GRAVEYARD OF BRANDS IN THE SKY

India has seen many beloved airline brands get swallowed up or shut down. As Vistara merges with Air India, a look at what has kept some of them flying

- HARISH BIJOOR

As you read this column today, Air Vistara is no more. Yet another airline brand has moved on into the graveyard of Indian aviation brands.

Lying dead in this graveyard is a veritable set of well-loved brands: Damania, Modiluft, Air Deccan, Sahara, Jet, GoAir, and Kingfisher are but a few of the bigger ones who bade goodbye to passengers, who seemed to have loved them to no end.

Each of these airlines had their die-hard fans. While Damania was an airline that shot to fame as it offered alcohol on its domestic routes (I have seen whisky being served and guzzled on early morning flights), Sahara promised of being Indian, patriotic, and wanted to be "emotionally yours". Air Deccan asked you to "Simplifly", and Kingfisher Airlines offered you glamour and red livery that spoke of luxury.

The airline even had a separate business class coach with leather sofas mounted on buses to ferry their passengers from the terminal to the aircraft.

Every airline India has had the privilege to host has made an impact unique to its own customers. Many of us remember each one lovingly, even as we wistfully ask why they had to go.

Each airline had its own set of compulsions. The one common reason for the death of an airline is a bleeding bottom line. All of them bled to death in more ways than one. Some left a huge debt. Some declared bankruptcies, and some ran away without paying their debtors and employees alike.

Promoters of many airline ventures have had it rough as well. If you run an airline, you run the risk of not only burning up money, but you run the risk of burning your reputation as well.

Each of them tried hard, had larger-than-life images built over time, but the business got them down.