Cheap Frills

UZBEKISTAN Airways, for instance, was very much a fringe airline trying to cope with the competition as a late entrant until the Indian agents realised that there is a vast section of small-time Indian businessmen looking westward. And why look any further than Punjab? 8216;8216;Over there you have the business community, the NRIs as well as those looking to make a living abroad. To catch a flight they have to come all the way to Delhi. We thought we will take our flights to them,8217;8217; says a senior Uzbekistan Airways official.

The airline technically does not have the right to pick up Indian passengers for a third country, so the tickets are issued till Tashkent which is used as hub for onward travel to Europe. But call up the airlines and tickets can be bought for European destinations in Delhi or Amritsar without much fuss. The prices are cheap compared to regular airlines operating direct flights to say London, Frankfurt or Athens. A round trip from Delhi to London could cost anything between Rs 24,000 to 26,000 while most European airlines start their pricing from about 34-35,000.

Four years ago, Uzbekistan Airways got permission to use Amritsar as a base and its biggest draw since has been its flight to Birmingham where there is a healthy concentration of NRIs from Punjab. The other target group for the airline are scores of Israeli youth fleeing to India to avoid conscription.

8216;8216;The Tel-Aviv8212;Tashkent flight is full and most of them are headed to India, to get lost in this huge country,8217;8217; says an official adding that from Tashkent connections today are available to even New York, Paris and Frankfurt. The journey to Europe is 9-10 hours, just a couple of hours more than the direct flights from Delhi. Tashkent, incidentally, is just one among the fast emerging second string passenger hubs in Asia. Places like Almaty, Bishkek, Ashkabad, Kiev, Tehran and Damascus are also vying to corner west-bound passengers through attractive fares. And the Indian market is crucial for all of them.

8216;8216;This is a very big market. And I may say our operations have been doing well but there is more potential. Amritsar has been a good experience for us,8217;8217; says Turkmenistan Airlines representative Orazelgi Mamedov.

Air Astana, a Kazakhstan airline in which BAE systems holds 49 per cent stake, offers the cheapest fare to London. Just Rs 19,500 for a round trip that would cost not less than Rs 35,000 in any of the reputed airlines. It has a small fleet of 11 aircraft8212;three new generation Boeing 737s, three Boeing 757-200s and five Fokker 50 aircraft. A limited capacity and a target-specific approach means that achieving break-even on a sector may not be a tall order though airline officials claim business could have been much better.

Similarly, Air Mahan, an Iranian airline operates three times a week out of Delhi and charges Rs 24,600 for a round trip to Birmingham. Using Teheran as a hub, the airline provides cheaper alternatives to fly into any major European destination. With just eight Airbus aircraft for its international operations, the idea is to break up a long haul journey with passenger transfers at Tehran.

8216;8216;We also plan to start a service to Canada soon via Teheran which will be approximately Rs 38,000 for a round trip. The secret to Air Mahan8217;s success is better human resource management and we have perhaps the lowest aircraft to men ratio. Plus, we have an all Western fleet and, of course, we do save on fuel costs given that this is an Iranian airline,8217;8217; says Air Mahan representative in India H.S. Duggal.

He also represents Kyrgyztan Airline which he says is not growing as quickly as its competitors because of the old Russian aircraft in its fleet. This despite the fact that it has modified a couple of TU-154s to meet European requirements and even operates to Germany. Tajikistan Airline is another company that is trying to revamp its fleet for the same reasons.

8216;8216;We are in the process of leasing a Boeing aircraft, then we will start services to Birmingham and if all goes well, we will target US and Canada later. We just hope the Indian government helps us and allows us to operate to more destinations within India,8217;8217; says Tajikistan Airline representative here Anil Kumar Upadhyay.

CONTRARY to popular perception, these airlines are not exactly in the mould of the low-cost carrier with limited in-flight services. However, there are frequent complaints over quality as well as waiting time for connecting flights. In some cases, passengers have been stranded at Tashkent or Bishkek for over ten hours waiting for a connecting flight. There are questions raised from time to time on the legality of picking up passengers meant for a third destination but on paper a passenger travels on a direct flight back to the airline8217;s country. Most of the Central Asian Republics are only are few hours away from North India and are either on the way to Europe or take only a slight detour to get there. Similarly, Tehran is on the trunk route that opens up into Southern Europe.

For the eastward bound, it8217;s Myanmar that8217;s giving tough competition to its South East Asian contenders. With fares usually Rs 3-4,000 cheaper than Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines, Myanmar Airways International despite a limited fleet of one Boeing 737-800 and two MD82s, hopes to corner a portion of large traffic headed for Bangkok and Singapore from India. Such is the competition now that Singapore Airlines and Malaysian Airlines are looking to reach out to destinations such as Amristar and Gaya. Flying high has never been this low.