In sharp contrast to other aviation players, Singh has mastered the Blue Ocean Strategy and has created a niche market for Club One Air. He’s managed to stay more than a kitten’s whisker away from indulging in the loss-making ‘mass’ air carriage business; a business which as per the Centre for Asia-Pacific lost a teeth-rattling $500 million in 2007. Surely, Manav was not ready to give up the hard earned dimes of his stake holders in a jiffy, all in search for quick glory! “I’m happy I stayed away from the general aviation market in India. Our business is growing and we have a growing count of customers,” reveals Manav. Then there is the rather weird strategy that Manav adopted during 2007 – of expanding his fleet size (which currently stands at 9 Cessna jetplanes) by ‘zero’. Yes, you read that right; at a time when perhaps only the Martians were making money (with their UFOs?!) in the domestic aviation business, and everyone had taken up ordering planes as their newest found hobby, Manav sat quietly. “We took a decision to consolidate and not to add even a single extra aircraft in 2007. The primary reason being that if capacity expansion took place at such irrational speed, breaking even would become impossible,” explains Manav. With infrastructure improving and with the per capita income rising (implying more clients for Club One), Manav now plans to add more aircrafts to his fleet. He explains further, “We are also thinking of launching subsidiary companies to cater to different segments. We are going to focus a lot on building our own infrastructure and will add aircrafts as our infrastructure gets stronger by the day,” adding that the company already has two maintainence, repair & overhauling (MRO) facilities in Delhi and Mumbai.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist)
