Introduction:

As a part of our BRM project we have tried to find the reasons behind the relatively
poor performance of the national carrier Air India. Air India owns a fleet of 110
different types of aircrafts and is a full service carrier. It connects 66 domestic
destinations and 35 international destinations. Furthermore Air India is also a
member of the prestigious Star Alliance, a group of partner airlines providing
excessive choices to the customers in terms of routes and services. Air India at
present 21 most modern aircrafts, the Boing-787 (Dreamliner) in its fleet but yet the
profitability and performers are not at par with full service providers such as Jet
Airways and also lag behind the low cost carriers such as Indigo, Go Air and Spice
Jet.
To measure the performance of any airline, we have considered two parameters:
1. Load Factor: It is defined as the total number of occupied seats as a
percentage of the total number of seats available.
2. Market Share: The market share of different airlines (including the regional
airlines) in the domestic aviation market was taken into account.
Probable Problems:
To address the issue, we have analyzed the comments posted by various Air India
fliers on the social media (Facebook) page of the airline. There customers have
posted positive as well as negative feedbacks about the services offered by the
airlines. For our study we have ignored the positive and neutral comments and have
only focused upon the negative feedbacks. Upon preliminary analysis, following
possible problems were determined:
1. On time performance of the airline is low
2. In flight services are not up to the mark and there is a scope of improvement
3. Random flight cancellations are happening, leading to customer dissatisfaction
4. Ticket pricing is not competitive
In order to reach the hypothesis, following steps were followed:
1. Decision Statement: In our entire research we have tried to find out the
probable strategies to provide a better flying experience to increase the load
factors and market shares of Air India
2. Research Objective: Our research objective was Why customers are not
willing to fly Air India?
3. Research Questions: To find out the reasons behind the decline in the load
factors and market shares, the answers to questions such as How does poor
OTP, inflight services, random cancellations and ticket pricing affects the load
factors of Air India were looked into

4. At the end, following hypothesises were generated

On time performs adversely affects the number of customers coming
to Air India
Poor service quality adversely affects the number of customers coming
to Air India
Increasing number of random cancellations adversely affects the
number of customers coming to Air India
High Ticket Prices adversely affects the number of customers coming
to Air India

Research Development:

The Research development method is a step by step method of the entire process
flow for the research. It describes the step by step methodology used to conduct the
entire research. This is also an initial preview that helps us decide the entire
methodology which includes budget, time and resources that should be used.
A Formal definition would be Research development is a set of strategic, proactive,
catalytic, and capacity-building activities designed to facilitate individual faculty
members, teams of researchers, and central research administrations in attracting

extramural research funding, creating relationships, and developing and

implementing strategies that increase institutional competitiveness. Research
Development strengthens research programs and proposals to make them more
competitive for extramural contracts and grants from governmental, private and
non-profit funding agencies. Similarly, RD should not be confused with Research and
Development (R&D) which refers to investments in (often) corporate scientific and
technological research that leads to new products and applications.
There is no formalized Research development process but it includes a diverse set
of dynamic activities that vary by institution. Different universities follow different
rules and norms while preparing the research development flowchart.
Here we have presented a very simplistic version of the research development
flowchart. Each subhead could be divided further into separate process flowcharts.
Like for example the literature review analysis is a subhead which includes a lot
many activities which have been condensed to form the literature review subhead.
The questionnaire preparation and the review also is a huge process which includes
several set of iterations like question development, refining of questions, checking
of the questions against some major research parameters etc.
Research Methodology:
We have used two distinctive types of research methodology i.e. Qualitative and
Quantitative.
(I)

Qualitative Methods

This type of research methods involves describing in details specific situation using
research tools like interviews, surveys, and Observations. Qualitative Research is
primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying
reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to
develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative
Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper
into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or
semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group
discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size
is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.
The Quantitative research methodology used by us in this report:

Questionnaire forms can be distributed in waiting areas for gauging the

performance level of flights in terms of ratings

Questionnaires often seem a logical and easy option as a way of collecting

information from people. They are actually rather difficult to design and because of
the frequency of their use in all contexts in the modern world, the response rate is

nearly always going to be a problem (low) unless we have ways of making people
complete them and hand them in on the spot. So we have decided to distribute the
forms in the waiting areas of airport where people have ample free time.

Data collected on various parameters of Air India such as Load factor, onetime-performance (OTP) etc.

Population sample of the survey would be frequent flyers (flyers travelling

more than once a month). Feedback of about 2000 such passengers will be
collected

(II)

Quantitative Methods

This type of research methods requires quantifiable data involving numerical and
statistical explanations. Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by
way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable
statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined
variables and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative
Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research.
Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative
data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms
of surveys online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, faceto-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors,
online polls, and systematic observations.
The Qualitative research methodology used by us in this report:

Focussed group interviews with the passengers and accessing their views and
experience on flight.

Behavioural one on one interviews with passengers of Air India

Interviews enable face to face discussion with human subjects. We have decided on
taping the Interview which is the best methodology. We have decided on using open
ended questions rather than closed ended questions. The problem with closed
questions is that they limit the response the interviewee can give and do not enable
them to think deeply or test their real feelings or values. If we ask open questions
such as what do you think about the increase in traffic? we could elicit an almost
endless number of responses. This would give you a very good idea of the variety of
ideas and feelings people have, it would enable them to think and talk for longer
and so show their feelings and views more fully. But it is very difficult to quantify
these results. We will find that you will need to read all the comments through and
to categories them after we have received them, or merely report them in their

diversity and make general statements, or pick out particular comments if they
seem to fit our purpose.
The process that we have decided upon is as follows:

Identifying our sample.

Drawing up a set of questions that seem appropriate to what we need to find

out.

Starting with some basic closed questions (name etc.).

Don't ask leading questions.

Trying them out with a colleague.

Pilot them, then refine the questions so that they are genuinely engaged with
our research object.

Contact our interviewees and ask permission, explain the interview and its
use.

Carry out interviews and keep notes/tape.

Transcribe.

Thematically analyse results and relate these findings to others from our
other research methods

Research plan and timetable:

Here we are planning to complete the research project in 6 months and have break
down component wise the various activities that will take place during the research.

Initially, we need to develop research proposal and need to take the prior approvals
from the higher authority which should take 15 days. Then, we need to develop the
test tools which we will be using to compare and calculate that how does poor OTP,
inflight services, random cancellations and ticket pricing affects the load factors of
Air India. Simultaneously a parallel activity of development of test questions will
take place. This team would form the questionnaire over a period of one month and
within a span of 15 days a another parallel activity of obtaining participants and
customer data collection will take place over a period of 3 months and the
inputs/suggestions will be provided to team which is developing test questions
within the 15 days of floating the questionnaire such that they could incorporate the
mentioned suggestions by the travellers. During the last month of customer data
collection, a simultaneous activity of final collection of data will take place which
would be expected to take 1.5 months and any type of correlation would be tried to
find out from the survey. And lastly, research report will be prepared considering the
data which should take about one month.

Tentative Budget:

The tentative budget that we have proposed for the business proposal is INR
2,75,000 of whose breakup is provided below:

To develop the questionnaire we have allotted INR 2 for the stationary and other
expenses during the printing of the questionnaire. Further, a staff cum data
collector is to be employed for 3.5 months who would obtain the datas from the
customers and would collate into a single file which would be interpreted by the
data analyst for a month and would cost us INR 20,000/month and INR
50,000/month respectively as salary. We also plan to conduct a focus group
interview of the frequent flyers which would cost up around INR 1,50,000 totaling up
to INR 2,75,000/-