Low-cost carrier, SpiceJet is planning to go international and recently met officials from Singapore?s Changi airport and JFK in the US to get its back-end operations ready.
?We are getting ready gradually and when we are eligible to fly international in five years or if the policy changes, earlier, then we want to be ready,? the official said. ?We are working on a plan, marketing, sales and distribution, ground handling and pricing among other things,? he added.
The current regulations allow airline companies to have overseas flights only after completing five years and having 20 aircrafts. SpiceJet has till date completed little more than two years.
The airline is also getting ready to launch its on-board merchandising opportunity to add to profits apart from a new on-board branding opportunity in order to carry advertisements on the head rest and baggage bins. The company will also start taking in advertising for their websites which garners a huge number of hits everyday.
?We are tying up with a consumer durables major for the branding opportunity which will be a six month contract,? Samyuktha Sridharan, chief commercial officer for SpiceJet said. The airline is also getting ready to start a cargo business using the space available aboard the aircraft in its fleet. ?This will probably be a tie-up with a courier firm for a sort of on-board courier service,? Sridharan said.
?This should probably be launched by March 2008,? he added.
The airline is also readying to receive its biggest aircraft, the Boeing 737-900 ER, which can seat 212 passengers, in a few weeks and will get another 3 within the next 9 months.
The B737-900ER will most probably fly the Delhi-Goa-Mumbai route. The low-cost carrier already has 15 leased Boeing 737s and will receive 16 in a few days.
The company is hoping to get more from ancillary revenues and is in the process of setting up a sort of on-board contest for additional revenues. Marketers requiring customer information pay for the information shared by passengers through such competitions.
The company is looking at greater non-passenger revenues, which at present amount to around 7.5% of the total revenues.
?Ideally, we are looking at around 12% of our total revenues to come from non-passenger revenues,? Sridharan said giving the example of Europe-based Ryanair, which makes around 19% of its total revenues from merchandising and non- passenger revenues.
