Panama Jack
23rd May 2007, 15:29
The Indian Government recently revealed their plans for the merged airline, which will retain the name "Air India" (rather than a dreadful-sounding "Air Indian"). The new livery will combine features of both carriers, and looks sharp (IMHO):
http://www.liladesign.com/images/AI-IA-merge-livery.gif
boogie-nicey
23rd May 2007, 15:51
They can annouce as many plans as they wish and reveal an equal number of nice looking paintjobs. But the simple matter of truth is that the airline cannot compete with other international carriers when it comes to service. Being a protected public entity they're barely asked to get out of bed and then act as if the paying public is a burden upon them. The world has moved on and unfortunately Air India hasn't noticed nor seems to care.
The only action the government should be instigating is to allow a far more substantial private investment, not just in money but innovation, standards, performance levels, etc. It's embarassing to see such a carrier acting like this. If Air India cannot compete they should sod off and let someone else who can take the place of Air India, Indian, Indra or whatever other marketing name they decide upon on the day.
For an international carrier image has to meet the expectations of all corners of the world due to the nature of the airline business after all their fare paying customers come from numerous far flung countries. The paint scheme appears far too 'heavy' and a touch too deep lacking the lightweight perhaps dynamic appearance. Someone has clearly confused quantity with quality and felt that the more they 'dab' onto the planes the better it'll look not so. This image might go down well within India but further afield I doubt it'll have the cool, aviation, dynamic, innovative feel that it's rivals have adopted. Look at the BA fiasco from a few years ago, every shape, colour and cultural image you could imagine. After this traumatic phase they reverted back to a more singularly focused brand image that gave a more neutral feel rather than trying to cater for every nation it serves (near on impossible). I fear that Air India's new 'scheme' resembles more of a school comptetition than anything else and once their aircraft become dirty the white background will look more grimey and have a minimal contrasting effect for the darker colours. Red was previously Air India's colour and they're nothing wrong with that, they could have easily matured that into a newer design i.e. Virgin, JAL, etc. I guess the interiors are going to be just as over powering too, oh dear. That colour scheme should be reserved for the domestic routes and a far more iconic and elegant design be adopted for international routes.
Harsh criticism, unfair or simply the reality of the day? :ok: But this is precisely the reason Air India has failed to seize opportunites in the past. They have their heads in the sands and as long as private money and innovation are kept at bay this carrier will continue to be an embarrassment. Every other carrier under the sun have turned up and taken huge market shares what does that really say about Air India and Indian Airlines. There's no place for dinosaurs in this day and age. At this rate the only colour schemes AI and IA are going to see is white tailed aircraft parked in the US desert somewhere.