Connecting with agents in India
Taking the flying experience a notch higher, the A-380 has made news wherever it has been deployed. India got its fair share of the excitement when Singapore Airlines brought the jumbo into India this year, along with ‘big’ plans for the market, including
Singapore Airlines made history of sorts when on May 31, 2014, it became the first airline in the world to start two A-380 services simultaneously in two cities in the same country. With the launch of the world’s largest passenger aircraft on two routes, it is obviously looking at big returns.
David Lau, its GM (India), feels that the biggest challenge in all this was to get the two airports ready for the A- 380 on time. “Since we launched so quickly, the equipment necessary for such a huge aircraft was not available and the airports could not ramp up on time. It takes a minimum of six months to get the equipment ready and we launched it in three months. This forced us to have a longer ground-time in Mumbai initially. However, we will be able to push back our turn- around time by 40 minutes now,” Lau said.
Dubai-based Emirates Airline introduced its Jumbo Airbus on the Dubai-Mumbai route on July 21, 2014.
Speaking about the performance so far, Lau says that it has been just short of fabulous. “The passengers opting for the A-380 right now are young and they want to be the first to experience the aircraft. Right now, we are trying to work with our partners – the Mumbai and Delhi airports, Changi Airport as well as the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for various promotional activities,” Lau revealed.
Apart from the special Grand Prix package, Singapore Airlines has signed an MoU with STB on account of 2015 being the 50th year of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore.
Speaking about this, Lau said, “The MoU is for the period July 2014 to June 2015 and there will be many more trade missions during this time. It will allow us to work on a long- term plan for tourism and get more Indians to travel to Singapore. But more than that, it is important to develop bilateral tourism to and from India.”
For this, Lau revealed the airline’s plans to work closely with India Tourism. “With a total of 11 stations in India, we want to promote all the major attractions in these states, combine the best of places and make a nice package and promote it to other stations in different countries, mainly for transit passengers. To prompt people to travel, they need to be given a reason to do so. Singapore is not for long trips, but India is for Europeans, Aussies and even Orientals,” he said.
Lau added that the trade will form an important part of this initiative, since they are the ones who will take over after the passenger lands in the city. The airline is currently meeting agents in Tier II cities of Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Baroda to promote its A-380, new packages and revised flight timings. This includes a combination of one-on-one lunch meetings, workshops, and attending trade shows. It is also looking to attract corporate travellers in major cities and was part of the STB trade mission in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi.