Regent Airways & competitor analysis

Bangladesh Airline market

Current market scenario

Bangladeshs domestic and regional international markets are
becoming competitive day by day as the countrys 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

BIMAAN is the largest but is still a relatively small carrier, operating 10

aircraft (all jets) to 19 international and three domestic destinations
UNITED AIRWAYS is Bangladeshs 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

Air traffic in Bangladesh

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 MD82 frequencies), while Novoair uses 49-seat ERJ-145s and Regent uses 50seat 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.

Dhaka-Chittagong frequency share (% of weekly

flights) by carrier

Dhaka-Chittagong has become an intensely

competitive route

Challenges
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

Learning
While Bangladeshs 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 Bangladeshs 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 countrys largest public limited company by the
Caretaker Government of Bangladesh.

Advertisements

Ads are talking about discount offers during festive seasons

Findings
It is the Bangladeshs 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 Bangladeshs 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 ChittagongKolkata, 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-Q300s 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 737-700s 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 Coxs 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-Coxs 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
This slide has the SEO ranking, for identified keywords, of all the competitors in the study

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

PPC

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

Bimaan Bangladesh

Bimaan Bangladesh is not running any ads

Online booking portals like Goibibo/Makemytrip are running the PPC ads

United Airways of Bangladesh

Not running any PPC

Novoair

Not running any PPC

Regent Airways

Not running any PPC

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 doesnt 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 TGs 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. Its 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 isnt official, the page lacks
identity and activity; And then theres 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

SOURCE
http://www.biman-airlines.com/
http://www.flynovoair.com/
http://www.flyregent.com/
http://www.uabdl.com/
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/bangladesh-airline-market-competitionbecomes-intense-with-two-new-startups-including-an-lcc-175828
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/biman-bangladesh-nears-completion-ofdramatic-fleet-renewal-but-its-outlook-remains-challenging-175678
http://centreforaviation.com/analysis/novoair-becomes-bangladesh-aviationmarkets-newest-airline-in-jan-2013-97460