10 lessons for Air India to be profitable

There will be changes in (inflight) announcement, will be intimated, special audio address by Shri Ratan Tata.

They added that the “crew has to be smartly dressed, adhering to regulations. Grooming associates will be observing the crew for the above. On-time performance is important. All endeavors to close doors at D (departure time) minus 10 minutes."

The meal service onboard will also be enhanced. Reportedly the caterers have been briefed and they will gradually provide the meals and equipment for the service. The Delhi-Mumbai and key Gulf routes will be among the first to get this rollout along with flights to the US and UK.

The passengers will witness an improved meal service on AI flights and airline interface with crew and ground staff.

Tell stakeholders the blunt truth - Create a crisis: A clip on YouTube.com shows scenes from a town hall meeting that Malaysia Airlines managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Idris Jala organized in December 2005 for some 700 employees. With this meeting, Jala sent a strong message to employees: They had to act to save their jobs.

Take drastic steps. “There was never a mega merger without retrenchment of employees, except in the case of Air India and Indian Airlines. The whole objective of merger is to attain synergy and reduce the number of employees. But the government has reiterated that there will be no retrenchment," says M.S. Balakrishnan, former director of finance with Indian Airlines.

Let the leader do the job. “The first and foremost thing required to turn around Air India is to have a clear and strong mandate from the government to transform the carrier," says Ringbeck. “This should be supplemented by re-establishing the leadership team of Air India by incubating the best private managers who can demonstrate better capabilities to run an airline."

Bring in talent from the private sector. “Air India should also focus on its long-term market positioning, keeping in mind that it will be stock market listed and engage private capital in future. The immediate next step would be bringing executives from private companies in the top management of the airline," said Ringbeck.

Learn from the Satyam experience. Kapil Kaul—CEO, Indian subcontinent and West Asia, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Capa), a consulting firm—points out: “Independent directors have never reacted when the carrier was flying towards huge losses. You need to have independent directors from various sectors who will take active interest in the carrier."

Marketing, yields and revenues. Booz’s Ringbeck says the new management should implement quick ideas to get its customers back and stop losing market share. “If you are not stopping this, you are going to lose out in the game. Therefore, marketing activities should be on the top of the list of the new management.