Regent Airways & competitor analysis

Bangladesh Airline market

•Bangladesh’s domestic and regional international markets are becoming competitive day by day as the country’s private

airline sector continues to expand rapidly

•There are now three privately owned airlines operating in Bangladesh with two more preparing to launch operations

•Currently four airlines are operating in Bangladesh:

1.Bimaan Bangladesh

2.United Airways 3.Regent Airways

4.Novoair

Current market scenario

•BIMAAN is the largest but is still a relatively small carrier, operating 10 aircraft (all jets) to 19 international and three domestic destinations

•UNITED AIRWAY’S is Bangladesh’s second largest carrier and the oldest

of the active airlines in the private sector, having been established in 2006; Currently serves seven domestic and six international destinations with an

in-service fleet of nine aircraft (five jets and four turboprops)

•REGENT AIRWAYS and NOVOAIR are the two most recent new entrants

•Regent Airways launched in late 2010 and added international services in mid-2013; It currently serves three domestic and four international

destinations with a fleet of five aircraft (two jets and three turboprops)

•Novoair launched in early 2013 and currently operates three regional jets to five domestic destinations. It recently secured approval to

operate overseas routes and aims to launch international services by the end of 2014

Bangladesh fleet size by operator

•Bimaan Bangladesh, United Airways, Regent Airways and Novoair are the only carriers in Bangladesh currently operating scheduled

passenger services

Bangladesh international capacity share (% of seats) by carrier

•In the Bangladesh-Asia market , Bimaan competes with leading Asian full service carriers;

•Bimaan is leading with 26% share •Malaysia Airlines is the 2nd largest full service carrier in the international

Bangladesh market

•Chittagong-Dhaka is particularly competitive with 31 weekly flights currently from Novoair, 26 from United and 24 from Regent

•United primarily uses ATR 72s on the route (with some Dash 8-100 and MD-

82 frequencies), while Novoair uses 49-seat ERJ-145s and Regent uses 50-seat Dash 8-300s

•As it is a business route frequency is critical

•Novoair, Regent and United all have four to five flights on weekdays on an

average with attractive timings in the early morning and evening

•All three carriers have roughly similar frequency and capacity shares on the route

•Biman has a much smaller share of the frequencies but accounts for nearly

half of the total capacity as it mainly operates 777s on the route.

Air traffic in Bangladesh

Dhaka-Chittagong frequency share (% of weekly flights) by carrier

•Dhaka-Chittagong has become an intensely competitive route

•According to aviation experts, air traffic in Bangladesh has been increasing steadily on domestic routes in recent years with the growth in business and

domestic tourism

•Lack of proper policy support, hike in aviation fuel prices, wrong selection of aircraft, shortage of qualified professionals including pilots and technical

manpower, high tax rates and airport charges are learnt to be the main reasons for many local airlines becoming financially sick

•The participation of too many airlines in a small niche market intensifies the

competition , leading to a price war

•The operation of old aircraft not only involves a high operational and maintenance cost but also carries possibility of frequent breakdown

Challenges

Learning

•While Bangladesh’s market has the potential is and growing sufficiently (at approximately 10% per annum) to support multiple private carriers, there is a risk some of the expansion could prove

to be overambitious

•There is room in the market for several carriers but only if most stick to relatively small niches, primarily domestic and the handful

of short international routes where there is high demand

•Five or six airlines is however likely to be too many, especially given the significant competition from foreign carriers on regional

international routes

•Biman would arguably be better off focusing on the international market, in particular medium and long-haul routes which are

unlikely to see local competition

Competitor analysis of brands

BIMAAN BANGLADESH

•Biman Bangladesh Airlines was established on 4rth January 1972 as Bangladesh’s national airline.

•National flag carrier airline of Bangladesh.

•Main hub is at Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka &

it also operates flights from its secondary hubs.

•It has air service agreements with 42 countries & currently flies to 16 different countries.

•The airline was owned & managed by the government of Bangladesh until 23rd July 2007, when it was transformed

into the country’s largest public limited company by the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh.

Advertisements

•Ads are talking about discount offers during festive seasons

Findings

•It is the Bangladesh’s government owned airline

•It is planning to expand in the near term

•They are focusing on the domestic market for the time being

•Bimaan is the largest but is still a relatively small carrier, operating 10 aircraft (all jets) to nineteen international and three domestic destinations

•Biman for some time has been planning to acquire two 70-seat turboprops which it intends to use to resume services to more domestic destinations as well as add

frequencies to Chittagong and Sylhet

UNITED AIRWAYS BANGLADESH

•Founded : 28th June, 2005

•Commenced operations: 10th July, 2007

•Hubs: Shahjalal International Airport (Dhaka)

•Secondary Hubs: Shah Amanat International Airport (Chittagong)

•Fleet size: 11

•Destinations: 15

•Company Slogan: Fly Your Own Airline

UNITED AIRWAYS-INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE

UNITED AIRWAYS-DOMESTIC SCHEDULE

Advertisements

•All the ads talk about their offers and exclusive services

Findings

•United Airways is Bangladesh’s second largest carrier and the oldest of the active airlines in the private sector, having been

established in 2006

•Currently serves seven domestic and six international destinations with an in-service fleet of nine aircraft (five jets and

four turboprops)

•United Airways has the largest domestic network as it also serves Rajshahi and Saidpur, each with one daily flight

•It has also previously served Barisal and Ishwardi but its current

schedule does not have any service to these domestic destinations

•United Airways also launched Singapore in late 2013 but has

since dropped the service

•It has also dropped Dhaka-Kolkata but operates Chittagong-Kolkata, a route not served non-stop by any other carrier

NOVOAIR

•Founded: 2012

•Commenced operations: 9th January 2013

•Fleet size: 3

•Destinations: 5

•Company slogan: The Art of Aviation

•Key people: Faiz Khan(Chairman & CEO)

Mofizur Rahman(Managing Director)

NOVOAIR-DOMESTIC SCHEDULE

Advertisements

•Ads are mostly talking about offers •Novoair has tried to differentiate its product by offering an all-jet schedule with leather seats, a

high standard of service and a consistently reliable operation

Findings

•Novoair launched in early 2013 and currently operates three regional jets to five domestic destinations

•It recently got approval to operate overseas routes and aims to launch international

services by the end of 2014

•Novoair has also been looking at Kathmandu and Kolkata as possible destinations in its initial international network

•Service to both destinations will likely be launched within the next few months.

•Novoair is planning to join Biman on the Dhaka-Yangon route

•Being the latest new entrant Novoair has tried to differentiate its product by offering an all-jet schedule with leather seats, a high standard of service and a consistently reliable

operation

•The market seems to have responded well to the Novoair proposition as the carrier has reported solid initial traffic figures and recently acquired its third ERJ-145

REGENT AIRWAYS

•Founded: 2010

•Commenced operations: 10th Novembor,2010

•Hubs: Shahjalal International Airport(Dhaka)

•Secondary Hubs: Shah Amanat International Airport(Chittagong)

•Fleet Size: 5

•Destinations : 9

•Campaign Slogan: Every little thing counts

International & Domestic

•Parent company: HG Aviation Ltd

•Headquarters: Siaam Tower,15,dhaka-mymensingh Highway,Sector 3,Uttara ,Dhaka1230

CE0: Dr. Abdul Momen

Managing director: Mashruf Habib

COO: Ashish Rai Choudhury

Website: www.flyregent.com

Seating configuration

•The Bombardier Dash-8-Q300’s accomodates 50 passengers in an all economy layout.

•The seating configuration is in a 2-2 layout, with all seats

having a pitch of 32”

•The Boing 737-700’s seats,126 passengers, with 12 business class and 14 economy class seats.

•Business class is set out in 3-3 configuration with 33” seat

pitch.

Flight routes International flight:

•Dhaka to Kualalumpur (Return)

•Dhaka to Bangkok (Return) •Dhaka to Singapore (Return)

•Dhaka to Kolkata (Return) •Chitagong to (Kolkata Return)

•Dhaka to Bangkok via Chittagong (Return)

Domestic flight:

•Dhaka to Chittagong (Return) •Dhaka to Cox’s Bazaar (Return)

Shared routes

•United Airways Bangladesh (Shared route-10)

•Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Shared route-8)

•Jet Airways (Shared route-2)

•Thai Airways International (Shared route-2)

•Druk Air (Shared route-2)

•Bangkok airways (Shared route-2)

REGENT AIRWAYS-DOMESTIC SCHEDULE

REGENT AIRWAYS-INTERNATIONAL SCHEDULE

Advertisements

•All the ads are about their offers and discounts on tickets as well as their exclusive service

Advertisements

•Ads talking about flight schedule and their exclusive service

Findings

• Regent launched in late 2010 and added international services in mid-2013

•It currently serves three domestic and four international destinations with a fleet of five aircraft (two jets and three turboprops)

•Regent also previously served Sylhet but its current schedule does not include any flights

to Sylhet or Jessore, another secondary city in Bangladesh it had been serving until relatively recently

•Regent's only other current domestic route is Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar, which it serves with four

weekly flights

•Regent Airways became the second Bangladeshi private carrier in the international market in mid-2013 when it took delivery of a 737-700 in two-class configuration and

launched services to Kulala Lumpur

•Regent has since added services to Singapore, Kolkata and Bangkok and now operates two 737-700s

Digital Media

SEO

Keyword Website Performance Bimaan

Bangladesh United Airways

Bangladesh Novoair Regent Airways

Bangladesh Top Airlines

Page 1;Rank 2 Page 1; Rank 7 Page 1; Rank 9 Page 2; Rank 1 Page 3; Rank 2

Page 1; Rank 6 Not in the first three pages

Not in the first 3 pages

Bangladesh Airlines

Page 1; Rank 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

Page 2; Rank 1,2,3

Not in the first three pages

Not in the first three pages

Page 3; Rank 5

Bangladesh Airlines List

Page 1;Rank 3 Page 2;Rank

5,6,7 Page 3; Rank 4,5

Page 1;Rank 8 Page 2; Rank 1 Page 3; Rank 3

Page 2; Rank 4

•In most of the cases top search result is always Bimaan Bangladesh

This slide has the SEO ranking, for identified keywords, of all the competitors in the study

PPC

•When searched with keywords like Bangladesh airlines list/Bangladesh top airlines-Bimaan Bangladesh is there in the search results

PPC

•When searched with keywords like Bangladesh airlines/Flights from Bangladesh, Bimaan Bangladesh is coming repeatedly in the search results

PPC

•Bimaan Bangladesh is not running any ads •Online booking portals like Goibibo/Makemytrip are running the PPC ads

Bimaan Bangladesh

•Not running any PPC

United Airways of Bangladesh

•Not running any PPC

Novoair

•Not running any PPC

Regent Airways

PPC

Keyword Website Performance Bimaan Bangladesh United Airways

Bangladesh Novoair Regent Airways

Bangladesh Top Airlines

Advertising NA NA NA

Bangladesh Airlines Advertising NA NA NA

Bangladesh Airlines List

Adverting NA NA NA

Bimaan Bangladesh Advertising NA NA NA

United Airways Bangladesh

NA NA NA NA

Novoair NA NA NA NA

Regent Airways NA NA NA NA

•Apart from Bimaan Bangladesh, nobody is advertising

Findings

Regent airways needs more expo

•‘’Regent Airways’ search result doesn’t pull up the website or the ad

words ad, which is a significant drawback

•Bimaan Bangladesh is in all the search results

•Noveair and Regent Airways can be rarely seen in the search results

Social Media

BIMAAN BANGLADESH

Facebook

•Joined facebook:10/30/2009 •No. of likes: 12,149

•493 people talking about this

•Posts are vague •Even though they have their own airlines, they are sharing links like ‘Pilot

future in darkness’ which is very weird

Post trends – They post once in a blue moon

•They only share links

Post frequency – No consistency in posts

• Last post was on 9th August 2013

Twitter

•514 followers •Tweets are much more better than their posts in facebook

•Tweets are based on recruiting pilots/new CEO •They only share news; most of them do not serve any purpose

Findings

•Being one of the leading brands, their twitter and facebook account is below average

•They are sharing irrelevant and vague posts in facebook; Most of the

content is talking about airplane clashes/future of pilots

•Engagement is nil

•They have quite a large fan base who are willing to engage

UNITED AIRWAYS

NO SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

NOVOAIR

Facebook

•7,431 likes •54 People talking about this

•Last activity: Changed cover photo on 5th of August

Post trends – Wishing their customers Eid Mubarak/Fifa

World Cup/Joining of new members in their team

Post frequency – No consistency in posts

July 28th: 1 post July 27th : 1 post July 26th: 1 post

June 12th: 2 posts June 5th : 1 post May 18th: 1 post April 17th: 1 post

•Festival/Ritual related posts •Pictures are getting good amount of ‘likes’ but nobody is taking an initiative

to comment

•FIFA world cup posts •They use their own creatives which is a good sign

•Engagement is average

•They are sharing their flight schedule on Facebook which is helping them to grab their TG’s attention

•They are promoting facilities like ‘free Wifi internet access’ which is a brilliant idea

Twitter

•Novoair provided this link in their website as their Twitter account •Their twitter handle is a big disappointment

•No picture •Only 74 followers

•Not active

Findings

•Considering the fact that they have recently entered the market, they are using their facebook account quite well

•They are promoting their services

•They need to be more active though; Posts are not that very frequent

•They are using their own creatives which is good but the content is not

that great

•Engagement is very poor

•They need to be active in Twitter

REGENT AIRWAYS

Facebook

•55,000 likes •249 People talking about this

Latest post trends – News/Deals and Offers

Post frequency – 1 post per day

•No consistency in posts

August 23rd: 1 post August 5th : 1 post

July 18th: 1 post June 29th: 1 post June 26th : 1 post June 17th: 1 post

June 7th: 1 post

Regent replies to queries, which is a good practice

They have a steady engagement rate which can be intensified with good content and accompanying visuals

Print ads are also shared on social platforms

Pretty good strategy to bring people in

Deals - Visuals could be a little more interesting

Trivia- Did not gather as much response, probably because of the presentation

Wrong placement of cover picture

Vague reply

No relevant picture

Twitter

Regent provided this link in their website as their Twitter account

Twitter

But they use this account. It’s connected to the Facebook account.

They provide Facebook links on Twitter. They do not upload the images but just post the link that will redirect people to Facebook.

As a result, less engagement.

Findings

•Profile Photo – The original logo should have been used as the display photo

•Cover Photo – Cover photo needs to set the tone of the whole page; the image is not adapted properly

• There is nothing wrong with the content that they post

• Images are uploaded directly whereas a personalized template can make it look even more attractive

• They need to be regular in their social media platforms and provide more scopes for engagement. They do not have

an individual personality yet, which is a huge drawback

• Content is sometimes too lengthy, which should be avoided

.

Findings

•Twitter is an untouched domain for Regent; The account isn’t official, the page lacks

identity and activity; And then there’s the confusion regarding the original page;

•Follower count needs to improve, there should be more Twitter-specific content

•Regent has the necessary ammunitions needed for a successful post

•Fans are active, They like, comment, share the content. With good quality visuals

and regular posts the engagement can be intensified. Micro campaigns are

needed to ensure constant interaction

•Regent lacks an identity when it comes to its social media presence

•The social networking pages are active but they lacks direction and proper planning

Proposed Campaign

•A Facebook app where people can upload pictures of their trip

•To upload the same they, will have to enter a valid regent Airways ticket number

•They can upload up to 10 pictures & write a caption on them

•There will be an option to share the same, which will be like a flip through book

•Three lucky winners every month will be chosen, who will receive a coffee table

book with the pictures they uploaded

Proposed Content

•In-flight services

•Services exclusive to different flying classes

•The kind of cuisine that is being served on board

•Why is Regent a safe choice to fly

•Tourist destinations in places Regent flies to

• Things to do/no to do when travelling

•Redirect traffic to their website to promote online booking

•Travel essentials

•Loyalty programs for frequent fliers

Proposed Content

•In-flight services

•Services exclusive to different flying classes

•The kind of cuisine that is being served on board

•Why is Regent a safe choice to fly

•Tourist destinations in places Regent flies to

• Things to do/no to do when travelling

•Redirect traffic to their website to promote online booking

•Travel essentials

•Loyalty programs for frequent fliers

Proposed Digital Activities

• Better SEO to ensure higher organic search results

• Ads on the deals they offer

• Display network ads to target potential travellers

• Remarketing ads to continually target people

http://www.biman-airlines.com/

http://www.flynovoair.com/

http://www.flyregent.com/

http://www.uabdl.com/

http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/bangladesh-airline-market-competition-

becomes-intense-with-two-new-startups-including-an-lcc-175828

http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/biman-bangladesh-nears-completion-of-dramatic-fleet-renewal-but-its-outlook-remains-challenging-175678

http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/novoair-becomes-bangladesh-aviation-markets-newest-airline-in-jan-2013-97460

SOURCE