Even as the debate on whether the Tatas made the right move by tying up with two international partners for their aviation business continues, Tata Sons' newly appointed director, Nirmalya Kumar, justifies the move saying there is absolutely no conflict. Kumar spoke to ET NOW exclusively on his mandate, the Tata brand, Nano and everything in between. Excerpts:
While you are saying that Singapore Airlines is a dream partner for the full service carrier, one must not forget that they also have a significant stake in Air Asia which is a low-cost carrier. Don't you think there is an overlap?
In every industry, there are premium players and there are lowcost players.Whether it's retail, insurance, financial services or airlines, what has been demonstrated is that there is a place and segment that wants a premium experience and they are willing to pay for that and then there is another segment that just wants the cheapest flight from A to B and not want to pay for anything else and both segments exist, both can be enormously successful — a SouthWest has proved that a low-cost airline can be very successful. But a low-cost customer, who goes for low cost is a segmented value. You know in marketing, segments are very important. So two segments can co-exist without any problem.
So with different partners, you don't see an issue?
No. We are targeting different segments. They are targeting different segments and different usage also. It has been proven worldwide that there is a market for premium airlines and a market for low-cost airlines.
14/10/13 Sonali Krishna/Economic Times
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While you are saying that Singapore Airlines is a dream partner for the full service carrier, one must not forget that they also have a significant stake in Air Asia which is a low-cost carrier. Don't you think there is an overlap?
In every industry, there are premium players and there are lowcost players.Whether it's retail, insurance, financial services or airlines, what has been demonstrated is that there is a place and segment that wants a premium experience and they are willing to pay for that and then there is another segment that just wants the cheapest flight from A to B and not want to pay for anything else and both segments exist, both can be enormously successful — a SouthWest has proved that a low-cost airline can be very successful. But a low-cost customer, who goes for low cost is a segmented value. You know in marketing, segments are very important. So two segments can co-exist without any problem.
So with different partners, you don't see an issue?
No. We are targeting different segments. They are targeting different segments and different usage also. It has been proven worldwide that there is a market for premium airlines and a market for low-cost airlines.
14/10/13 Sonali Krishna/Economic Times
