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Scorching the sky

With the tag-line 'Choo lo Aasman' and an added distinction of being the only all-vegetarian, full-service airline in the Indian skies, MDLR Airlines, the brainchild of Gopal Goyal, promises the stars and more to its passengers. Praveen K Singh outlines the maverick's vision.

Gopal Goyal Managing Director MDLR Airlines

Carving a niche in the cluttered skies is perhaps a task more insurmountable than a guaranteed smooth landing on an overcrowded airstrip. But an airline that considers its passengers as 'partners in progress' is conclusively different. An added positive is its starkly clear positioning of being an all-vegetarian airline. The Murli Dhar Lakh Ram (MDLR) group is piloting this new trend in the skies, and in the cockpit is Gopal Goyal, its managing director, hailing from a small-town named Sirsa, in Haryana.

The vision for aviation

Humble beginnings provided the base on which the Rs 2500 crore MDLR group has built its fortunes, with diverse interests ranging from infrastructure development to hospitality services. The group's portfolio covers an entire spectrum of activities. Says Goyal, "MDLR Airlines is a part of MDLR group infrastructure organisation. We are a two class (club and economy), full-service regional jet operator. "Its latest venture, aviation, has seen the group launching short-haul airline operations in few sectors, commencing from Chandigarh. The group's portfolio includes a diverse range interests spanning from five-star luxury hotels, resorts, multiplexes, shopping malls and group housing societies.

The company is committed to providing the highest standards of service on board and on the ground. "We are proud to announce that we are introducing the AVRO RJ70 jet, a four engine jet, operated only by our airline. Our aircraft provides the highest safety standards in flying. We are fully equipped with requisite fleet strength to operate domestic flights, covering the length and breadth of this country."

Speaking of the decision to offer only pure-vegetarian meals, Goyal explains, "We at MDLR love nature and all of god's creatures. It is a pleasure to serve customers delicious vegetarian cuisine including continental, Chinese and Indian options. A team of dedicated young and energetic cabin crew and ground staff are at the customer's service to make their flying experience memorable."

Ready to take-off

Goyal explains that in India, one of the fastest growing economies with a GDP growth rate going over 9.2 per cent, there has emerged a new breed of business travellers. This occurrence has been encouraged by the liberal open sky policy and competitive fare system, which has increased the air travel pie by 30 per cent year-on-year.

"I strongly believe that fast-paced and liberalised policies (like the recent introduction of increased FDI ratio for non-scheduled airlines, cargo airlines and air taxi/sea planes operators), will create a boom in the industry. Frankly speaking, the emergence of a massive number of airlines in US in the 80s and in Europe in 90s is being seen now in our country, due to the country's affluent, mid-segment, leisure, upper mid-segment and retired individual's increased propensity to spend in air travels," Goyal adds. His vision, he says, was to start an airline focusing on regional connectivity, while connecting all metros, and executed differently. "And after all, it is our commitment to cater to the needs of this service sector," he adds

And a rapidly increasingly route network, connecting cities not serviced by other carriers is the airline's forte. Goyal informs, "We have already started flights out of Chandigarh and Delhi. At this point Ranchi and Kolkata are not connected with any full-service airline and is generally serviced by low cost airlines. We plan to make Kolkata as one of MDLR's major hubs and plan to expand rapidly in eastern states too." And revving up its eastern operations, it has appointed J P Construction for its ground handling activities in Ranchi and Kolkata."

Outlining ambitious plans, the company plans to connect Delhi, Ranchi, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Amristar, Surat, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, and a few more northern cities with two aircrafts in next two months. Adding to its fleet strength, it will introduce atleast 6 Avro RJ100 aircrafts in next six months. MDLR Airlines would connect Ranchi and Kolkata with Chandigarh 6 times a week, initially. Its strategy? Full service, twin class configuration and special fares. By 2010, the airline plans to operate a fleet of 30-35 aircrafts.

Going ahead

The airline is carefully building its strategy and is zeroing in on those sectors with airstrips but no operations. How is the group going to tackle competition, especially as the LCC and regional segment is threatening to overheat? "We are a full service carrier, with low-price tickets as compared with other airlines. In terms of competition, we will not compete with any other airlines as we are a distinct class in ourselves. I am not so concerned about existing competition, as though there are fare threats, but thanks to the LCC's, the regular travellers have started seeing the virtue of legacy and full service carriers (FSCs). We are definitely targeting corporates and FSC travellers, who opted for LCCs and are yearning to come back to a mid-sized, full-service airline. I believe we have the right model and right answer for such demands and would aptly cater them," says Goyal.

The group has invested considerably in setting up an engineering base and maintenance facilities for the aircrafts. The aircraft engines as well as spare engines are enrolled under EMCPP program of Honeywell. "We have a judicious mix of foreign and Indian engineers who are type rated exclusively on these aircrafts. Our QCM (Quality Control Manager) has been rated highly by the DGCA and all our facilities, including the technical library, engineering stores etc has been duly certified by DGCA," he informs.

Conclusion

A philanthropist at heart, Goyal has assisted innumerable couples in sanctifying their marriages by providing financial assistance. "Every year, on the occasion of Mahashivratri, we conduct marriages for people of the locality who have no resources to do so," he says with humility. A pious person, he believes in sharing his wealth with the deprived sections of the society. And all with single-minded objective, emphasising on the three C's of creativity, comfort and care, to ensure customer satisfaction and delight.