IndiGo: Lean, Clean Flying Machine

IndiGo, India’s largest airline, had a market share of 48% in February 2020. But the pandemic-driven sudden halt of operations from March 25 dried up IndiGo’s revenue stream. This also meant none of the expansion plans took flight and the airline would be back to the drawing board when operations resumed.

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CORPORATE BRANDING • CRISIS MANAGEMENT

INDIGO: LEAN, CLEAN FLYING MACHI

By the time the lockdown was lifted and air travel resumed, panic around travel had taken hold. As per an IndiGo customer survey, key passenger concerns like – fellow passengers not maintaining social distancing (62%), travelling with so many people (55%), concerns around air circulation (42%) and sanitation efforts being made by airlines (32%) - impacted travel demand.

IndiGo had a clear vision of invigorating trust and assurance among its stakeholders by highlighting safety measures and building an emotional connect with the customers, through the Lean Clean Flying Machine campaign. The campaign followed a three-pronged strategy: (a) Showcase safety of air travel, with IndiGo, (b) position IndiGo crew as Corona Warriors for playing their part in passenger safety and scaling up operations and (c) strengthen emotional connect by highlighting IndiGo’s contribution to the nation.

GETTING IT DONE

The campaign generated positive conversations to win back customer trust on restarting operations on May 25, 2020. Customer confidence in IndiGo increased by 16%, from 65% in June to 81% in December, with passenger traffic growing three-fold from 1.2 million in June 2020 to almost 4 million in December 2020.

The resumption of flight operations was celebrated by influencers by sharing glimpses of the first flight post lockdown.

IMPACT

IndiGo’s market share increased by ~6% from 48% in Feb 2020 to 53.9% in December 2020. The campaign generated 5,265 positive stories across print and online. Additionally, it also garnered 39k average views across 17 Instagram stories each.