishing suit and dress to their air hostesses.
-
External Marketing:
- SpiceJet uses some unique, innovative, and cool marketing campaigns on social media. For
example:
- SpiceMax Campaign – A Marketing Campaign of SpiceJet
- #Withallourhearts – A Marketing Campaign of SpiceJet
- SpiceJet uses different modes for advertising, like TV, online, hoardings, print, etc.
- It advertises schemes, programs, and discounts through social media as well as through outdoor
advertisements like banners, newspapers, etc.

Interactive Marketing:
- Employees of SpiceJet are very friendly, helpful to customers which bring trusts in the customer’s
mind for SpiceJet.
- Employees of SpiceJet are also polite & courteous to customers.
- Employees of SpiceJet are very cheerful reliable & informed.
- The customers of SpiceJet to easily relate and communicate with employees.
- In case of any customer complaints, the employees are immediately directed to report the same to
their managers

“Colour the Skies”

On February 24, 2015, SpiceJet unveiled 'Colour the Skies', a discount sale deal for individuals who
wanted to fly during the festival of colors, Holi. (Exhibit 3) The deal targeted at new consumer acquisition
– first time flyers and people who did not have any previous plans for immediate travel. The 'Color the
Sky' bid included the international travel section, unlike its earlier offerings in 2015. Under the bid, tickets
were all priced at Rs.1699, including all charges, on routes such as Hyderabad to Vijayawada, Delhi to
Dehradun, Guwahati to Kolkata, Ahmedabad to Mumbai and Bangalore to Hyderabad. International
flights began at Rs.3, 799 including all charges for Delhi to Kathmandu, and discounted fares were also
available on most other international routes (India.com, 2015).

According to Kaneswaran Avili, Chief Commercial Officer of SpiceJet, “The 'Color the Skies' sale from
SpiceJet gives our customers the opportunity to celebrate Holi and spread happiness and color more
widely as they can now make virtually instant travel plans to visit locations, friends, family, relatives, or
just to get away for a short vacation. We have expanded the offer of 100,000 seats at an unbeatable
discount. This is SpiceJet's way of thanking our clients who helped us through tough times that are now
behind us.”

The management felt the airline was back on course with the introduction of promotional deals and the
ownership acquisition by its founders. According to them the airline was able to sell unused seats, which
would otherwise have been unused, through aggressive reduced price deals. The discounted fares,
especially 'Color the Skies', apparently boosted profits during the lean travel season and filled seats, that
would have otherwise stayed vacant (Business Today, 2015).
7 P’s of Spicejet Marketing

SpiceJet Product Strategy:

In India, SpiceJet wanted to be one of the leading aviation firms. The company came up with flight as the
central service in the product strategy for SpiceJet's marketing. SpiceJet brought in a total of 40 aircraft in
its fleet, including 4 Boeing 737-900 aircraft, 22 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, and 14 BOMBARDIER Q400
aircraft. SpiceJet did not provide any business class or Premium Economy Class cabins, but its service
that it gave on the flight were divided into two categories Economy class and SpiceMax. To provide
reliable and polite handling, Spice Jet employed a competent and skilled crew. In addition to a small
handbag of up to seven kg or a laptop bag, the company provided a free luggage allowance of 15 kg per
passenger. Spice Jet Online Check-in allowed Travelers to avoid lengthy airport queues.

Economy class was targeted at travelers who were unable to pay more and needed regular service.
Travelers who wanted to simply enjoy the simple flying service. SpiceJet aircrafts were designed such
that they looked contemporary, vivid and sleek in color and could offer a sense of international flights.
SpiceMax was a type of premium service that travelers got. (Exhibit 4) Travelers had to pay extra for this
premium service when booking their seat online or at the airport counter. A SpiceMax seats had extra leg
room on board, and complimentary meals, priority bag check-in and priority boarding facilities were
offered for the travelers (SpiceJet, 2014).

Travelers were also provided pay-added amenities such as quality veg-non veg meal, Spice Lounge
service, Spice Talk (Sim card for international call use) facilities and many other.

SpiceJet Price/Pricing Strategy:

The SpiceJet management knew that Indian marketplace is price-sensitive and it was very important to
follow an effective pricing strategy that is in line with the popular masses to create a niche market of its
own. To bring in potential consumers, the company positioned its brand as a low-cost carrier without any
frills and it targeted the cost-conscious middle-class and lower-middle-class portion of society.

SpiceJet after facing the crisis started to work upon providing one of the cheapest airline service in India. It
faced tough competition from Indigo, Jet Airways and Vistara. Due to large number of competitors focusing on
low cost carrier segment, SpiceJet followed a competitive pricing in its marketing strategy by offering a mix of
both low-cost tickets and reasonable onboard facilities to its travelers.

In order to draw more Travelers, SpiceJet also brought in different schemes and discount deals. SpiceJet began
offering its frequent Travelers SpiceCash, which served as a loyalty point that could be used to get discounts.
For Indian Armed Force individuals, teachers, senior citizens and small and medium business passengers,
SpiceJet provided discounts on pre-booking tickets and added facilities and exclusive discounts. The company
has also began to follow a dynamic pricing model focused on the date of booking of the ticket and offered
multiple fare rates based on the travel class (SpiceMax or economy) selected by the company.

SpiceJet Place & Distribution Strategy:

SpiceJet started operating 246 daily flights through 34 cities in India and 7 international destinations such
as Dubai, Colombo, Kabul, and Riyadh etc. SpiceJet made its hub at three airports: Indira Gandhi
International Airport (in Delhi), Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (in Hyderabad) and Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose International Airport (in Kolkata). Any traveler could now book an online ticket from the
website of SpiceJet or from any website for ticket booking such as goibibo, paytm, or offline from tour
operators, airport, etc. A traveler could now ask the customer care service for special assistance. SpiceJet
also started actively involved in engaging with future Travelers on social media such as Twitter, Facebook
etc.

SpiceJet came up with the idea of providing brand-related information to its fans and social media
followers through social media. It slowly increased more than 5 lakh fans on Facebook, many of whom
were actively in conversation with different posts on the page ranging from engagement attempts to job
posting to new routes announcement. With quite a notable pace, the SpiceJet posted requirement posts on
its wall, and was predictably causing a good deal of engagement. The sort of brain-teasers and other
entertaining Competitions it frequently posted may be one of the reasons for this continued growth of
consumer engagement (Socialsamosa. 2015).

A delayed flight is really irritating, and when the details shared by the airliner is inaccurate, it becomes more
so. Complaints such as these kept SpiceJet's twitter administrator busy as they strived to placate the disgruntled
voice of clients served with false data. SpiceJet also started using Twitter to accept customer inquiries,
feedback, and to share with its supporter’s new information and deals, but a great deal of its effort was aimed
at handling customer complaints (Socialsamosa. 2015). This all gave their costumers and flyers a smooth
travelling experience.

SpiceJet Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

For its promotion, SpiceJet management came up with integrated marketing strategy focusing on TV, digital,
print, outdoors, cinema and airports. A lot of humorous advertisements were carried out by SpiceJet to
promote its SpiceMax premium service. SpiceJet introduced a new red hot spicy avatar uniform for its air
hostess and other crew members, SpiceJet got a makeover. This was done to boost SpiceJet's brand image as
glamourous and youthful. SpiceJet also started utilizing outdoor outlets, such as airport banners or any prime
spot. SpiceJet solved consumer complaints and connected to its potential customers on social media such as
Facebook and Twitter. On its website and its mobile app, SpiceJet heavily promoted the addition of services
such as SpiceClub, FlyForSure, etc. SpiceJet advertised its smartphone app by offering a special discount on
app ticket bookings. In addition, SpiceJet started publishing magazine to advertise its services and other
products. This way increased its brand’s reach to all segments of Indian population. These all steps
brought added a new customer base to this airline.

SpiceJet also promoted its brand by sponsoring sports teams such as sponsoring ILP 2014's Sunrisers
Hyderabad and other social sponsorships such as J&K girls' educational tour etc.

SpiceJet People Strategy:

SpiceJet is renowned for providing its customers with the highest standards of good service. The entire
SpiceJet staff is entirely committed to client centricity. The SpiceJet crew is regarded as the company's
brand image, and recently all crew members' uniforms were updated to reflect glitz and youth.
SpiceJet has always supported its staff members' development of leadership, ownership, and a
service-oriented mindset. Additionally, SpiceJet offers travel advantages to its staff members and their
families. SpiceJet has also developed a welfare initiative for its staff members to help support their
families by offering health and education benefit plans. The SpiceJet aircraft's complete front end crew is
highly trained and competent to provide travellers with the services they have requested. All employees,
from the flight attendants to the pilots to the air hostesses, help to create a welcoming environment for the
passengers.
SpiceJet Physical Evidence Strategy:

SpiceJet is renowned for offering its customers a low cost flying option with standard services. SpiceJet's
fleet of 40 aircraft serves as tangible proof in the airline sector. SpiceJet also provides the SpiceMax
service option, which features more spacious seats with increased comfort. SpiceJet offers a seamless
onboard experience because of the interior design, which is contemporary and gives off the vibe of an
international airline. In-flight dining is another paid extra option that SpiceJet provides to customers.
Additionally, SpiceJet provides its own magazine to passengers. Additionally, SpiceJet provides a
smartphone app that allows users to check in, select a seat and food, and order boarding passes.
Airport SpiceJet kiosks offer assistance to travelers as well. Additionally, SpiceJet provides its customers
with SpiceLounge services at several locations, including Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc.

SpiceJet Process Strategy:

SpiceJet's marketing mix includes a variety of processes. A customer visits the website to make a ticket
reservation. The traveler must first enter the source and destination, the date of travel, and the number of
passengers before selecting a flight from the ones that are offered. After accepting the terms and
conditions, the customer must pay to confirm the reservation. The customer's email address and mobile
number will get a letter with the ticket's travel information. This booking process can be followed by the
customer from any other website. The traveler must leave their luggage at the airport SpiceJet desk on the
day of check-in so they may enjoy the trip. The management of all processes will be done by SpiceJet.
Travelers can use SpiceMax category service from SpiceJet to receive various benefits similar to those
offered to business class passengers. A consumer can use a mobile ticket and check in in advance.

Direct and Indirect Competition

The case of SpiceJet shows us what can be achieved with a good mindset and the right strategic steps.
SpiceJet is rated at Rs 7,400 crore, up from the Rs 650 crore it was rated in 2014 during its darkest hour.
Rival Jet Airways Ltd is priced at Rs 6,200 crore, with a fleet that is double that of SpiceJet. The SpiceJet
is one of the most rare cases in which an airline has recovered from near closure stages. Many players,
such as Kingfisher Airlines, Paramount Airways and Indus Airlines, had shut down stores prior to
SpiceJet. Bloomberg said in June, with a 124 percent rise, it was the world's best aviation stock this year.
(Exhibit 7)

On January 13, 2016, SpiceJet announced a deal to purchase 205 aircraft worth $22 billion from Boeing,
after raising its load factor and OTP. In India, the deal made SpiceJet the biggest Boeing customer. In
addition to plans to increase the size of the fleet, SpiceJet entered the international market in March 2017
with its first regular flight from Kolkata to Dhaka, the seventh international destination for the low-cost
airline.

In a volatile climate, airlines operate where cost leadership and service differentiation play a major role.
Revenues are also greatly influenced by fluctuating ATF rates and other central and state duties.
Therefore, businesses rely heavily on acquiring a greater chunk of the market in order to remain viable.
The future survival and sustainability of the airline will depend on how well these obstacles can be
resolved. This turnaround is therefore only at a budding stage and the flight Spice jet has taken is going to
go through a very rough turbulence and bad weather if it has to guarantee future growth and sustainability.
The question still stayed: Can SpiceJet keep up its turn-around?