India’s Most Admired Airline Brand

2010

Social Media Research Report

Highlights

March 2010
Introduction
An observational word of mouth research study of major brands in
the Indian Airline Industry as represented by consumer
conversations across the internet
Rankings
 Overall Rankings

Airline Industry
Airline Rank
Kingfisher Airlines 1
Jet Airways 2
Indigo 3
Spicejet 4
Indian Airlines 5
GoAir 6
Paramount Airways 7
Jetlite 8
Kingfisher Red 9
MDLR Airlines 10
Jagson Airlines 11
 Category Rankings

Full Service Carriers Low Cost Carriers

Airline Rank Airline Rank
Kingfisher Airlines 1 Indigo 1
Jet Airways 2 Spicejet 2
Indian Airlines 3 GoAir 3
Paramount Airways 4 Jetlite 4
MDLR Airlines 5 Kingfisher Red 5
Jagson Airlines 6
 Association Rankings

Booking and Customer Service Rank General Feedback Rank Onboard Service experience Rank
Category Airline Rank Category Airline Rank Category Airline Rank
Jet Airways 1 Kingfisher Airlines 1 Jet Airways 1
Kingfisher Airlines 2 Jet Airways 3 Kingfisher Airlines 3
Full Service Full Service Full Service
Indian Airlines 5 Indian Airlines 5 Paramount Airways 5
Carriers Carriers Carriers
MDLR Airlines 6 Paramount Airways 9 Indian Airlines 7
Paramount Airways 9 MDLR Airlines 10 MDLR Airlines 8
Indigo 3 Spicejet 2 Indigo 2
Spicejet 4 Indigo 4 Spicejet 4
Low Cost GoAir 7 Low Cost Jetlite 6 Low Cost GoAir 6
Carriers Jetlite 8 Carriers Kingfisher Red 7 Carriers Kingfisher Red 9
Kingfisher Red Not enough data GoAir 8 Jetlite 10
Jagson Airlines Not enough data Jagson Airlines Not enough data Jagson Airlines Not enough data
 Punctuality Rank Ground/Airport Services Rank
Category Airline Rank Category Airline Rank
Jet Airways 2 Kingfisher Airlines 1
Kingfisher Airlines 4 Jet Airways 2
Full Service Full Service
Indian Airlines 6 Indian Airlines 5
Carriers Carriers
Paramount Airways Not enough data Paramount Airways 7
MDLR Airlines Not enough data MDLR Airlines 9
Indigo 1 Spicejet 3
Spicejet 3 Indigo 4
Low Cost GoAir 5 Low Cost GoAir 6
Carriers Jetlite Not enough data Carriers Jetlite 8
Kingfisher Red Not enough data Kingfisher Red Not enough data
Jagson Airlines Not enough data Jagson Airlines Not enough data
Toplines
• Kingfisher Airlines recorded the highest volume of conversation closely followed by Spicejet and
Jagson Airlines recorded lowest volume of conversation.

• Consumer Review Sites recorded the maximum number of conversations as compared to other
venues.

• The total number of mentions as recorded was 1254 with Kingfisher Airlines accounting for the
biggest chunk closely followed by Spicejet. Jagson Airlines recorded the lowest number of
mentions.

• Booking and Customer Service as an association claimed the 29 percent of the total mentions
followed by Ground/Airport Services at 24 percent, General Feedback at 22 percent, Onboard
Service Experience at 15 percent, and Punctuality at 10 percent.

• 14 percent of the total mentions very Highly Negative, 61 percent were Negative, 12 percent
were Positive, and 13 percent were Highly Positive.
• Under the ‘Booking and Customer Service’ association, Jet Airways was ranked highest whereas
Paramount Airways was ranked lowest.

• Under the ‘General Feedback’ association, Kingfisher Airlines was ranked highest whereas MDLR
Airlines was ranked lowest.

• Under the ‘Onboard Service Experience’ association, Jet Airways was ranked highest whereas
Jetlite was ranked lowest.

• Under the ‘Punctuality’ association, Indigo was ranked highest whereas Indian Airlines was
ranked lowest.

• Under the ‘Ground/Airport Services’ association, Kingfisher Airlines was ranked highest whereas
MDLR Airlines was ranked lowest.
Methodology
• The study was conducted for the period from 1st December 2008 to 30th November 2009.

• The players in Indian airline industry were broadly divided in two categories -‘Full Service Carriers’ and
‘Low Cost Carriers’.

• Of the eleven brands chosen for the scope of this study, five belonged to full service category whereas
six were from low cost category.

• Historic internet search volume data was used to identify major keywords/key-phrases associated with
all the brands.

• The keywords/key-phrases were then run on a proprietary search engine to sample conversations from
various social media venues.

• All sampled conversations were manually assigned pre-defined associations. A mention refers to
associations of a brand within a conversation. Each conversation can have multiple associations and
each association is referred to as a mention.

• The associations used for the purpose of the study were defined as ‘Booking and Customer Service’,
‘Ground/Airport Service’, ‘Onboard Experience’, ‘Punctuality’ and ‘General feedback’.

• Each mention was assigned a sentiment ranging from highly negative to highly positive.

• A cumulative score was arrived at, based on mention volume and sentiment for each brand.
Analysis and Charts
Conversations
Industry Conversation Volume
Conversation Volume Distribution Across Brands
160 147 146
139
140

120
111

100
82
80
75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 Total
60
60
58
51 834
40
20
20
11 9

0
Kingfisher Jet Airways Indian Paramount MDLR Indigo Spicejet GoAir Jetlite Kingfisher Jagson
Airlines Airlines Airways Airlines Red Airlines

Volume Industry Average

Full Service Carriers Low Cost Carriers

160 147 160 146

139
140 140

120 111
120

100 100
Total 76 76 76
82
76 76 76
Total
75 75 75 75 75
80 459 80 375
58 60
60 60 51

40 40
20
20 11 20 9

0 0
Kingfisher Jet Airways Indian Paramount MDLR Indigo Spicejet GoAir Jetlite Kingfisher Jagson
Airlines Airlines Airways Airlines Red Airlines

Volume Category Average Volume Category Average

 Mentions

A mention refers to associations of a brand within a conversation. Each

conversation can have multiple associations and each association is referred to as
a mention.
 Mention Volume
Full Service Carriers Low Cost Carriers
Full Service Carriers
Low Cost Carriers
Mention Associations and Sentiment
Conclusions
• There is an increase in the number of people discussing issues related to airlines with each other.
Increasingly more people are becoming part of such online discussions which in turn impacts
their purchase decisions.

• Most of the consumers initiate these conversations on consumer review sites which implies the
increasingly people are looking at internet as not just a medium to vent out their expressions but
also to learn from and share with each other the information and opinions they have about
brands.

• Majority of the conversations were centred on booking & customer service and ground/airport
services. Handling delays and cancellations, refunds, and baggage damage and loss emerged out
as the most problematic conversation themes.

• Most of the conversations recorded a negative sentiment implying that people are more
probable of sharing negative experiences as compared to positive ones.

• With increasing competition and globalization, it is imperative that brands be aware of consumer
perceptions around them being reflected by pure and organic sources like consumer
conversations.

• The internet offers brands the unique opportunity to not just listen to consumers but also to
engage with their consumers and prospective consumers in a meaningful dialogue.
 Intellitrense

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