Ground the Maharajah

'It’s not difficult to understand why Air India is in so much trouble. The airline industry belongs to the “hospitality” sector, which needs high service standards to be maintained. Now in a government company, the last thing on any employee’s minds is customer service. No wonder then that the air hostesses are rude (and crude), the food is ugly to look at (and tasteless) and even the basic facilities inside the aircraft (upholstery, toilets, air conditioning, choice of newspapers and magazines) leave much to be desired. Yet, the pricing is as high as that of the much better private airlines. Why? Because Air India’s costs of operations are high…..and they must be passed on to their customers! And why is that so? Many reasons but primarily because it has a bloated work force. The number of people who work in Air India is some 40000 odd; in comparison, the number of people in the much larger Jet Airways is less than 10000. Such a big workforce – leading to a huge salary burden – and such a work attitude clearly makes Air India an unviable airline.'

- Prashant Pandey, 'CAG should have recommended selling off Air India….'

Comments

And the debt of Rs.36000 crores leave many unanswered questions... Even the numerous purchase of aircrafts in past 2 years is again questionable. Can our government ever create a transparent, profit making enterprise? I believe this is where Indian government lacks in comparison to Chinese.
Unknown said…
Air India has 147 aircraft but about 47,000 employees – making it the most profligate employee to aircraft ratio in the world..
Unknown said…
I personally feel that the crisis in the national carrier is a carefully crafted design to make a mess in the airline, malign it and hand it over to the private hands on a platter.
Ray Titus said…
Agree MP. Tho' am not sure if the China story is the way to go. What about free markets as the answer to greater transparency?

Ashik, still prefer your tax money be given to government so they can run loss making enterprises?
Unknown said…
as if we have an option....

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