Airlines need to improve service to sustain demand

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects overall traveller numbers to reach 4 billion in 2024 (counting multi-sector connecting trips as one passenger), exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels (103 per cent of the 2019 total). "The trajectory for the recovery in passenger numbers from Covid-19 was not changed by the Omicron variant. People want to travel. And when travel restrictions are lifted, they return to the skies. The aviation sector is growing fast and will continue to grow. The most recent estimates suggest that demand for air transport will increase by an average of 4.3 per cent per annum over the next 20 years.

"With barriers to travel coming down in most places, we are seeing the long-expected surge in pent-up demand finally being realized. Unfortunately, we are also seeing long delays at many airports with insufficient resources to handle the growing numbers. This must be addressed urgently to avoid frustrating consumer enthusiasm for air travel," said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General.

Air India along with its wholly-owned Kochi-based subsidiary Air India Express Limited (AIEL) compete with companies like Indigo, Jet Airways, Go Air, Air Asia, Jet Airways, Spicejet and more in the national & regional market. Indian air travellers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the nation's airline services, as revealed by a recent survey. The unhappiness of the flyers is a result of deteriorating services and air staff's bad behaviour, as per Bloomberg's survey. The survey findings are not surprising considering the incidents of the misbehaviour with the passengers and reports of tardiness in services.

The survey covers all the airlines and ranks them in the order of unsatisfied subjects in their sample size. Based on the list, 28 per cent of the people in the survey were dissatisfied with Spicejet putting it on top of the list. The airline was followed by IndiGo and Air India in second and third positions, respectively.

It is to be noted that following the recent incidents and controversies, India's aviation regulator, DGCA, has announced several directives and warnings for the airlines. The most notable of the incidents remain the incident of Indigo mishandling a specially-abled child. Moreover, DGCA recently warned airlines against providing unserviceable seats to passengers resulting in inconvenience.

India released two advertisements on Twitter in a veiled thread at IndiGo after a video showed one of its employees entering into a scuffle with a passenger. After the assault incident of IndiGo, Air India took a dig at IndiGo and promised 'unbeatable service' with the letter 'beat' in blue- the theme colour of IndiGO. The second one depicts Air India's mascot 'Maharaja' in his trademark style with the tagline, "We raise our hands only to say Namaste."