Air India Needs To Lose Its Legacy Problems To Make A Real Comeback
It’s been a while since Air India has tried to make a comeback. But its old school practices are working against it. The latest announcement on a new staff travel policy is proof.
News that India’s flag carrier Air India, had to announce that its top management would travel in economy from April 1, more than three years after acquiring the airline, comes as a shock.
Because it took them three years to implement something that should have been pretty much the first order of business when they took over from the government in January 2022.
The wording of a public statement is actually quite revealing in its candour and perhaps lack of tact.
The airline said all staff, including top management, would travel in economy to free up seats for paying customers.
"With this, we want to ensure that our premium seats... for which we are seeing huge demand — are available for booking to our customers first, demonstrating a culture of customer-centricity in the new Air India," a spokesperson said.
The use of the phrase “culture of customer centricity in the new Air India” is intriguing.
Does this mean there was no customer centricity in the previous three years?
And what is new now, after three years in the new Air India?
Anyway, note this is only for domestic flights, which in any case do not last more than two to three hours or so, save a few routes.
Staff would, of course, continue to be upgraded to premium economy and business class seats, but only if these remained unsold 50 minutes prior to departure.
When it comes to international, non-fare-paying Air India employe...
News that India’s flag carrier Air India, had to announce that its top management would travel in economy from April 1, more than three years after acquiring the airline, comes as a shock.
Because it took them three years to implement something that should have been pretty much the first order of business when they took over from the government in January 2022.
The wording of a public statement is actually quite revealing in its candour and perhaps lack of tact.
The airline said all staff, including top management, would travel in economy to free up seats for paying customers.
"With this, we want to ensure that our premium seats... for which we are seeing huge demand — are available for booking to our customers first, demonstrating a culture of customer-centricity in the new Air India," a spokesperson said.
The use of the phrase “culture of customer centricity in the new Air India” is intriguing.
Does this mean there was no customer centricity in the previous three years?
And what is new now, after three years in the new Air India?
Anyway, note this is only for domestic flights, which in any case do not last more than two to three hours or so, save a few routes.
Staff would, of course, continue to be upgraded to premium economy and business class seats, but only if these remained unsold 50 minutes prior to departure.
When it comes to international, non-fare-paying Air India employees will have as much right as you do. Which, of course, goes back to where the problem started.
To conclude, it's not like staff cannot travel in the front of the cabin at all; it's just that, in a sudden brainwave, the airline remembered they should be thinking of passengers first — passengers who have paid hard cash for their journey.
And with a start date of April 1, hopefully, they will not be playing April Fool.
Customers Vs Employees
Air India employees and government functionaries treated the airline like their private chariot — something you could sense with the extra care that some passengers would get on long haul Air India flights. Not because they paid more, but because they worked there or knew someone or were someone.
If you paid more, it's quite likely you would get a broken seat with an in-flight entertainment system that struggled to function. If it did, you would be treated to maybe one movie in its library over a 14-hour flight. Airline employees are obviously entitled to comforts, including on long haul flights, but all airlines have standard operating procedures for this, including awarding seats based on load when not travelling on duty.
In 2020-21, the year before the airline was sold, it had accumulated losses of Rs 78,000 crore and debt of Rs 70,000 crore.
These staggering numbers alone are a reflection of what goes wrong when you put employees before customers.
Air India is right to project the fact that its brass is slumming it out with the rest of us paying customers, even though in doing so, it risks getting some egg on their face.
Whether that alone will save it from the flak it is getting for poor service is highly doubtful, but it is definitely a good step, or more appropriately, a wrong that has been made right.
The larger question in many ways is — who comes first in a business, customers or employees?
Approaches differ.
Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Airlines, in an interview to Inc Magazine a few years ago said his philosophy had always been, “If you can put staff first, your customer second and shareholders third, effectively, in the end, the shareholders do well, the customers do better, and you yourself are happy.”
The article also refers to the famous Southwest Airlines among other businesses that put employees first.
But a majority of companies put customers first, with the logic that a happy customer will send up happiness to employees and shareholders in the form of more business and patronage.
It is also about timing. Sometimes you follow a certain philosophy, but when things don’t work, you have to change tack.
Air India should have changed tack several decades ago.
That it took them three more years after a change of management to do so in a key customer-facing, perception-driven area shows that turning around a legacy enterprise is tougher than it sounds.
And that it will take some sacrifices by management, including giving up that first class seat, before enjoying the fruits of success.
