The rise and fall of East West Airlines

It had been 25 years since they last met, so the excitement in the air was palpable. A group of men, who were employees of East West Airlines, which folded up operations in 1997, got together and shared the memories of their salad days at a private resort in Chathama island, on the shores of Kaithapuzha Lake, near Kochi, last week. They chatted away and teased each other while gleefully posing for photographs, but there was a tinge of sadness in their deep joy; the downturn of fortunes that befell East West Airlines, the once thriving airline operator.

They recalled, sitting entirely engulfed in nostalgia, the glory days of a business model with a Malayalee connection and the lessons learned from its downfall. They all are ready to quit their current job or close down their companies and return to their old company if East West Airlines relaunches operation. “We all are middle-aged now, but we are ready to dedicate our whole life to serving our beloved company,” they said in unison.

The story behind East West Airlines

The Malayalee migration to the Gulf region was at its peak. Incidents of Malayalees aspiring for jobs in the Gulf being exploited by wily travel agents in Mumbai were rampant. There were three Keralite brothers – Thakiyudeen Wahid, Shihabudeen and Nasser, who offered a helping hand to Malayalees who landed in Mumbai to obtain visa and travel documents. Later, the trio established a travel agency, East West Travel and Trade Links, in Dadar and offered flight tickets at reasonable rates. They went on to expand their operations in Chennai, Delhi and various parts of Kerala.

At that time, there were only two airlines - Air India (only on foreign routes) and Indian Airlines (monopoly over domestic routes) - and fares were fixed. It was when the Indian Government reformed the industry by its ‘open skies policy’ in 1991 that gave rise to numerous private air charter operators.

One of the first private companies to obtain an Air Operator Permit (AOP) from the aviation regulator was East West Airlines owned by Thakiyudeen Wahid. The company acquired its first aircraft – a Boeing 737-200 airliner - in 1992 on lease. The first flight – 4S 786 - took off from the Mumbai Airport to Kochi on February 28, 1991. It would leave Mumbai at 5.20 am and reach Kochi at 7.10 am. The return service was in the afternoon. The new service came as a boon for Malayalees working in the Gulf as well as those based in Mumbai.

Though Thakiyudeen Wahid was a ninth standards dropout, he was a person with extraordinary business acumen. Being fluent in multiple languages also helped him build his brand and grow his business. His decision to depart from the norm of recruiting good-looking girls as flight attendants by appointing energetic young men as cabin crew staff was path-breaking. He also laid emphasis on giving opportunities to youngsters to be in the company's key positions and develop their skills.

“It was hard to believe when I became the station manager of the East West Airlines at the Goa Airport at the age of 22. Five of us who took care of the airline’s operations at the Kolkata Airport were all below 25,” says Vinu V Nair, who started his career with East West Airlines.

Soaring high in the sky

East West became one of the most preferred airlines in the country within a short span of time, thanks to the excellent and quality service. A vibrant group of well mannered, polite and attractive crew members and the top-class in-flight meals added to its charm.

Keralites who land at Sahar International Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) from various Gulf countries would be taken to Santa Cruz Airport (now Domestic Terminal) in an airport shuttle bus, and after serving them a sumptuous breakfast, they will be carried to Kochi on an East West flight. It allowed passengers to cut out unscrupulous agents and middlemen and avoid paying extra money. East West also ranked highly in flight punctuality. As a result, there was always a great demand for tickets.

Thakiyudeen used to interact with passengers on board and gather informal customer feedback. East West’s clientele included several celebrities and prominent personalities like Mother Teresa. Remarkably, she had the privilege to travel for free on all East West flights. Top politicians, industrialists, and film personalities were Thakiyudeen’s regular customers. The Vahid brothers always laid stress on commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.

East West Airlines was growing from strength to strength by adding more aircrafts to its fleet, recruiting more employees, and expanding its network of destinations. It operated services to forty destinations including tier II cities like Aurangabad. The total staff strength grew to 4,500. What fuelled the company’s phenomenal growth was the commitment and hard work put in by its young workforce.

However, after a couple of excellent seasons, East West started showing a downward slide due to various reasons. The services started getting delayed and some of the sectors sank into the red.

In the following years, the balance sheet showed company's total expenses exceeding its total income. It was a lesson learned the hard way. Building a workforce with youngsters is critical to growth and sustainability, but leadership skills too are imperative for success. Of course, there were leaders, but some of them failed miserably, and they could not do what it takes to rectify their wrongs.

East West’s fall from grace

East West registered a record profit margin in October 1995. The very next month, on November 13, 1995, Thakiyudeen Wahid was murdered. After two years, the airline ceased operations.

East West’s business rivals targeted not the company, but its business brain. The company did not have a designated successor leader. The lesson was that every business venture needs to have a succession plan in place. Every leader has a critical role to play in preparing and grooming a successor.

Intelligence agencies had warned Thakiyudeen of an assassination plot against him, but he did not take it seriously. He believed that nobody would be able to hurt him as his newly purchased Mercedes Benz was bulletproof. It was another lesson for every business magnet. Anyone owning a multi-crore business outside his home turf should not ignore such warning. Moreover, armoured vehicles do not always guarantee the utmost safety and security.

Thakiyudeen was shot dead on November 13, 1995 by a gang when he was on his way to office located about a kilometre away from his home. The assailants, who blocked his path by parking their vehicle horizontally in front of his car, smashed the Benz’s windshield with a hammer and shot him several times through the broken glass.

Thakiyudeen’s wife Sajeena too was aware of the death threats against him. She had received several threat calls right from the moment the family decided to launch an airline company. All the callers had one thing to say, “tell your husband to drop the plan”.

However, Thakiyudeen ignored the threats and paid a hefty price. Exactly forty-five months after the airlines started operations, an East West flight carrying his body flew to Thiruvanthapuram from Bombay. The flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Bengaluru after Thakiyudeen’s sister felt unwell. It was a short stay for Thakiyudeen during his final journey in the city where he had always wished to settle. His family later shifted to Bengaluru, but by then, East West Airlines had disappeared from the Indian aviation map.