In service quality, Air India dives to bottom of the heap

A wet towel. There couldn’t have been a better metaphor for the national carrier’s perception among fliers. And therein hangs a tale, reports Samiran Saha.

A wet towel. There couldn’t have been a better metaphor for the national carrier’s perception among fliers. And therein hangs a tale.

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Kolkata-based fashion designer Anindita, who goes by just one name, recounted her troubles while flying Air India.

“After a humid August day in Kolkata, I had an evening flight to Delhi. On boarding, ‘wet towels’ were handed out. None of them was wet,” says the owner of Kolkata’s Srishti boutique.

When she sought replacements, the airhostess politely turned the request down saying those were the best towels that the airline could offer.

“Now Air India is my last flying option,” adds Anindita.

She isn’t alone. Delhi-based entrepreneur Sahul Khurana had to miss the chautha (mourning ceremony) of his brother-in-law courtesy the national carrier.

Khurana, director of the Delhi-based AK System Engineers Private Limited, was scheduled to fly to Chicago on October 24, at 1.10 a.m. Flight AI 127 took off on time and was to reach Frankfurt in nine hours. Since the weather in Frankfurt was bad, it was diverted to Paris instead.

“Upon landing in Paris, we were told the onward flight would take off within an hour. In the lounge, passengers had a tough time finding food and water,” says Khurana. The flight eventually took off 36 hours later.

Crestfallen on missing the ceremony, Khurana returned to Delhi from Paris itself. His baggage reached him four days later. Despite requests for a refund, it is yet to come.

Says Air India Executive Director Jitendra Bhargava: “It happened on a day when Air India doesn’t have a flight. Three other Air India flights were diverted to Paris that day. The only person on duty helped passengers with transit visas and food procured from outside since food and water inside the airport had been consumed.”

The incidents speak volumes of the way passengers are looked after and how the absence of seemingly trivial amenities is driving flyers away.

An empty seat doesn’t augur well for an airline, especially when the aviation industry is reeling under huge losses.

A nationwide survey by Hindustan Times and research firm Mars discovered that Air India figures at the bottom of the heap in all aspects of service quality the study looked at. These include cabin experience, flight boarding, cabin crew, check-in process, flying experience and approach to customers.

Why has the national carrier fared so badly?

Passengers say the airline’s employees have let it down. “Since there was no competition in the aviation sector till the early ’90s, the employees still behave as if they (Air India) are the only player. As long as the mindset continues the airline will not progress,” says a passenger.

Bhargava, however, says the sample size was too small for a nationwide survey.

“We are given to understand that the survey dates back to August. It doesn’t take into consideration the changes effected in the past few months with new aircraft and improved on-time performance. Otherwise, how does one explain the increase in passenger carriage, load factor and market share in recent months as is evident from Directorate General of Civil Aviation data?”

“It is possible that many travellers responded to the survey

based on experience and hearsay in yesteryears without looking at qualitative change. No airline can register an increase in market share if the product doesn’t appeal to customers,” Bhargava adds.

In November, Air India carried 734,000 passengers. Its market share was 18.8 per cent, an increase of about two per cent from the last quarter.

The airline today carries about 24,000 passengers every day. Till about five years ago, the figure was close to 34,000 passengers per day.

Several reasons have led to the reduction in passenger preference for Air India. These include low-cost carriers, problems with on-time performance and indifferent cabin crew.

AI’s huge workforce of 31,000 employees with a wage bill of Rs 3,500 crore per year and cumulative losses of Rs 7,200 crore have pulled the airline down.

Experts feel it needs professionals in its board and suggest the airline be privatised in three to five years. “What it needs is immediate rationalisation of workforce, a CEO with experience in running airlines and the new aircraft that it has ordered,” says an analyst.