The name itself used to signify the epitome of luxury flying once upon a time. Rumored to be a gift for siddharth mallya on his 18th birthday, Kingfisher Airlines set the standard for indian air carriers once upon a time. Passengers were treated to In-flight-entertainment-systems, gourmet cuisine and pouches filled with goodies. Heck!, kids used to get model airplanes too. There was no executive and economy class at the beginning; only "Kingfisher Class" as Vijay Mallya described it. There was a sense of pride in anyone who had Kingfisher Airlines' logo, be it on his luggage or his identity card. Even though it didnt make any profits, it maintained a reputation as 'The King Of Good Times'. The introduction of 'Kingfisher Red' was a bad-bad idea. There is this typical indian mentality: When one company offers you two options, 1) the original costly version, and 2) the new cheaper one, people opt for the latter. And as the demand for low-cost carries started to increase, kingfisher was forced to slash its rates for air travel. Reduced food quality, no goodie bags, and irregular flight routines were the effects of its heavy cost cutting. Competition from other low cost carriers like spicejet and indigo was slowly eating away at its strength. And from mid-december 2011, Kingfisher Airlines started snapping. The general public started losing trust because of its frequent flight cancellations which in-turn led to drastic losses in revenue. Employees stopped getting payed, its accounts frozen over non-payment of taxes, and now, after all this, people aint even sure if Kingfisher Airlines will continue flying. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, how long will it take for the giant to get up? WILL it ever get up? Is the decision goin to be left to fate? or a better management?? Im very eager to find out....
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