Guest Lecture By Mr S Chandrakumar, Ex-COO, Air India Express

The Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur had the privilege of hosting Mr S Chandrakumar, Ex-COO, Air India Express on 22nd October 2018. Mr Chandrakumar is an avid aeromodeller from school days and a stringent believer in an individual's potential. Being an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he is a successful leader having nearly 35 years of industry experience in the aviation sector with umpteen laurels to his name. With the onset of the session, he spoke about the history of Indian Aviation and how it took 40 years for the private players to enter into the market. Continuing on this track, he spoke on the challenges faced by Indian Aviation Sector in 1950, when all the players targeted metro routes which led to a considerable decrease in airfare, incurring a significant loss to the aviation industry. He emphasized how low operating market can be strategically fatal and only those with deep pockets can survive peaks and off-peak.     Mr Chandrakumar titled 2004 as the “Year of Liberalization”, wherein significant changes like privatization of Delhi & Mumbai Airports took place. Continuing with his school of thought, he enlightened the students about how Indigo emerged as a leader and continues to be one and how Non-Operating revenues are a crucial element for an airline’s profitability. Owing to financial hazards of the airlines, he tagged rising fuel costs and fall in Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) as the primary concerns. Focusing on the economies of the airline industry, Mr Chandrakumar highlighted the need for consistent profits for the smooth functioning of the airline industry to maintain a reasonable global net margin. With airfares reducing substantially by 90% (compared to 1950 for the same sector), flight journeys have become economic and are no longer considered to be a luxury. Mr Chandrakumar also spoke about the future of the airline industry which is profoundly impacted by rapid technological changes and the survival of this industry largely depends on controlling costs and process improvements. Towards the end of the session, he held a Q&A round answering to all the curious minds. He finally concluded with the statement that “Generation of millennials is poised to fly in the Indian skies and beyond.” The Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur extends its heartfelt gratitude to Mr Chandrakumar for such an intriguing session and hope to host him again in times to come.