The Indian AvGeek

This week’s show has Jagriti talking about her background in aviation journalism, stories that she is proud of covering, Air India’s latest additional 100 aircraft order, FDTL norms for Indian pilots, wet leasing rules revamp by DGCA, gender rights in Indian aviation circles, and much more. Jagriti Chandra - ⁠@jagritichandra⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Vasuki Prasad (Marketing Director, APAC for Embraer) is back for an encore, and we dive into many topics.  * How Embraer approached new markets * Future innovations and products  * Impact of ESG guidelines on aircraft sales * How marketing differs within different divisions at Embraer * Technical marketing done by OEMs * How top airline hubs should be judged, basis of revenue * How passenger revenue diversity combats volatility * Detailed discussion on IndiGo

This week’s show features Vasuki Prasad, Embraer Commercial Aviation’s APAC Marketing Director. The first part of our chat discusses Vasuki’s time heading commercial at Vistara, his eventual move to Embraer, the aircraft sales pitch process, Embraer in India, their integrated marketing mix, the relevance of airshows in today’s world, and more. Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Solomon Wheeler, the ex- head of marketing at Vistara and SpiceJet, joins us to give a peek inside the life of an airline CMO. He touches upon his time at SpiceJet, how closely he worked with the revenue team for sales campaigns, and various marketing campaigns under his tutelage at Vistara including the famed Retrojet and Fly Higher. We discussed Active Revenue Management, how closely marketing is involved, how far ahead they get to know about various route launches, and his thoughts on what made brand Vistara so special for so many flyers. All this & much more. Solomon Wheeler - ⁠@solomonwheeler⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

As a historic week in the world of Indian aviation continues to rumble, the world’s foremost aviation marketing expert, Shashank Nigam, joins the show to talk about iconic brands of Indian aviation. We discussed the importance of airline marketing and how it differs from the usual marketing we all know. How airline marketing evolved into health ratings during the pandemic, marketing’s importance for leading OEMs like Boeing, Airbus, Embraer, GE, and so forth. His unfiltered thoughts on Vistara’s brand dilution, Air India’s brand revamp, Indigo’s marketing, and how Indian airports are marketing themselves. Shashank Nigam - ⁠⁠@SimpliFlying⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Episode #14 features the Founder CEO of FLY91, Manoj Chacko, talking about how his time at Kingfisher Airlines led to the initial thought for the regional airline, his business plan, their conversations with bigger airlines, their fleet choice, how they built their network, the role of technology in their operations, if the American regional airline model can work in India, Pilots, myths around ATRs and building the brand. Manoj Chacko - ⁠@FLY91_IN⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This week’s guest is Nitin Sarin, Managing Partner at Sarin & Co, India’s only aviation law firm. The topics ranged from how aircraft leasing happens, to how an engine lessor takes the much bigger risk, to the Capetown convention, the emerging GIFT city, what MoCA and DGCA can do to make India more attractive for leasing companies, aircraft repossessions in India, and more. Nitin Sarin - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@Deaphen⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This week our focus is entirely on Africa and its enormous potential for the India-Africa market. Sean Mendis talks to us about the overall state of African aviation, why Ethiopian Airlines leads the market, Qatar’s buying spree in Africa, Carriers serving the Indo-Africa market, unserved markets on the route, How will A321 XLR EIS help in market stimulation, new carriers which may serve the market, Morocco’s market and the Adani controversy wrt to the Nairobi Airport. Sean Mendis - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@SeanMendis⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠@vishal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode is dedicated to the greatest Indian AvGeek — Mr. Ratan Tata. Part two of my chat with the COO of Bengaluru International Airport, Satyaki Raghunath. This episode focuses on Fairfax’s management of BLR, marketing, and branding of the airport, reaching out to the new traveler, inbound tourism for the country, cargo plans for the airport, NetZero plans, how he thinks airlines like Akasa can succeed, the biggest challenge ahead for Indian aviation, and if BLR will open an AvGeek corner at the airport.  Satayaki - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@SatyakiRaghuna1⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠@vishal1mehra⁠⁠⁠

The 10th episode of The Indian AvGeek features the COO of BLR, Satyaki Raghunath. Satyaki delves deep into the growth of the airport, the business, Talks in detail about IndiGo and Air India, about the new routes recently launched and about to be launched from the airport, how BLR has the best airline marketing team in the country and how they reached out to several North American Airlines. All that and more. Satayaki - ⁠⁠⁠⁠@SatyakiRaghuna1 Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠@vishal1mehra⁠⁠

SpiceJet seems to have secured another lifeline. What does the future look like for the airline, Why have top Indian and International investors put their faith in it, How long will these INR 3000+ crores last for the airline? We discuss this in detail with Ameya Joshi of Network Thoughts and a radical plan to rebuild the airline from the ground up. Ameya Joshi - ⁠⁠⁠⁠@khabri_lal⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠@vishal1mehra⁠⁠

This week's episode features Rishi Jain. We delved deep into the India-UK air travel market, the fight for Heathrow slots and then fantasised together about possible new routes for Air India across its key international markets, the role of Star Alliance. Rishi Jain - ⁠@RJainAviation Vishal Mehra - ⁠@vishal1mehra⁠

This week's episode features Captain Kishore Chinta, one of the most prolific aviators in the country with a celebrated background in the Indian Air Force and last two decades of flying civil aircraft. He has been an integral part of general aviation in the country and discusses trends, challenges and the future of private flying in the country. Captain Kishore Chinta - ⁠@Capt_CK⁠ Vishal Mehra - ⁠@vishal1mehra⁠

This week’s episode has Devesh Agarwal, the founder of BangaloreAviation.com talking with Vishal on Air India’s upcoming mega MRO facility in Bengaluru, a new wide-body hangar at Delhi airport, the expansion of Air India Express as well as the forthcoming change of guard at the same airline. Devesh says it as he sees it! Thank you for listening. Leave us feedback and a rating on your preferred podcast app, and follow me on social: @vishal1mehra.

An unmissable episode where Vishal Mehra speaks to Sanjay Lazar, a four-decade veteran of Indian Aviation, with most of his career spent in Air India. Sanjay dishes out on ICAO's safety audit of BCAS, as well as Air India's acquisition of Vistara - and how Singapore Airlines will be calling the shots increasingly. As always, feel free to give feedback - it helps. I'm on most social platforms as @vishal1mehra

This week Vishal Mehra talks about all the latest happenings in Indian aviation, from SpiceJet, to Akasa, to Air India and over to airports in the country and the latest news from Boeing. As always, please do give feedback - it helps. We are now on YouTube too. ⁠follow me on ⁠@vishal1mehra⁠

The second episode of The Indian AvGeek is here and it features one of India’s most authoritative voices on aviation, Ajay Awtaney. Ajay and I discussed a variety of topics with the launch of IndiGo’s premium product, now known as Stretch, as well as its soon-to-be-launched FFP called IndiGo BluChip. We discuss the new product, passenger perspective on these developments, how it might be a successful launch, the increasing hybridization of IndiGo, potential codeshares, increased margins, IFE, new routes, and more. And then we get into details of IndiGo’s revenue-based FFP - BluChip, whether they add more earn/burn partners, and how that promises to shake up the space in the country, considering IndiGo commands over 60% of India’s domestic market share. As always, please do give feedback - it helps. We are now on YouTube too. ⁠follow me on @vishal1mehra

The first episode of The Indian AvGeek features one the most respected analysts of the Indian aviation industry, Ameya Joshi from networkthoughts.com as we discuss Indigo’s business class launch, how they have pivoted from their original business model, how their network continues to evolve and grow with the recent Middle East expansion. We also discuss SpiceJet board’s approval of Rs 3000 crore QIP, their never-ending financial/legal troubles and whether is there a way out from all this mess for SpiceJet. Join your host Vishal Mehra, and Ameya Joshi for this insightful episode, and please do leave us a rating and your feedback. Thank you.

Vishal Mehra, the host of The Indian AvGeek introduces himself and the show, focussing on the Indian skies, and talks about what's in store for listeners as new episodes drop every Monday.