Session Seven :

Innovation lessons from GoAir: Taking GoAir from good to great

The seventh session of day two, ‘Innovation lessons from GoAir: Taking Go Air from good to great’ witnessed the growth story of GoAir, the only Low Cost Carrier (LCC) based out of Mumbai. At the session, GP Gupta, CFO, Go Air, charted out the strategies adopted by GoAir for its growth and development. The airline, promoted by the Wadia Group of Companies, started operations in November 2005. Currently, GoAir operates out of nine destinations, operating 324 weekly domestic flights with a fleet size of six A320 aircraft. "Price is the basic stimulator for any business. The idea is to make a value proposition and make it affordable to our consumers,” said Gupta.

The business model adopted by GoAir is one type of fleet – A320's with a single isle of 180 economy seats, flexible seat management plan, point to point and multi-leg strategy, quick turn around time (25 minutes), focus on ancillary revenue and less stations and high frequency. The strategic advances presented were that GoAir has 16 frequencies between Delhi and Mumbai per day even though it is based out of Mumbai. "The market share per aircraft is the highest with the airline," emphasised Gupta. To offer something new on a regular basis, the airline has innovated the products already on offer. GoAir has introduced a product titled 'Go Flexi,' which allows passengers to book a flight on any given day and board any flight in duration of 24 hours of the booking.

The airline has taken a tail-ended approach for its growth rather than the front-end growth. "The reason to take up a tail-ended approach is that infrastructure has been a bottleneck. Getting slots, resources, and other limitations have been an issue for growth of the airline which means non-efficient resource utilisation and bigger costs for 'front-end growth," said Gupta.

Fleet Plan for GoAir from 2008-2014