March 2, 2007 | E-mail article link | m-Travel.com
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Air-India and Indian to merge, to enhance profitability by over US$133m
The Indian government has cleared the merger of two state-run carriers Air-India and Indian (Indian Airlines Ltd).
Government will continue to be the sole owner of the merger entity and has made it clear that the public sector character of the merged airline would be maintained. But the Government may look for IPO after getting approval of a committee consisting of Finance Ministry, according to local media.
The merger of the two airlines would enable them to leverage their combined assets and capital better and build a strong and sustainable business. The potential synergies are expected to enhance the new combined airline’s profitablity by over US$133 million per annum, or about four per cent, of their current combined assets, as per the information available.
By 2010-11, when all the new aircraft ordered by the two carriers are inducted into the fleet, the merged entity’s employee-aircraft ratio would come down to about 200:1, comparable with any major global airline. While Air-India has ordered 68 Boeing planes, Indian has finalised the acquisition of 43 Airbus aircraft.
According to the report submitted by Accenture, there will be no manpower rationalisation as the consultancy has suggested ‘careful integration’ of manpower at various levels. It has also suggested a top-to bottom integration of the employees. It is proposed that the pay-scales be revised to bring parity in promotion procedures.
According to a member of the core group that had prepared the merger report, the roadmap had been prepared after studying eight models of merger across the globe including that of Lufthansa.
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Comments
Air India Customer Service
Dear Sir/Madam:
This letter is written on behalf of the almost 50 passengers scheduled to fly on Flight AI191from Ahmedabad to Newark, NJ on Tuesday October 16th. We were the victims of deceit and unprofessional conduct from your representatives. The following describes the sequence of events occurring from Monday October 15th to Wednesday October 17th.
Most of us arrived at the airport before midnight on Monday for the scheduled departure of Flight AI 191 on October 16th at 3:10 am. Around midnight, the information board outside the terminal was changed to reflect a delay in the flight to 5:30 am. Despite this delay, the terminal was opened at 12:15 and we proceeded to check-in. At around 5:30am the representatives who checked us in walked around and individually told passengers that the flight was cancelled. We were given the option of going back home in Ahmedabad with Air India reimbursing us for the taxi fare to and from the airport or going on to Bombay and staying in a hotel at Air India’s expense and taking the flight on Wednesday the 17th from Bombay. We were asked to make a decision and let them know what each of us wanted to do. By the time all of us decided, the representatives informed us that there was a change in plans and that the flight from Bombay to Newark was being delayed so we were to fly to Bombay at 6:30 am and would still be on the scheduled flight AI191 for 16th October. Some passengers had connecting flights in Newark and were assured that arrangements would be made for them. Passengers who had decided to go back home and left already had to return to the airport.
Most of the passengers were patiently waiting for an announcement while some passengers were crowding around the check-in counter. It turned out that they were reissuing the boarding passes and redoing the baggage tags since we were going to be flying out on a different flight. No announcement was made. We went through Immigration and security when an announcement was finally made informing us that flight 630 from Bombay was leaving Bombay at 7:00 am and would arrive at 8:00am. This flight would then return to Bombay as AI631, scheduled to leave at 8:45am. The representatives assured us that Flight AI191 was waiting for us and was scheduled to leave at 10:30am from Bombay. Passengers with connecting flights made calls to their relatives to make arrangements to change the reservations going forward due to the 3 hour delay. Others called to inform relatives that our flight was just delayed not cancelled.
Flight AI631 departed from Ahmedabad at 9:00 am reaching Bombay at 10:00 am. We entered the transit lounge expecting to be directed to the waiting flight. Instead we were informed by Mr.Sachin Tadhav that the “Flight has already departed”. There was no apology or any kind of concern for the passengers. We were told that “Bombay informed Ahmedabad that the flight left at 7:35 am”. We asked to speak to a supervisor (Mr. Cyrus) for an explanation of the blatant deception. With no satisfactory explanation, we asked for something in writing stating that Bombay AI had communicated to Ahmedabad that the flight had departed. We were told only the duty manager is authorized to do that. The Duty Manager, Mr. Kanada refused to give us anything in writing, stating that internal communication could not be made public. We were not asking for internal communication, but rather a statement from him stating that Bombay informed Ahmedabad of the flight departure before Flight AI631 left from Ahmedabad. Ms. Shilpa Bhise and Ms. Anita Rajan were also present during the discussion but kept telling us they couldn’t do anything for us. Duty manager Mr. Kanada told us that all we could get was a certificate of “Missed Connection” which we were promised would be given to each of us when we departed Bombay the following day. When we asked for it the at departure we were told there was no such certificate!
Passengers were asked to hand in their passports before we could be taken to a hotel. We asked about mineral water being provided at the hotel and were assured that everything would be provided. Our pleas for some kind of arrangement to get our clothing laundered or some allowance to buy a change of clothing were met with “We can’t do anything”. Passengers were expected to sleep in the same clothes they had worn since they left home, and then wear the same clothes on the flight the next day! Many passengers ended up purchasing a change of clothing in Bombay to avoid this.
Some of us were brought to Orchid hotel and others to Parle International. At the Parle International, we were adamantly told that mineral water would be charged to us – Air India would not pay for it. Some of us didn’t even have money to pay for this. If Indians are famous for hospitality it was not apparent from the staff at Parle International. Or maybe the hospitality is saved for non-Indian customers. At both hotels passengers were forced to share a room with a complete stranger! This is an abomination.
During the whole ordeal, it was apparent that Air India representatives do not communicate. Representatives at each airport act as if they work for a separate independent entity as opposed to the same company – Air India. Customer service is almost non-existent. Their sole purpose seems to be that of getting the passengers out of their way. Once we were out of sight, it wouldn’t matter what happened to us.
Passengers incurred out of pocket expenses for the day in Bombay, extra parking fees in Newark, as well as loss of wages for at least a day. In addition, there has to be some compensation for the pain and suffering we were all subjected to unnecessarily.
Flight AI191 is scheduled to originate in Ahmedabad. Why were passengers being flown to Bombay to a supposedly “waiting” flight? Why wasn’t that aircraft waiting in Ahmedabad to begin with? Assuming there was a valid reason for this, if Air India wanted the flight to originate from Bombay, why wasn’t another flight scheduled to take the passengers to Bombay on time? If there was indeed a reasonable explanation, the passengers should have been informed in a timely fashion.
Each passenger will submit a claim for the additional expenses including the items mentioned above. We request that the claims be processed immediately. We would also like to know what action Air India has taken to prevent this from happening in the future. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Passengers of Flight AI191 for October 16th from Ahmedabad to Newark, NJ
Deven Mehta
302 885 0436
609 287 6226©
609 641 4381 ( r)
Posted by: Deven | Oct 23, 2007 4:52:10 PM
