SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIGO

An airline company headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, Indigo positions itself as a low-cost carrier.
Established as a private enterprise in the year 2006 by Rahul Bhatia, Indigo listed publicly in the year
2009.

In addition to domestic flights to various Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities across India, Indigo also flies to
international locations like Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangkok, Kathmandu, Sharjah, and Doha. Indigo
is currently India’s largest passenger carrier and in the year 2018, it has registered a market share of
39.9 %.

The company operates a fleet of 161 aircraft flying them to 42 domestic and 8 international
destinations. The company registered an annual turnover of 2.5 billion USD and employs around 12,362
employees. The company has been awarded consecutively for eight years in various surveys done by
rating agencies as one of India’s best places to work with.

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Indigo

 Positive Image: IndiGo has carved an image of being the most efficient low fare operator not
just in the domestic market but also globally. This image of a low-cost carrier that provides high-
quality services has resulted in making it the preferred travel option for many frequent
travelers.

 Services: Indigo offers a wide gamut of services such as multi-channel direct sales, online flight
booking, round the clock customer support through call centers and airport counters, online
flight status checking, a user-friendly IndiGo app for Android etc.

 High stakeholder engagement: Through a robust customer interface Indigo ensures that it
keeps track of customer needs and also communicates to every customer on a regular basis.
Indigo also has a high level of employee satisfaction and has been consistently voted into India’s
best places to work in.

 Highly drive workforce: Indigo is a hassle-free place to work in and this has ensured that they
have a highly motivated and self-driven workforce.Indigo has deployed the i-fly facility where
their new employees are given complete real-time training on how to deliver the best customer
service. This has been considered as the best training facility in this domain. In addition to this,
the company also ensures that their employees enjoy a stress-free environment with a proper
work-life balance.

 Corporate Social Responsibility: The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the airline
named as IndiGoReach has undertaken a lot of initiatives for the upliftment and well being of
children, women empowerment, and environment. Their social work encompasses not just
cities but extends to remote locations as well.

 Fleet Strategy: The fleet strategy of Indigo has always focused on ensuring that the average fleet
age in four years. The airline has also ensured that it purchases its fleet at prices much lower
than what a seller would sell them for. This has helped the airline maintain its low costs
consistently.
 Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Indigo

 Sustaining profits: Indigo is positioned as a low-cost carrier and thus pricing for the airline needs
to be as low as it can be managed. At the same time, the costs need to be maintained as low as
possible. However Indigo has often been unable to sustain its profits consistently and this can be
a weakness for the company.

 Over-dependence on volumes: In order to sustain profits the company needed to ensure that
the volumes were always high and business could not be affected by fluctuations in demand.
This means that the business needs to ensure that sufficient steps are taken to ensure
consistent volumes and this required an additional investment.

 The grounding of aircraft: After the safety of Pratt & Whitney aircraft became questionable, the
Civil Aviation Authority had to make a decision to ground these airplanes owned by Indigo. This
scandal affected the goodwill and trust of the customer.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Indigo

Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which
it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:

Growing demand for foreign travel: There is a surge in the number of people in India who need
to travel to foreign locations both for business and pleasure. This means that there is a huge
scope for the airline to expand to more foreign destinations.

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Indigo

Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business.
Some of the threats include:

 Competition: The airline faces a lot of competition from brands such as Jet Airways, Indian
Airlines, Air India, Singapore Airlines etc.

 Costing: The key components of cost in an airline is the fuel which is highly fluctuating and in
order to manage the pricing in accordance with the dynamics of fuel prices is a threat today and
even in the future.
 VISTARA SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths:

 Strong lineage with TATA and Singapore Airlines as the parent entities.
 Rising fast in the aviation sector with good frequency
 Vistara is offering daily flights in new sectors like Mumbai-Amritsar, Delhi-Leh etc
 Vistara provides great in-flight experience even in Economy class with food as part of normal
ticket
 It has a frequent flyer program also called CV (Club Vistara)
 Excellent advertising and branding exercise has enhanced its presence in the Indian airline
industry

Weaknesses

 Vistara's brand awareness is still less even after launch in 2015

 Market Share is limited due to high competition in the sector

Opportunities

 Vistara can tap international market with flights to nearby hubs like Singapore and other south
asian countries
 Vistara can offer more in its in-flight experience for customers to generate more marketing pull.

Threats

 Indian aviation sector is too price sensitive.

 External factors like taxes in the aviation sector can cause issues for new brands like Vistara
SWOT ANALYSIS OF AIR INDIA

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Air India

 Air India has been the largest air carrier in India in terms of traffic volume and company assets.
 It owns the most updated fleet and competent repairs and maintenance expertise.
 Its information systems are advanced and compatible with its operation and service.
 It has a good reputation in both international and domestic markets, quality service and the age-
old Goodwill that has still kept it alive in the interests of the rescue operators.
 Has financial backing of the Government

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Air India

 Air India is operating across broad international and domestic markets competing with world
leading giant airlines as well as local small operators. This lack of clarity on the strategic
direction largely dilutes its capabilities and confuses its brand within markets.
 Low profitability and utilization of capacity.
 Growing Competitor base and entry of Low-Cost Carriers (LCC’s)
 The airline’s high-cost structure and the compulsions of being a public sector unit are the
reasons and it had been making a loss and shall continue to make losses for some more
quarters.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Air India

 India airline industry is growing faster and will continue to grow as the GDP increases, and
the trend is predicted to continue once the slowdown recedes.
 Worldwide deregulations make the skies more accessible; the route agreement is easier to
be achieved. The number of foreign visitors and investors to India is increasing rapidly.
 Complementary industry like tourism will increase demand for airline service. The Civil
Aviation Ministry’s strong regulation and protection provides opportunities for consolidation
and optimization.
 Customers are getting wealthier, tend to be less price-conscious and prefer to choose
quality service over cost.
 Best time for introducing LCC’s

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Air India

 Air India faces imminent aggressive competition from world leading airlines and price wars
triggered by domestic players.
 The Indian Railway Ministry has dramatically improved speed and services in their medium/long
distant routes, attracting passengers away from air service, with prices almost at par with the
low cost carriers.