The Hindu Business Line : Deccan goes in for image makeover

The brand Deccan, once synonymous with low cost air travel in India may soon make way for a new one. A senior official familiar with the developments told Business Line that though Deccan is synonymous with low cost travel, it also carried some negative brand equity on such aspects as on-time performance, service, baggage handling, in-flight experience etc.

This has compelled United Breweries owned Kingfisher Airlines to go in for a change in name as well, the source said.

The change is likely to come by mid-May as the formalities of the pending merger between the two airlines get complete by this month, he said. The Karnataka High Court has convened a meeting on April 17 for the merger.

Air Deccan was changed to ‘Simplifly Deccan’ after Dr Vijay Mallya owned UB group took over the reigns of the low cost carrier. A re-branding exercise costing about Rs 70 crore was spent thereafter, according to Capt G.R. Gopinath of Deccan Aviation.

Does it mean incurring same costs all over again? A marketing expert on condition of anonymity said, “No. As the livery, the colours associated with Kingfisher Airlines remain the same, spends are unlikely to go up. However, it is still not clear as to how they would like to position the brand, what would be the business parameters and so forth.”

There have been certain media reports suggesting that Mr Vijay Mallya and Capt Gopinath seem to be at loggerheads on the branding issue. However, sources say that there is no question of “heartburn as the real question is a compelling value proposition for the consumer and the brand that delivers it the best would stay.”