Come next weekend, the aviation community will be talking about the re-branding of Air India which is set to be unveiled on Aug 10, 2023. Speculations have been rife and range from the Maharaja getting a new look to not having the Maharaja and how there will be a tinge of Vistara in the new branding even before the merger takes place.
It is widely believed that there is no leakage with the Tata’s and hence those who have seen the rebranding have not spoken about it or very few have actually seen it. Either ways, the brand reveal will be the next step of Tata’s towards consolidating its aviation portfolio. The Boeing renders of the 737 MAX which have been ordered by Air India, and in all likelihood will operate with Air India Express, show the standard Air India livery. If I try adding two plus two, it seems like the livery would be the same across airlines and class of service with the differentiator being class of service and the brand name. The integration process of AirAsia India into Air India Express has already begun.
The brand is not just about the livery, it is much more and will set the tone towards integration, standardization and rationalization. With the airline out of the clutches of the government, the Tata group has the ability to create history like never before and this will be the first image since, with everything else like its Vihaan.AI plan being internal with customer touchpoints. A rebranding, on the other hand, out and out has the customer at the centre.
Any publicity is good publicity and one may or may not like the livery and the overall branding, avgeeks, marketing gurus and just about everyone would be talking about the new livery. Either way, this is the much needed “Reset” or a Ctrl Alt Del that Air India needs. The pessimists will question the need of rebranding instead of fixing seats, the optimists would jump with joy but what is needed is realism which looks at each thing separately, in isolation and with its own opportunities and challenges.
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