National carrier Air India has suggested to its pilots that the captain on a flight should end his or her first address to passengers on board with a “Jai Hind” (victory to India) salutation, which he says will make a “tremendous impact”. This is part of the message that Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani has sent to the employees in a letter on Wednesday.
“As a part of our efforts to turnaround, it is of utmost importance that our passengers have a good experience. I would therefore appreciate if Air lndians follow the suggestions given below with all their heart put into implementing the same”.
“During the journey, the captain should often connect with the passengers. ... Besides at the end of his first address usage of words “Jai Hind” makes a tremendous impact,” the Air India CMD said, in his letter.
“The cabin crew should greet passengers while enplaning and also deplaning with ‘Namaskaar’ as was the earlier tradition. A smile on the face and conversing sweetly and politely without an iota of irritation would be a good thing. ln case of delay with passengers onboard, both cockpit and cabin crew should keep passengers in the loop by providing them information about the reasons for the delay at timely intervals. Commercial staff should remain available at the gate till push back and before the aircraft docks in. ln case of progressive delays, they should also proactively communicate with passengers keeping them informed of the issues. ln case of delay exceeding 30 minutes, the airport manager, as well as the station manager, should immediately reach the site and attend to passengers. There should be adequate communication to passengers and their boarding/lodging needs should be taken care of without delay. The check-in agents should be aware of all the rules. They also should be periodically counselled to interact with passengers politely. Their attitude should be positive with a problem-solving approach,” the Air India CMD has said.
“ln fact all the staff of Air India or its ground-handling agencies should be regularly counselled to be courteous and polite. The passengers should be helped and accompanied if they are required to go to other counters for making payments. However no relaxation whatsoever should be given for baggage. This message should be communicated to them regularly and almost daily by officers. All employees who interact with passengers should invariably be well dressed and have their name on badges. The engineers should ensure that the planes are immaculately clean and defects in the cabin are kept at bare minimum. All galley equipments should be in working order. Curtains, carpets and seat covers should also be maintained immaculately clean. The quality of food has to be good. Special check needs to be kept on supplies ... . The role of station manager and airport manager is of vital importance. They have to be proactive and positive with a problem solving approach. They should be available on their cell (phone) on a 24/7 basis,” the Air India CMD added.
Loss-making national carrier Air India is afloat due to grants from the government which owns the airline. Efforts are on to improve the market share of the national carrier and craft a financial turnaround.
