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Air Deccan chief says he's sorry
Published on Fri, May 12, 2006 at 18:46, Updated on Fri, May 12, 2006 at 22:56 in Business section
Tags: Air Deccan, Flight , Mumbai
Mumbai: Indian aviation industry is on an upswing. But with airports in India not capable of handling the increasing flight traffic, delays and cancellations are now quite common. And the passengers are losing their cool.
Reacting to public ire, Chairman, Air Deccan, Captain GR Gopinath, said, "The problem faced by the passengers is unpardonable and I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience."
Captain Gopinath found himself on the back foot when instead of being questioned about his upcoming IPO, he faced a barrage from angry journalists, who were also passengers on a Deccan flight that failed to take off on time.
In fact, the agitation required intervention by others. "Please let them respond. Now that you have made your point, please let them talk," pleaded Chairman, ENAM Financial Consultants, Vallabh Bhansali.
Once the situation came under control, Captain Gopinath came up with some answers: "We will not fly if there is a technical problem no matter what. Even if our passengers demand so," he said.
It seems passenger agitation is a global phenomenon and providing efficiency while cutting costs is like a walk on a tightrope.
"Internationally, I've seen even murkier instances with Spice Jet, Ryan Air and others, where even passengers have held a whole airport to ransom. But at times the passenger too needs to be reasonable," COO, Air Deccan, Warwick Brady said.
Adding to the problems is the 'dog eat dog' world of Indian aviation, where the airlines are waiting to pounce on each other's crew.
Deccan gets the short end of the stick. "All our trained personnel have been high-jacked by Kingfisher for almost thrice the salary and now we are left with the task of re-training all our personnel," complained Captain Gopinath.
The investors are backing Air Deccan on its Rs 400 crore IPO and it is being hailed as an airline that has put the common man in the skies.
But the increasing number of delays and cancellations serve a reminder that the airline needs to brush up on a better customer experience.
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