German Travel Unicorn Flix To Enter Indian Bus Market
Flix has already started forming a local team in India and is scouting for local bus partners.
Germany-headquartered global travel tech unicorn Flix has announced that it intends to enter the Indian market by 2024 in a bid to provide 'competitive' intercity, air-conditioned bus services to commuters.
"India is second just to China, which makes the size of the opportunity very very big for a player like Flix to come and revolutionise the space," Surya Khurana, the newly-appointed managing director of Flix in India, told BQ Prime in an interview.
For Flix, which is valued at around $3 billion, India is set to be the 42nd country of operations. It already operates extensive train and bus services in the Americas, Europe, and Turkey.
Flix typically partners with local bus operators, onboards their fleets, and combines its technology with the fleets of local companies.
Surya Khurana, MD, Flix India. (Source: Company)
"We're not an aggregator or a metasearcher. There will be the signature green branding on buses that we operate, wherever local regulations permit," Khurana said.
Flix will target commuters who are willing to pay for a premium service, Khurana said. "The pyramid of bus users goes all the way from premium luxury buses down to roadway buses. The latter is extremely commoditised and is a space where someone like Flix cannot potentially be as competitive as a local player. Things like how long a driver can drive, how many seats can be filled on the bus, will you have people who are standing, and so on That potentially brings down the cost offering over there."
But the premium air-conditioned bus market is one where even the cost-conscious Indian customer is willing to pay for services, he said.
"They are willing to pay for cleanliness, safe and reliable transportation option. They're looking for standardisation. In the focus group discussions we do, we realise that there is an appetite to pay."
Globally, Flix buses offer Wi-Fi, seats with legroom, air conditioning, and power sockets. The average age of buses in the global Flix fleet is estimated at 4-5 years.
Flix has already started forming a local team in India and is scouting for local bus partners.
"Our current hypothesis is to build a network around the national capital region that connects major cities around it to Delhi, as well as some Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Typically, the way Flix works is that we pick a hub and then we potentially open a few hubs here and there to create a vast network."
Watch the full interview here