The second factor mentioned in PEST analysis is Economic.

Like many countries in 2020, India

have suffered from COVIID-19 wave with a significant rise in infected cases in the end of
September. India becomes one of the biggest pandemic spotlights which have exhausted its
economy with crisis and drops (Sasi, 2022). The pandemic explosion made airline in India
become a crisis as the need for travelling has incredibly decreased. This resulted in 20-35% of
flights were cancelled and staffs were fired (Singh, 2022). According to the departure of civil
aviation, there was a consecutive dip in goods traffic in April. In detail, customers traffic in 20 th
April 2021 has dropped 41%, while the number of flights recorded a dip of 22% compared to
March (155207 people and 4583 flight respectively). The pandemic made commercial, tourism
investment, manufacturing and business delayed which severely impact the entire economy of
India (Dash et al, 2021). In general, the negative effects on economy will also have bad effects
on aviation.
The third factor of PEST analysis is Social. According to International Air Transport Association,
India is expected to become the third biggest aviation market on the world within 10 more years
as the need for travelling by plane is gradually increasing. However, due to the pandemic, India
only achieved 115,37 million customers in 2021 together with the decrease with CAGR rate in
national and international customers from 2016 to 2021 (9.02% and 28.64% respectively)
(Verma, 2022). According to Morgan Stanley (2020), aviation in India is certainly be able to
recover when residents are fully vaccinated as well as all the activities get back to the norm. In
order to stably meet the demand of travelling after the pandemic, India government made an
effort to increase the number of airports to 200 and 1100 airplanes in 2027 (Solanki et al, 2022).
In general, the pandemic has a severe impact on India aviation but the scenario will be better
when the residents are fully vaccinated.

The last factor of PEST analysis is Technology. In order to reoperate domestic flights in India,
aviation had to utilize technology to enhance customers experience, specifically is the biometric
technology such as facial recognition, fingerprint authentication, and retinal scanning are
helping reduce touchpoints at the airports and eliminating the risk of physical contact (Agarwal
et al, 2021). The integration of biometric systems for border control, airport check-ins,
onboarding, migration formalities, and the entire verification process can help create a better
future for the airline industry (Agarwal et al, 2021).

Suppliers in aviation have massive powers because they directly contribute to the integration as
well as development of airlines in India. Petroleum companies said that ATF price had a 40% rise
in one year compared to the 30% global rise (Mohapatra et al, 2021). The rise of ATF price gave
airlines in India many difficulties which made them reduce flight price as well as incline some
others additional fees (Kalita et al, 2019). The rise ATF price, the drop of Rupee as well as an
exhausted economy in India have directly influence on aviation in India (Mohapatra et al, 2021).
ATF price and expensive airport fees in India are two factors negatively impact on the entire
Indian aviation in general and Air India Express in particular.
Everything revolves around gaining a competitive advantage, but in this section, the cost-
leadership strategy will be used to help Air India Express have more development directions
than its aviation industry competitors. Competition will evaluate the possibility of success or fail
of an enterprise. Enterprises compete with others in order to achieve competition in their fields.
Cost- leadership means Air India Express compete with its opponents by offering lowest price.
This is an effective marketing strategy to improve market share

Ansoff matrix contains 4 growth strategies yet this section only focuses on Market penetration
strategy as it fits the Cost-leadership analyzed above as well as the current well-being of Air
India Express. In this strategy, Air India Express should target on promotion programs or sale
program in order to attract more customers. Besides, they also need to invest in marketing their
brand as well as flight service packs. Air India Express, simultaneously, had better innovate their
service based on customers’ feedback. These improvement, in general, will offer Air India
Express a great deal of competition and trust.

Organic development occurs when a company expands based on its own resources. This is the
most reasonable strategy allowing Air India Express to themselves achieve their targets in term
of revenue and performance. In order to successfully apply this method, Air India Express have
to make an effort to be creative to create their own signature which distinguish them from their
opponents by offering customers new products or service, specifically a new restaurant in India
airport. A restaurant which serves special Indian food on every flight will be a unique feature
making Air India Express stand out. A unique image will enable Air India Express to characterize
the value they offer their customers as well as expand market share and achieve more profit.

In terms of suitability, 3 options all have the score of 4, which means Air India Express ought to
have more competition strategies as well as expand market share and revenue. In the first
strategy, all practices related to price are able to attract customers since the general income of
Indian is low and hence this is a reasonable strategy. In the second strategy, marketing plays an
important role in remaining the customers for a long time as well as seeking for new customers.
The last strategy is a brand-new strategy to Air India Express. However, this strategy allows
them to obtain impression from customers, which helps them dominate their opponents.

In terms of possibility and approachability, the second strategy both gets the maximum score
( 5/5). As well as the its overall score is 14, also the highest, which means that this is the most
appropriate strategy for Air India Express. The effort to boost on marketing and advertising from
Air India Express are essential as Air India Express can easily attract more customers as well as
these strategies brings them many achievements.

The possibility and approachability of the last strategy are only average which only get 10
scores, also the lowest compared to the rest 2 strategies. In other words, this is absolutely a
new field for Air India Express but this also build up a new image for Air India Express together
with proving that Air India Express always provide customers with the best service in every filed.
The first strategy with 12 scores and 4 scores for both possibility and approachability shows that
this will help Air India Express not only obtain domination in expense but also optimize profit
and run a stable enterprise.