UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH (UOG)

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Business Management (Top Up)

ASSIGNMENT / PROJECT COVER SHEET
(to be completed individually by student)

UOG ID Number 001146004

ADJIE SETYA RAHMAT P

Course Specialization International Business (General)/ Entrepreneurship/

Finance/ Marketing and Sales/ Tourism and
*Please delete as appropriate Hospitality Management

Subject Code/Name BUSI 1633/ Strategy for Managers

Assignment Title Final Report (Re-sit)

Lecturer/Supervisor Mr.Constantine Ng

Word count 2637

DECLARATION
I, the above named student, confirm that by submitting, or causing the attached assignment
to be submitted, I have not plagiarized any other person’s work in this assignment and
except where appropriately acknowledged, this assignment is my own work, has been
expressed in my own words, and has not previously been submitted for assessment.
 Table Of Content

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…3

ABOUT AIR INDIA EXPRESS …………………………………………………………………………………………..4-5

Pestel Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………6-7

Key Issue……..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………....7

Porter 5 Force…………………….…………………………………………………………………………………..…….8

SWOT Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..9

RECCOMENDATION………………………………………………….……………………………………………………9-10

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………..10

REFERENCES .………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……. 11

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INTRODUCTION

Air India Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India. Air India Express is a low budget
international airline owned by a government company (Jayakrishnan S, 2019). At Air India's
low rating, more than eighty four Million Passengers annually. And connects one hundred
and forty pairs of cities with excellent value and reliable flight services (Air India
Express,2019). The airline has received a 3 Star reputation by Sky Trex with its low cost
carrier (SkyTrex, 2021). Airlines offer unequaled factors for connectivity factors, convenient
schedules, low fares with snacks, on-time departures. In the past three years, criticism of
water india has been explicit in frequent court cases from Indian expats and complaints of
closing minutes are protected against delays, cancellations, behind-the-scenes refunds and
non-availability of services (Dhal, 2016). Aiming to emerge as the 0.33 largest aviation
market by 2020, businesses want to have a clean roadmap to deal with the eventualities
and demanding situations in the future.

In this discussion I will discuss how Indian water can survive during a pandemic by exploiting
existing resources so that it can fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ABOUT AIR INDIA EXPRESS

Mission Vision and Goals

Air India Express has a vision to be the most efficient and preferred LCC in India on regional
and international routes and become the expectations of passengers in quality, affordability,
convenience and comfort (AirIndiaExpress,2019). Air India Express destinations provide
convenient connectivity to short or medium distance international routes in the Gulf and
Southeast Asia at affordable rates (AirIndia Express,2019).

History
Air India Express started its operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India under Air
India Charters Limited. Air India Express was launched as a low-cost carrier in April 2005 (Air
India Express,2017). The airline carried 2.8 million passengers in 2015-2016 and 3.4 million
passengers in 2016-2017 (Jayakrishnan 2019).

Source : India Market Share By Statista 2021

Present Operation
Air India Express is in 9th place from Air India which is a company, this decline in number
occurred due to the impact of the Lockdown implemented by the local government to cope
with the pandemic recovery in India. The Indian market is highly vulnerable to economic
changes, fluctuations, oil prices, natural disasters, epidemics and political unrest
(Jayakrishnan, 2019). When there is a prolonged outbreak, the aviation world in India will be
affected as badly as Air India Express, which ranks 9th out of 8 competitors.

Competitor
The size of the fleet on each airline is very important to the company's operations, domestic
low cost airlines such as Indigo, Jet Airways and Go Air are a challenge because of the large
domestic fleet focus for their regional operations. (Jayakrishnan, 2019). It can be seen in the
table above that Indigo, Jet Airways, and Go Air are a threat to Air India Express domestic
flights.

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Strategy
As a result of the pandemic disaster that hit the Indian aviation world, Air India Express
switched functions by replacing aircraft seats with cargo loads to be able to meet the needs
of aircraft flying hours so as to cover operational costs. Air India Express (AIE) aircraft has
stepped up its cargo operations, using a fleet of B-737-800 to transport agricultural
products, especially fruits and vegetables to West Asian countries, Singapore, Malaysia (S.
Anil Radhakrishnan, 2021). This service aims to meet the flight supply so that it remains
intact because international commercial flights cannot continue due to the Covid-19
pandemic.

Stake Holder
Air India Express is owned by the Indian government in other words the company was
privately owned before the pandemic. Now after the pandemic, the Tata Group took over
the company's position due to the government's inability to manage the airline. Tata Sons
Offered $2.4 Billion including equity and debt of the airline (Business Standard, 2021).

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PESTEL Analysis

POLITICS
The Government of India made a domestic open sky policy that allowed several new
operators to enter the market (Jayakrishnan, 2019). With this policy, there will be more
foreign airlines and allow international routes to regional airports (Jayakrisnan, 2019).

Based on the Indian government's aviation policy during the COVID-19 outbreak, tourists
who come to India must perform a Negative COVID-19 RT-PCR within 72 hours before the
flight (MOH India, 2021). This will cause inconvenience and pessengers may choose not to
be fly.

ECONOMIC

On Apr India's inflation rate decreased from the previous year which was around 7.61 and in
May 2021 it fell to 6.3% which previously fell in April of around 4.23%. On the other hand,
inflation acceleration for foodstuffs (5.15 percent vs. 5.01 percent) for fuel and light fuels
was 12.68 percent vs. 11.58 percent (TradingEconomic). The slowdown of economics in
india a long with the pandemic, effecr the flight purchase ability.

SOCIAL (Lifestyle air india express Impact the airlines )

Air India Express is the 9th largest LCC airline, the airline's target is Indian expats and low-
budget travelers and leisure travelers (AirIndiaExpress,2019). By prioritizing comfort,
affordability and convenience in buying tickets, prospective passengers will choose Air India
Express flights.

In this case, it has a good impact on Indian airlines because this airline can provide Connect
Point To Point which is unmatched by other airlines in India (Jayakrishnan, 2019).

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TECHNOLOGY

Indian flights also simplify Check-In instead of requiring passengers to Check-In within 24
hours before the flight using the Whatsapp application.

Technology in the aviation world is very important. Air India Express makes it easy for
passengers to be able to make new reservations supported by Radixx International
(Jayakrishnan, 2019). This proves the company's seriousness in providing facilities and
convenience for prospective passengers from ordering tickets to boarding services.

ENVIROMENTAL

Air India Express has had a significant environmental impact on airports in India,
modernization of airports in India and the impetus for the development of greenfield
airports (infrastructure projects built from scratch on unused land) (Jayakrishnan, 2019).

The aviation sector in India is advanced because the private sector contributes to building
infrastructure and developing airport projects.

LEGAL
In the legalization of the Air India Express industry, Because Covid- 19 Invected in india the
regulation follow government directives.
On 12 November 2021 exempts children under the age of five from being tested for COVID
before and after arrival at the airport. & 96 countries have approved India's international
vaccine certificate so that the vaccine certificate can be used for Indian international travel
(India Briefing,12 Nov 2021).
For now, the impact caused by Covid-19 is that the Indian government has tightened flights
and the Air India Express airline is making rules for smooth flights.

Key Issue

Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit India, Indian Aviation experienced an increase from year
to year and became the 3rd largest market in the world in 2020 (Jayakrisnan, 2019). And the
number of passengers grew by 7.6% during the period April 2015-January 2016 to 45.4
million. In addition, there are also many problems that occur with Indian airlines such as the
open sky policy carried out by the Indian government so that foreign flights can enter as
new operators, the price of oil is so expensive and airport rentals are also an obstacle in the
Indian aviation sector, in this case I will explain how the Indian aviation sector can withstand
all the pressures that exist and analyze it into 2 analyzes.

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Porter 5 Forces Analysis

Threat of Subsitutes

In a survey in India more than 73% they prefer to use their own vehicle during the covid-19
pandemic (TheHindu, 2020). This can destabilize the demand for airline tickets during the
pandemic, this trend also increases sales of the automotive industry with more than
1,97,523 units sold in India previously in July 2019 which was 1% lower (TheHindu, 2020).

Rivalyry of Competitors
Aviation competition between Air India Express and other airlines such as Indigo, Spice Jet
and Go Air in domestic operations in India Air India only has a 13.3% stake while
competitors such as Nila which has a 39.6% stake and Jet Airways 15.4% ( Jayakrishnan,
2019). Competitors of low cost airlines in India are competing with each other to become
the number 1 market share in India.

Threat Of Suppliers
Airbus and Boeing are the only major passenger aircraft manufacturers in the world
(Investopedia, 2021). Air India Express uses Boeing 737-800 type aircraft as many as 21
aircraft (Jayakrishnan, 2019). So the threat of suppliers is very high because it only has the
2 largest suppliers in India.

Threat Of Buyers

Now Indian airlines have offers to restart the world of aviation because the government will
abolish fare limits on airlines due to the pandemic (Businessinsider, 2021). So that airlines
will compete to be able to lower prices so that prospective passengers can choose their
flights.

Bargaining Power of Buyers is very high due to paralysis due to the pandemic in India which
previously carried out the Lockdown. So the government must make a decision to elevate
their aviation world.

Threat of New Entrants

As a result of the global aviation pandemic being closed, making other businesses rise, that
business is car sales which have increased due to the pandemic, the government has
banned air transportation but not ground transportation. Purchases of Private Mode of
Transportation increased by 5.5% in Q4 2019-2020 (TheIndianExpress,2020). Proving that
Indians prefer to take private transportation over public transportation.

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SWOT Analysis

Strength
Air India Express has gained popularity among passengers by providing unmatched point to
point connectivity, convenient schedules, low fares with free meals (Jayakrisnan, 2019).
With a capacity of around 180 seats and has 555 arrival and departure time slots, making it
easier for prospective passengers to choose their departure time.

Weakness

Air India Express increased the number of departures from 561 to 586 but the airline could
not control it so there were last minute delays, cancellations, delayed refunds and a lack of
service to passengers (Jayakrisnan, 2019). Airlines must be able to balance services with
their flight schedules so that they can meet the needs of passengers.

Opportunity

During the recent Qatar crisis the Airline operated flights from Doha that its main
competitor did not (Jayakrisnan, 2019). The Indian government is also increasing its regional
connectivity so that airlines can cover distances of up to 800km through a market-based
mechanism. In 2017 the airline also introduced flights from New Delhi and Mumbai to West
Asian destinations (Jayakrisnan, 2019). So it can be concluded that airlines innovate in
accordance with their vision and mission which will invade further to increase their flight
revenues.

Threats

The challenges in civil aviation are its vulnerability to economic changes, fluctuations in oil
prices, natural disasters, epidemics and political unrest (Jayakrisnan, 2019). So the airline
must be able to develop the business in a measurable and regular manner in order to
maintain it in every condition. Threats do not come from within the country but also come
from outside, such as the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic which makes the aviation sector
unable to run, due to government regulations implementing Lockdown to deal with the
pandemic so that it can recover quickly (BBC News, 2021).

Recommmendation

Indian aviation wants to develop, then one of the factors that must be developed is
softening fuel costs (Jayakrisnan, 2019). Because a significant percentage of LCC's operating
costs and costs are locked in fuel, low fuel fares have allowed airlines to offer low-cost
tickets to gain a larger market share. In addition, the company's internal problems must also
be further improved because the company experienced delays in returning fees and also
delays in flight hours, making prospective passengers wait. Airport costs are also another
important issue that needs to be addressed for the growth of Indian airports (Jayakrisnan,
2019). So the government must be able to reduce airport costs to be able to provide airlines

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with lower ticket prices in order to get a larger market share. And it is hoped that airlines
will be able to bring in foreign workers in order to fulfill flights in India because of the lack of
pilots in the country so that it is difficult for a decent workforce.

Conclusion

Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India. Targeting LCC share in india with cheap and
convenient flights for indian expats and indian travelers and low cost travelers. Air India
Express during the lockdown period in India Air India Express carried out flights changing
from commercial aircraft to cargo aircraft for the purpose of meeting aviation needs. Air
india express has 21 Boeing aircraft in operation, the airline is well received by passengers
by providing snacks on board, easy boarding, and online check-in is available. But the
challenge for this airline is the lack of a working workforce and the lack of commercial
aircraft pilots in India, so it is possible for pilots from abroad to come to work in India. And
the problem of high oil costs and airport rentals, the government is expected to be able to
reduce these costs so that commercial aircraft can offer cheap tickets.

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BBC News,4 May 2021, India Covid: Opposition calls for full national lockdown
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Business Standard, 18 November 2021, Tata Sons working on merging AirAsia India and Air
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