Parliamentary panel quizzes airline bosses over service standard

In wake of the row over manhandling of a passenger by IndiGo staff, panel decided to call airlines for examining issue of behaviour of airline personnel

A Parliamentary Standing Committee praised IndiGo’s staff training  procedures while re-emphasising the need to increase the standard of training in the industry in light of growth in a number of first-time flyers.
 
In the wake of a huge row over manhandling of a passenger by IndiGo Airlines last month, the standing committee decided to call the airlines for examining the issue of the behaviour of airline personnel. The committee wanted to understand the fares, facilities, the attitude of staff and service standards of the aviation industry.
 
IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh, Air Asia CEO Amar Abrol and Go Air CEO Wolfgang Prock Schauer were among the sector heads who attended the meeting.

 

Ghosh, in a presentation to the parliamentarians, mentioned that the airline has one of the lowest numbers of complaints despite carrying the highest number of passengers in the country. Ghosh said that in 11 years, the total market size has increased from 18 million passengers to now where IndiGo alone will carry close to 50 million passengers. According to a source aware of the meeting, Ghosh cited DGCA data saying IndiGo has one of the lowest complaints in the country.
 
The IndiGo CEO also pointed out that as the company grew in size and it has created a number of jobs. "Ghosh mentioned the number of new jobs IndiGo has created and specifically pointed out that IndiGo hires from small towns and regions of the country and from a variety of schools, including government schools, and is proud of those employees,” the source said.

 
However, airline CEOs accepted the need for further behavioural training and further investments in training. “Abrol said that 29 per cent of Air Asia fliers are first time fliers while Schauer mentioned that the Indian service standards were far higher than in Europe and the West,” the person said.
 
 Airline CEOs were quizzed on why fares surge during festival activities. Ghosh stressed on the fact that contrary to the perception of the lawmakers' air fares has halved despite all costs going up, such as fuel and wages and airport charges.

Ghosh said that the only way to decrease fares was having more capacity.