The Indian airline conundrum
Why is it so difficult for full-service carriers in this country to consistently maintain high standards?
I am old enough to remember a time when flying was prohibitively expensive and a privilege that was enjoyed by a select few in India. If you could afford an air ticket on government-owned and run Indian Airlines or Air India, you were either wealthy or your employer was paying for your flight either directly or through the leave fare concession system for employees that is still in place. Airports, all run by the Airports Authority of India, were quiet and sterile places. Air passengers would dress well to show they “belonged.”
Then in the era of liberalisation came private airlines. Remember those names from the 1990s? East West Airlines, Damania, Modi-Luft? When these private airlines entered the industry, they priced their tickets at the same range of the government-run carriers, but provided better service. They seemed to be well run for a while and then bit the dust. One airline that emerged in the 1990s and survived for a few decades was Jet Airways. I won’t get into the back story of how its founder got to where he did and the ethics of the business. All I can say is that they provided nice and clean aircraft, very good food and exceptional service. The deterioration of all this began slowly and the airline went belly up a few years ago.
Another airline that started off with so much promise was Kingfisher! All their planes had a superb in-flight entertainment system with personal monitors, and yes, the food was also great. They proudly called their air hostesses “flying models.” I remember taking this full service flight from Bombay to Bangalore for just Rs 3,000.
Of course, flying became way more accessible to the masses thanks to Air Deccan, the pioneer of the peanut flight in India. This airline really unleashed a revolution in India and some airlines like Indigo and GoAir now operate on this model, but charge as much as many full service carriers do.
Coming back to Kingfisher, we know how they went bankrupt and their founder left India for the UK and is fighting off extradition. I wonder why airlines like Jet and Kingfisher, even before they went kaputt could not maintain their initial standards? Was it a management or mismanagement issue? Did they rest on their laurels? Did the staff lose interest or motivation?
Private vs government-run
For years we were told by the media and privatisation advocates that governments had no business to be in the business of running airlines. Air India and Indian Airlines were in bad shape because of the bureaucracy, they told us. But what about government-run airlines abroad? Emirates, Aeroflot, Sri Lankan Airlines and Qatar Airways are all run by the government. With the exception of Sri Lankan, these airlines do benefit from being operated by governments that rake in the oil money. Why is it that these national carriers can provide such good service and do it on a consistent basis, while even the best of Indian-run carriers run out of momentum after a while?
Let’s take the case of Vistara, an airline where the Tata Group has a 51 per cent stake and Singapore Airlines the remaining 49 per cent. The airline was launched with much fanfare in 2015. It had very nice and clean aircraft, an excellent service on economy, premium economy and business class. The airline expanded very slowly and wanted to make sure that it carefully cultivated a loyal base of passengers. Although it did not have personal monitors and a good inflight entertainment system, the experience was more than pleasant. They also had a good record when it came to punctuality.
I got used to taking a Vistara flight from Bombay to Delhi and landing there several hours before taking an Aeroflot flight to Moscow. This would give me a chance to spend some time with friends before coming back to the airport and checking in for the international flight.
I did not notice anything amiss with the airline till November 2021, when I took a flight from Delhi to Bombay after I came back from Moscow. The check-in staff was, quite frankly, rude, and even the crew members did not seem to be in the best of spirits. (My October flight from Bombay to Delhi was as good as ever.)
Preparing for a trip to India’s beautiful northeast, I bought a return ticket on Vistara from Bombay to Guwahati in Assam. The fares were reasonable and I ensured that I blocked a window seat on the right side of the plane so that I could see our beautiful coast as the plane flew over Juhu before turning right and heading north to Gujarat and beyond. I also blocked a window seat on the left side of the aircraft from Delhi to Guwahati so I could get a glimpse of Mount Everest.
I received a rude shock this week when I was told by Vistara that my first flight was cancelled and I was first moved to a flight that left 30 minutes later and then told that even this flight was cancelled and I was moved to a flight on the previous evening. Essentially it meant that I would have to spend 11 hours in transit at the Delhi Airport without hotel accommodation or lounge access. The person at customer service told me in polite terms that it was my problem and he could do nothing. When I asked if there was a guarantee of no further cancellations, he said no! So, in other words, I was at the mercy of an airline that would not even guarantee that I would fly.
Vistara went on a mass cancellation spree this week and refused to compensate passengers. A Twitter user told me that the airline cancelled his Bangalore-Goa direct flight and diverted him to Delhi, asking him to spend 10 hours there before flying to Goa!
With the news of the cancellation spree, came reports of a massive deterioration of their services over the last two months. What I find ironic is that the Tata Group, which took over Air India in what many see as a controversial privatisation, comparing it to the sale of assets to oligarchs in Boris Yeltsin’s Russia, has made sure that services on the former government-run airline are now world class. Passengers who have taken Air India rave about how there is an incredible change in staff behaviour, service, food and punctuality. So what is going on? Are we looking at some deliberate attempt to sabotage one airline where the Tata Group has just a 51 per cent stake so people take another where they own 100 per cent?
As far as I am concerned, the jury is out on the ‘new’ Air India. I wonder if the airline will also become world class for a while and then follow Jet, Kingfisher and Vistara on a downward spiral?
What will it take for at least one full-service carrier in India to set extremely high standards and maintain them for decades?