Ground the Maharajah

'It’s not difficult to understand why Air India is in so much trouble. The airline industry belongs to the “hospitality” sector, which needs high service standards to be maintained. Now in a government company, the last thing on any employee’s minds is customer service. No wonder then that the air hostesses are rude (and crude), the food is ugly to look at (and tasteless) and even the basic facilities inside the aircraft (upholstery, toilets, air conditioning, choice of newspapers and magazines) leave much to be desired. Yet, the pricing is as high as that of the much better private airlines. Why? Because Air India’s costs of operations are high…..and they must be passed on to their customers! And why is that so? Many reasons but primarily because it has a bloated work force. The number of people who work in Air India is some 40000 odd; in comparison, the number of people in the much larger Jet Airways is less than 10000. Such a big workforce – leading to a huge salary burden – and such a work attitude clearly makes Air India an unviable airline.'

- Prashant Pandey, 'CAG should have recommended selling off Air India….'