What Air India should do to retain its lost glory

It takes one to know one.

Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju in his inimitable way is attempting to bring back the glory that Air India once commanded. But more interesting is the kinship that Raju, a scion of the royal family of Vizianagram, finds with the airline’s iconic mascot: The Maharaja.

Raju, in a nostalgic mood, has been regularly tweeting classic pictures of the Maharaja from times when Air India was in all its glory — the sole Indian airline that was a symbol of the luxuries that only the rich and eminent were able to afford.

In the last week of August, Raju tweeted a 1960s promotional poster of the airline done in the style of a Mughal painting. It showed the Maharaja, with his turban and twirly moustache, proudly seated atop an elephant. His entourage includes attendants on foot and horseback, some of them playing Indian musical instruments. The entourage even has two flying peacocks overhead. The caption said: There is an Air about India.



The Maharaja was most ingeniously used when the carrier introduced a new route. One of the posters from the "retro Air India" collection, as Raju calls it, shows the Maharaja as a Russian Kalinka dancer when the airline started flying to Moscow. Another shows him speed boat surfing in Australia with the boat replaced by two mermaids. In yet another, the Maharaja is being carried like a prey, hands and feet tied, by two lions in the jungles of Nairobi.



"See, the fact is that I love Air India. I have told it to Parliament, too. I have said that I will not be the one to bash Air India ever. Air India is a good airline and has done us proud a lot of times in the past," Raju told ET Friday. "Having said that, the airline’s future will depend a lot on how it manages its books and not the way it is projected on social media."

Raju’s incessant promotion of the Air India mascot speaks of a two-pronged approach in the government’s efforts to restore the airline’s fortunes: attack the operational and financial problems but also revive the brand identity.

The Narendra Modi government has, unlike its predecessors, made a clean breast of the problems plaguing the airline. Raju has himself said the government can only do so much and it is up to the carrier to shake itself off the debris of losses and debt. Cash handouts to the airline have lessened while lower fuel prices have helped it cut losses. Its Gulf-operating unit, Air India Express, has become profitable.

The government had appointed a chief, Ashwin Lohani, who has shown much-needed toughness towards employee troubles. The airline has been historically plagued by union problems and strikes. Lohani wrote to employees in a recent example of a protest, and said those found not reporting to work would face disciplinary action. Most recently, Air India has spoken to banks to restructure its Rs 10,000 crore of debt, which may entail them picking up some stake in the airline.

But the softer issues are important too, like marketing and advertising.

"I am an Air India fan. And I have always hoped the airline would use the Maharaja better," said Rahul Da Cunha, the ad man behind the iconic Amul India campaign.

"That Amul girl and the Air India Maharaja are the most brilliant characters ever created," he said. "The Maharaja encapsulates everything Air India should be: Indian luxury, hospitality, services and above all, royalty. It is royalty combined with humility. What can be a more iconic symbol for an Indian carrier?"

But Da Cunha said the airline has as yet failed to utilise a fraction of the mascot’s potential. "I see only flight timings on Air India posters. Air India advertising should have been about India. The entire Incredible India campaign could have come from the mouth of the Maharaja."

Air India adopted the Maharaja as its mascot in 1946. A cross between an Indian king and a traditional bearer, he wears a red turban and a red and yellow tunic. The Maharaja is often shown in the position of a bow, one hand on his chest, his eyes closed, face smiling and moustache atwirl.

Created by the airline’s commercial director Bobby Kooka and Umesh Rao, an artist with J Walter Thompson, the figure was first meant to be a design for memo-pads on board Air India’s flights. It later was used in all promotional campaigns, growing in stature over the years to become the identity of the airline.

Air India has over the years buckled under fierce competition from Indian and international rivals, especially low fare carriers such as IndiGo. Among India’s top carriers, it figures at the top for flight cancellations and complaints and at the bottom for online performance, ET has found from DGCA data.

"They need to fix the real issues on ground before they go on branding. People still wonder whether the f lights will leave on time," said V Sunil, former head of Wieden+Kennedy, who was responsible for IndiGo’s ad campaigns.

"I think it’s time for the Maharaja to stand straight," he added.