Customer & Management Blog

Now Airlines want to be in travel business

Avinash Narula — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:37:46 +0000

It has been reported in Economic Times that Kingfisher, SpiceJet and Indigo want to launch a travel portal in order to save on commission. Somehow, it is difficult for me to understand the obsession of airlines to save on travel agent’s commission as if that is the primary reason for the troubles of airlines. It [...]

Lets write the orbituary of Subhiksha

Avinash Narula — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:53:09 +0000

Subhiksha, the food chain is dead. Another idea, though not a unique one, laid to rest or should be laid to rest on the temptation of fast growth, high valuation model. The model of greed which so many of the Indian businesses pursued. Some were able to survive while most landed themselves in trouble. Subramanium is [...]

Finally, Ratan Tata admits mistake

Avinash Narula — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:23:10 +0000

Finally, Ratan Tata has admitted that his companies “might have gone too far too fast” which is what I have stated on this blog long time back when everybody was going ballastic about Tata’s acquisition of Corus and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Where was the need to buy Corus, a company which was much larger [...]

Vijay Mallaya should learn from Paramount

Avinash Narula — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:20:49 +0000

I had earlier written that Vijay Mallaya should learn from Paramount how to run an airline. Today, when Kingfisher is in trouble and Vijay Mallaya owes huge amounts to oil and hotel companies, Paramount Airlines is hiring 80 foreign pilots and 200 local pilots in the current year. Paramount needs pilots because it is adding [...]

Why do reputed companies behave in an unethical manner?

Avinash Narula — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:06:33 +0000

The Bangalore city corporation has issued a public notice warning against investing in DLF’s proposed complex named Westend Heights in Bangalore because DLF has not obtained approvals like environmental clearance, power, water and sanitation approvals for the project. DLF has, however invited bookings for the project and has released advertisements for the same. DLF on the [...]

Why is the government financing Kingfisher Airline?

Avinash Narula — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:10:58 +0000

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has invoked Rs. 50 crore guarantee of Kingfisher after a cheque issued by Kingfisher bounced. It was further reported that Kingfisher owes nearly Rs. 785 crores to the oil companies. I simply do not understand why Vijay Mallaya is getting such heavy credit from the government. The daily interest on Rs. [...]

Nano booking a disappointment. I am not surprised.

Avinash Narula — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:00:36 +0000

Against the expected 5-6 lakhs booking, Tatas have booked only 2 lakh cars. They have collected Rs. 2500 crores through this booking. I hope my analysis of the booking system was in some ways responsible for people not booking the car. In any case, Tatas have still come out a winner as they have collected a [...]

Is Times of India walking its talk?

Avinash Narula — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:17:19 +0000

Today, I was surprised to see how unethical Times of India (TOI) is. On one hand, it talks about removing corupt politicians and on the other it forces its advertising agencies to pay 24% interest. We were supposed to make a payment of Rs. 28,000 to Times of India by 30/4/2009. Somehow, I forgot about [...]

King of Good Times has become King of Sorrowful Times

Avinash Narula — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:41:13 +0000

Well, it seems that Vijay Mallaya is losing his title of King of Good Times fast. I read in Mint newspaper that his airline Kingfisher owes a lot of money to the hotels his crew members etc used to stay in. I believe he owes nearly Rs. 8 crores to them. It was hinted in [...]

Why do airlines need government intervention to tell the truth

Avinash Narula — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:17:10 +0000

I have been unable to understand why airlines do not like telling its prospective customers the total price inclusive of all charges as well as the break-up. Why don’t they disclose the total amount the customer has to pay? What will they gain by hiding the correct amount or the break-up details that the customer [...]