The rise and fall of a castle in the air

Bangalore: Never has the flamboyant Vijay Mallya been in such a tight corner before.
He took over the UB Group even before he turned 30 after his father, Vittal Mallya, passed away suddenly in 1983. Since then, he has consolidated the group holdings, shed those companies, including a car battery making venture, which didn't make sense to his business, won a corporate battle — and a war of words — with the pugnacious Manu Chabbria, wresting from him Shaw Wallace, once among the top companies in the liquor industry. Today, his beer business controls half the domestic market while the liquor business controls three-fourths of the market.
But as the saying goes, the quickest way to become a millionaire is for a billionaire to invest in the airline sector.
Kingfisher Airlines was set up in 2003 but hasn't seen a single year of profit since it got listed in 2006. Today, accumulated losses stand at about Rs 8,200 crore and the money to pay for fuel, salaries and airport fees is running out, prompting Mallya to approach the government for a bailout.
The company blames the government for its predicament — the high cost of aviation fuel, the requirement to service non-profitable routes — with a top UB Group official telling The Hindu that the politicians running the country should decide whether they want the transport sector to be robust or are happy enough with “continuing the bullock cart age.”
But market analysts believe flaws in Mallya's business plans and style of functioning lie at the root of Kingfisher airlines' woes.
In a controversial report on the airline, Veritas Investment Research analysts point out that Mallya should have never got into the airline business.
The problem, of course, lay in acquisitive excess. For Mallya, there was no ducking the temptation of getting into the airline sector. For one, there was the glamour, something he couldn't get enough of despite the yachts and islands. In time, the airline became a stepping stone for the pursuit of other adventures.
He acquired Whyte & Mackay, a Scottish bulk liquor maker amidst drama and glamour, holding a press conference in London to announce the deal. He bought newspapers (Asian Age was one such), fashion and movie magazines, bought and sold a TV company and added football teams to his ever expanding empire. He even added a cricket team to his list of acquisitions and called it Royal Challengers. Someone who was known for his distaste for politicians, he actually funded a party and became a Rajya Sabha MP as well.
He brought glamour into the business of running airlines. Each seat in his aircraft had a TV screen just like the international air carriers offered welcoming guests by appearing on the screen and asking them to write to him personally if they were unhappy with any service. He handpicked air hostesses, gave away goody bags to each passenger and the welcome at the airport counters had to be seen to be believed. He made you feel special. The corporate sector wanted all top executives to fly Kingfisher and they came back admiring the service.
It was when the good times seemed to last forever that Mallya made his first strategic mistake. Deccan Aviation's Capt G.R. Gopinath, who was desperately looking for a buyer for his airline, Air Deccan, had all but tied up with the Anil Ambani for a sell-out. Some last-minute delays eventually led to the collapse of the deal. That's when Mallya, who kept denying that he couldn't even think of buying an airline whose business model was different than his own, suddenly put in his bid, apparently offering more money than the previous one to clinch the deal.
While the liquor and the beer businesses had an experienced set of officials running the show, the others needed the undivided attention of Mallya himself. More so for the airline venture. This was where his second mistake came in. The airline had everything going for itself: great brand visibility, loyal customers and a wide network. But as a former business partner of Mallya pointed out recently, he was more like an absentee landlord.
Mallya was seen everywhere and apparently took more than necessary interest in running the airline but it wasn't just good enough. The business model was coming apart and losses kept mounting. There was cannabalisation from the mother brand. “If two brands look alike, then obviously, passengers will opt for the cheaper priced,” the former partner, who did not want to be identified, said.
Industry analysts say the third mistake was that the airline should have first consolidated its domestic operations and then introduced international routes because on the foreign routes, the competition only gets bigger and with those who have deeper pockets.
12/11/11 K Giriprakash/The Hindu

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Categories: Kingfisher Nov 2011