Qatar Airways To Strengthen Its Market Positioning In India

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

D Goonetilleke

The Indian aviation industry has in the past few months been witnessing a 'high' and this optimism is evident with a lot of international carriers betting hard on Indian skies. One such player in the lead is Qatar Airways, which has laid out strategic plans for the new year. Elucidating the airline's approach for India, D Goonetilleke, regional manager - south Asia, Qatar Airways said, "For India, our focus will be on the trade as well as customers. We want to strengthen our market positioning. We would be targeting high-yield traffic as well as looking at other segments such as business, leisure, VFR, student as well as the labour segment. We are one of the fastest growing airlines with 53 destinations and 36 aircraft already. Our aim is to operate to 70 destinations by 2005 end. On the Indian front, we want to fly to as many destinations as we can but the only hurdles are bilateral agreements. However, our current focus remains opening up potential markets such as Bangalore and Chennai. As an international carrier, we have been the only airline after Air-India to open up a satellite office in Thiruvala."

Elaborating further, Goonetilleke said, "Our USP is our growth and that is undisputed. We have also acquired new aircraft besides expanding our route networks, thereby creating seamless connectivity globally. To enhance our customer satisfaction, we have increased our agreements with other airlines."

On joining any alliance, Goonetilleke ruled out the possibility. He said, "We do not have plans to join any alliance at the moment, as we want to bring in uniformity in our product. There are also no plans for the introduction of a low cost carrier."

"With a focused approach in place, we are looking at e-ticketing very seriously and it should be implemented in the time to come. At present, pilot studies are being conducted. We feel that this concept will take off in the Indian market. One should realise that the bigger the market, the more the potential. On the other hand, this system would certainly not rule out agents. They would continue to exist but would provide more enhanced services to their customers," he added. With the return of the commission cuts an inevitable scenario, Qatar Airways is clear, "We will go as per the national carrier as in this case a lot depends on the market dynamics."

In conclusion, while commenting on the airline promoting a destination, Goonetilleke said, "As the national carrier of Qatar we definitely promote the destination in every possible way. All the same, Qatar Tourism does have plans to open offices in India in time to come but we need to develop the destination completely before we go all out and sell. New hotels are being developed and once that is completed there would be sufficient rooms to cater to the demand."