“Small City Routes Hold Big Potential for India Airlines” by Reuters has reported that small cities in India, such as Patna has seen growing demand for airplanes as more people are now travelling.

One surprising point Reuters has made in this article is that airlines companies are now seeing more revenues coming from routes going to and from smaller cities than the typical  Mumbai-Delhi route. This reminded me of a previous article I read on Entrepreneur.com, about the barriers to entry of starting a new airlines. The article stated that although investors are very interested in starting new airline companies (because there is potential for huge revenues), it is also a very risky business as all the existing airlines dominate spots in airports of major cities. As a result, start up airlines companies can only look for opportunities to fly in smaller cities.

The Entrepreneur.com article made it seem as though it was a challenge/significant disadvantage to start up airlines. However in this article, I was able to gain new perspective that in a country such as India, the growing economy may give opportunities for companies to gain more profit in smaller cities. Since the middle class is growing in smaller cities such as Putna, flying in smaller cities is no longer a disadvantage for airlines companies. Rather, it is a great opportunity for them to expand their business further.

The India Airlines case was a very good example of how a perceived disadvantage can become an opportunity due to external changes.

The original article can be found here.