This Spice Almost Lost Its Flavour

Richard Branson gave a classic example of how to become a millionaire – start as a billionaire and invest in an airline! Astonishingly accurate – Who, in India, would have believed him 3 years ago? But as more skeletons tumble out of the skies (or hangers?), a picture akin to a dreary, cold, foggy and damp winter morning, instantly comes to our mind. The reality is not far from the picture – as the winter intensified its grip over Delhi, it almost claimed another victim - the ‘spices’ airline. Spicejet had become afflicted with a dangerous respiratory ailment and the doctors tending to it (read Government, regulators etc.) had all but spelled the death knell.

Image source: www.alchemymarketingsite.com

Spicejet, till recently India’s second largest airline by passenger share, was hogging the headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons. The nightmare of Spicejet’s top bosses, who begged for mercy with the authorities, continued unabated. Along with it was hanging the fate of its crew, staff and associated entities. Spare a thought for their families. We cannot imagine their condition until we are in their shoes – a thought which sent shivers down my spine. The smiles on the faces of Spicejet’s cabin crew, which was so welcoming when I took my first flight with them in 2007, being a first timer on a low cost carrier (LCC), had perhaps been lost forever.

Spicejet, in its current avatar, started operations in May 2005. GoAir was launched later that year in November and Indigo in August the next year. The growth of Spicejet was phenomenal and together with Indigo, gave the full service airlines a run for their money. Their expansion in fleet and routes were also quite similar, with Spicejet marginally ahead for most of their first five years of existence. Fares were similar, with Spicejet giving more flexibility in booking options. While Indigo offered a hold booking for 24 hours, Spicejet offered a hold booking till 2300 hours next day irrespective of the booking time. With the triumphant twosome, low cost airlines had arrived big time in India, giving enormous edge to the gleeful general public.

However financially, Spicejet was slowly losing the plot. After making profits in the financial year 2009-10 and 2010-11, it was in losses in 2011-12 before returning to profit in 2012-13. This change in trend was due to further investment by its then owner, Sun Group. On a straight comparison, Indigo was posting profits without a break since 2008-09. History, unfortunately, was being repeated for Spicejet. The issues relating to frequent change of hands of owners had grounded the airline in 1996, then known as Modiluft. In its second stint, Ajay Singh, who re-started operations, exited and so did Wilbur Ross and Bhulo Kansagra, Spicejet’s other investors. Spicejet is the only airline, which did not have a focused owner all throughout its life.

Was Spicejet a victim of its own actions or did it suffer from the hapless fallout of the restrictive Indian airline industry or was it a doomed cause? Let us take a look at some instances of the other failed low cost airlines globally.

In the United States, a generation after deregulation of airlines in 1978, low-cost carriers have seized control of the domestic market. It was not always thus. Of the 34 newcomers created after deregulation, 32 soon went bust. Those were the days when the strong, incumbent firms such as American Airlines could simply unleash even lower fares whenever a low-cost upstart invaded its market. Before the antitrust authorities could do anything about it, the competitor was crushed.

 
Similarly in Europe, as many as 60 low cost carriers were forced to exit the market between 2003 and 2010. The low-cost airlines that were now defunct were diverse and ranged from a number that hardly began operations to others that were relatively successful, but merged or were taken over. Most of these airlines operated for a period and then went into bankruptcy. Some, such as Go Fly and BuzzAway, merged with successful low-cost airlines. In a few cases, the airline was registered, but never offered actual services. (Source: Low Cost Airlines: A Failed Business Model by Kenneth Button, page 208) 

In Australia after de-regulation of the domestic airline industry in 1990, there have been a number of attempts at entry by low cost airlines. However, they lived for limited periods and the major reason for shutting shop was liquidity crunch and cash flow problems. Typically, they have been independent operations, with no strong links to either financial institutions or other airlines. (Source: Low Cost Carriers in Australia: Experiences and Impacts by Peter Forsyth , page 2) 

It is clear from the above that globally low cost carriers have struggled to stay afloat. Out of the numerous entrants, only a handful survived. The story in India has been no different. Post the liberalization in 1991, the Maharaja had its first taste of competition, when a string of airlines entered the domestic fray. Damania, East West, Jet, Modiluft, NEPC, Sahara all made flamboyant entries. I still remember collecting the flashy monthly magazines whenever my father would fly these airlines. However, apart from Jet and Sahara, none of them survived.
 

Coming back to Spicejet, a comparison with its peers, Indigo and GoAir, is imperative. Indigo had a focused policy and approach from the beginning. Some notable steps include investing in new aircraft (replacing old ones), maintaining an unbeatable ‘on time’ record and launching an innovative PR exercise (remember their TV commercial?). Indigo did its best to connect with flyers, retaining existing ones and equally wooing newer customers. Slowly its market share grew and currently it is ranked at the top. Once it sensed increase in volumes, it introduced pricing mechanism such as cost for pre-booked seats (Spicejet had introduced this earlier, but somehow, it weaned away passengers since Indigo did not charge for this), a few seats for a premium cost and on-board sales of retail products. GoAir, on the other hand, has had a slow but steady growth, focus being on profitability and gradual increase of the network.

 

Spicejet did not heed the various indicators of trouble that was brewing. When it was incurring quarterly losses in the last financial year, its management should have taken cues and commenced steps to bring it back to black. Instead they continued to only announce spot sales on its existing network. Initially it did help with its website crashing and counter overflowing. However, competition being stiff, other airlines including the full service carriers provided matching discounts. This somewhat made the entire effort look like a desperate attempt to remain afloat. Another possible indicator was Spicejet COO’s communication, be it repeatedly taking potshots at AirAsia India’s fare pricing strategies terming it unviable or internal emails comparing how his airline had better filled up seats. Spicejet’s auditors, SR Batliboi and Associates LLP, had pointed out in their quarterly review report the airline's total liabilities exceeded its total assets by Rs 1,145.58 crore (Rs 1.15 trillion) as on June 30, 2014 and warned "These conditions, along with other matters...indicate the existence of a material uncertainty that may cast doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern," in August A week later Spicejet announced its offer of a new range of enhanced food and beverage menu titled, ‘Hot Meals, Warm Smiles’, together with preference to passenger who pre-book meals. Although the press release mentioned that it was done to reduce costs, it is anybody’s guess that catering to a new menu is hardly a cost reducing factor, compared to other steps like reducing routes and operational costs, a step which it was forced to take just 4 months down the line.

The Government seemed to be a silent spectator to this catastrophe, till it was too late. The Ministry of Civil Aviation which has taken airlines to task for being unfair to passengers chose to take action only in December 2014. It may be argued that it would amount to interference in a non-Government entity. But Spicejet is a listed entity and deals with the public and it has responsibility towards its shareholders. Its financial figures are disclosed. With global instances of such bankruptcy not uncommon or unknown, some action by the Government and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) earlier in the year could have prevented the misery and possibly revived the beleaguered airline and more importantly its passengers before its fall.

 

The downfall of Spicejet has been a dampener in the December year-end holiday season. Fares suddenly peaked at the expense of confused passengers, who were the ultimate losers. Spicejet passengers with confirmed tickets were panic-stricken when reports of the Government’s sanction begun to surface. There is some hope in 2015, though, with Vistara commencing operations. AirAsia India has already commenced flights and is expected to scale up its operations this year. While Spicejet’s ownership has changed hands again and Ajay Singh is back in the helm, we can only pray that its revival plans turn successful in the coming months. The vacuum created by Spicejet leaves sufficient room for the new kids on the block to get a head start and the old hands to make further inroads (or rather ‘inskies’!).

 

Warren Buffet who was once bitten twice shy by the airline industry famously said “Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down”. 

 

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright (Concluded)

The driver kick-started the canter and kicked up the dust in a break neck speed furiously blowing the horn to clear small vehicles ahead. With every second my heart leapt and mind went in a tizzy. A few minutes of travel brought us on the edge of the lake with thick foliage and tall grass. A number of canters and gypsies had already lined up here. The spot was familiar as it was the same place we had come a couple of hours earlier (I had clicked the photo titled 'A Spot Where We Would Return'). Everyone was now on high alert. The lake was clearly visible from my seat and with reduced light my eyes narrowed to focus on a particular spot on the left side. Did I see a movement in the tall grass or was it a figment of my imagination…my heart skipped a beat. I found out a nano-second later. This time the movement was sure shot there. By now some others had spotted it too and pointed towards. Finally a passenger let out a blood curling scream ‘Tiger…it's there’. My eyes were riveted to the movement which became clearer now since there was a gap in the grass. The yellow and black stripes were now quite prominent…I could hear my heart pounding. The moment of truth had come.

 

The majestic beauty with its royal swagger came out in the open quite nonchalantly. There were absolutely no signs of expression as it went past our canter, barely a few feet away. No reaction whatsoever amidst the noise of a few hundred people surrounding the royal Bengal tiger. It came calmly and went about its business at the same leisurely gait.     

 

I was so excited that I had completely forgotten to click photos, not that I had the time, I realized later. Neither did I have the quick thinking to pull out the handicam…every second was precious. Memory of a lifetime was being captured through my eyes in my mind forever.  My hands were shaking furiously but I did manage to shoot a video with my digicam (thanks to a timely & planned deletion of saved photos earlier). It was all over in a matter of minutes, but the feeling had not yet sunk in.

 

As the excited chattering went on, the driver floored the accelerator. Such a bumpy ride on the narrow jungle terrain was quite unimaginable, but the cantering continued unabated. It slowed and almost came to a halt when a black furry creature was spotted among the trees. I tried to take a focused look in that direction. It took a few seconds to realize that a bear was moving about. Again the distance coupled with the fading light made it difficult to get a shot. As we moved on, the driver threw caution to the winds. What followed was a roller coaster ride which shook my body (and probably my bones too!) – every time the canter jumped up, my stomach went down like a high speed lift plummeting from the twin towers!

 

 

There were animated discussions in the hotel. The not so lucky once were exchanging notes, disappointment clearly writ large on their expressions. The ones who had seen the tiger in the morning were comparing the circumstances and the opportunities!  

 

It took many many days to realize that one of my deep desires had been fulfilled. It is not a very familiar story that you will hear in these parts that on your very first safari, the Tiger had been spotted!

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright!! (Cont'd)

The train departed just as we hopped on to one of the compartments…we had made it by a hair’s breadth. It took some time to recover and pull our luggage under our berth. The rest of the three and half our journey was eventless except for the regular snacks/beverage servings, hallmark of services offered on all Rajdhani trains. At about 8.40 p.m. the train halted at Sawai Madhopur station and we alighted on to the well-lit platform. The weather was much cooler here. As advised, we took an auto rickshaw to the hotel. As we moved towards the forest and away from the main town area, the air suddenly turned chilly. The 20 minute ride amidst the silent roads and dark surrounding sent a strange feeling of excitement and fear of the unknown.

Once at the hotel we completed the formalities and were shown our room on the first floor. It was a last room in an open corridor beyond which, through the darkness, appeared to look like a terrace. Being a little exhausted and not quite hungry, we retired for the night.

Peacock calls greeted us early the next morning…what a pretty sight it was from our well-netted and grilled windows. 4 to 5 peacocks were moving about amidst large trees and   thick grass. The soft chirping of various birds and other typical sounds of a forest had a very soothing effect on the mind…an ideal way to begin the holiday!! The hotel had a huge well maintained garden on the front side, where we spent most of the morning.

 



The expansive lawns

In the meantime I also checked out with the reception to make a booking for the safari…to my disappointment I was informed that chances of a gypsy are next to impossible and considering the holiday rush, I would be lucky to even get a canter. Adding to the woes, I was informed that this was not a good time to visit since the enormous crowds would normally deter tigers from coming out in the open and it was preferable to stay 4-5 days and make atleast 10 safaris to be fortunate enough to sight a tiger. I went back with fingers crossed, once again cursing my procrastination at not having made online bookings earlier.

The air had turned very hot around 2.30 p.m. when we were informed by the hotel reception that seats had been confirmed and the canter was on its way. By the time we came down to the hotel lobby, the canter had come and we were ahoy!! Every bone, muscle and tissue in my body was bubbling with excitement at the very thought of what lay ahead. Very soon we had entered the Ranthambore National Park and the canter was making its way though rugged roads. The large trees protected us from the scorching sun. The first animals that we could spot were deer – chital, barasingha, spotted etc. Next were various species of monkeys. As we neared water bodies, everyone on the canter was on the lookout for some elusive movement but even after an hour, we could spot turtles, crocodiles, fish etc. As the afternoon sun severely beat down upon us, the initial enthusiasm slowly began to subside. Another hour passed and all we saw were some more varieties of birds. Alas! our driver parked the canter on the edge of the huge water body where a tiger had been spotted in the morning. Everyone on board kept looking out, once to the left and then to the right and then behind; the hush hush tones gradually changed to murmuring which slowly got louder. From a distance loud forest calls could be heard…birds and monkey alerts, I was told later on, signals that a big cat was around.



The Majestic Entry

Cantering on the Jungle Trail!

It's a green world!

Barasingha cooling off!



Lone Chital

Finally a Monkey...

Can you spot the alligator?




















The Croc is almost not there...




A Spot Where We Would Return










Water's Edge - Where We Waited

 The Old Fort Entrance 

And then with a jerk the driver yanked the canter out of hibernation and scampered towards the thicket. Other canters could also be seen rushing in. This rush continued for the next few minutes without any particular direction. Finally our canter settled at a place where all other vehicles had congregated. There were shouts and loud calls for spotting a big cat. Since everyone was looking and pointing in a fixed direction our eyes followed only to see the vaguely see the wall beside the entrance of the dilapidated fort. The chattering reached its crescendo soon when apparently the cat was sighted again. We could now make out that it was a leopard that was being referred to. My eyes furiously hunted for a sighting but even after standing on the seat nothing seemed to be there. With a feeling of despair I got off and sat down. However, there were again loud sounds from the crowds and with hope in my heart, I stood up. And this time the foliage could not block my vision. The leopard was right here...but we were at a distance! At a distance I could clearly see the furtive movements of the spotted cat with its tail swishing gingerly on the broken fort wall. The sighting, though momentary and not capable of being captured on camera, was the first feeling of contentment that I felt on having made this trip. By now everyone in the canter had had their share of ‘glory’!





The desert plant!

The sun was no more beating down now and with the time approaching for the end of the safari, did make my heart heavy. After all, whether you spotted a leopard or not, the honour lay in sighting our national animal. The driver slowly pulled out of the spot and began to move towards the exit. After moving for a few minutes on a now familiar stretch, it stopped beside a huge cactus tree and cut the ignition. I was wondering what he was upto when the guard announced that they would wait a few more minutes here to check out a last time if there is any possibility of a sighting. Once again hope kindled in my heart…in the silence. And then it happened…

 

(To be continued....)

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright!

Planning for a forest trip in India has many nuances. Apart from the attraction of coming as close to nature as possible the thrill of watching the bigs cats is paramount.

I had been on the lookout for a vacation for a very long time. Being absolutely in love with Rajasthan the first natural choice was Ranthambhore. Having completed a 6 day trip to Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in the past, a forest vacation was sure to be a refreshing change. I had the benefit of a cousin's recent visit and made full utilisation of the same. I took cues on the place to stay, what to see, how to go about the forest safari, in other words all the dos and don'ts.

The first step was to book the journey and the FIR clearly showed the benefits. There are only 4 allotted berths on the August Kranti Rajdhani Express from Delhi to Sawai Madhopur, the railway station closest to Ranthambhore. I booked it immediately the moment the bookings opened and got confirmed tickets.

The next step was to pick from the numerous resorts - from modest to über luxury, Ranthambhore offers it all. As in all tourist places, the best of the lot are the ones owned by the respective state governments - unbeatable locations, spacious rooms, affordable prices - can it get any better? There are 2 hotels owned by Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation in Ranthambhore – one located among the forest and hilly landscape and the other on the main road towards the forest reserve. Both offer forest like ambience and have almost the same amenities and facilities with a modest difference in tariff for the location. We chose the one on the main road for our stay. Booking for the RTDC hotels need to be made online on its website. The website was surprisingly well equipped with all information, was user friendly and functioned efficiently when we made our booking.

The last step to complete the booking process is to opt for/book a safari in advance to obliviate the chances of not being able to get hold of your choice of vehicle. Basically safaris can be undertaken in either a 6 seater open gypsy or a 20 seater open canter. The gypsy has certain advantages such as it is easy to move around in, reach a place more quickly and is less noisy. Further, if you are in a personal group it also offers privacy. The canter on the other hand, has seats which are comparatively higher, and thus has an edge over the distance one’s eyes can reach/cover when looking out/trying to spot the big cats from a distance. Bookings for safaris open 90 days in advance and can be done online through http://www.rajasthanwildlife.in/.

If you miss out on the advance booking, as I did, once you are in Ranthambhore, you can book it directly by standing in queue at the forest department’s counter before the safari commences or get it done through your hotel. However, the chances of getting a gypsy are almost negated. Further, if it is peak season and there is a huge rush, there could be a rare chance that you may not get any vehicle at all. 

All said and done, you need a bit of luck and loads of blessings from the Almighty to make a trip…just like I found out.

Our train’s scheduled departure was at 4.55 pm from Nizammudin station in New Delhi on a Saturday. Considering it to be a Saturday, we left our Gurgaon home at about 3.15 pm, the last minute packing delaying our scheduled departure by 45 minutes. Oblivious to the worsening traffic scenario in Delhi, I was quite shocked at the reckless speed at which my cabbie was driving. It was not long before I found out to my horror that even one and half hours may not be sufficient time as it took us 40 minutes to cover the last stretch of 5 kilometers from the AIIMS flyover. Every second made us wince at various possible consequences and also despair at not having started earlier. The air was palpable when we reached the entrance of the station barely 5 minutes before the departure time. With my heart in my mouth, we made a dash inside and a quintessential porter instantly helping with the luggage. The sudden rush coupled with the usual chaos in an Indian railway station left us breathless and our hearts pounding as we got on to the platform….and then the train departed…..

(to be continued)