Despite the layoffs, will Jet fly?

Laying offs always leave a sour aftertaste, but they are at times necessitated by economic conditions and at times by airheads in the HR department employing hiring practices that leave you, mouth agape. Remember the whiz kids hired at 'crore' salaries?!

Jet's layoff has made front page news. The layoff was in the coming. With passenger traffic falling both on domestic and international routes, costs had to be pared. As a part of that paring, the axe's fallen on cabin personnel at Jet.

Will driving down costs, up traffic? Don't think so. It will help ease the pressure on shrinking margins, but I doubt if it will do anything for the top line, unless and until cost reductions are passed on the consumer as lower prices, never mind the margins shrinking, again.

Take my travel to Cochin for example. A Two tier AC train ride that takes around twelve hours, (overnight, and that's important 'cos I still don't lose a day) at a price of Rs. 987, to be exact, is perfect on my purses. Contrast this with the lowest fare of Rs. 3228 for a flight ticket to Cochin. Add the woes of reaching the Bangalore airport (1 solid hour), plus the woes of getting to the city from the Cochin Airport which again would take an hour, and tell me, shouldn't I be insane to fly?

As mentioned, the layoffs are a necessity, but its going to take much more than that to get the public 'flying'.