Volvo buses are better than AI aircraft: Pascal Pinto

Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 31 January 2011: When former Union minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor tweeted infamously about ’cattle class travel’ in response to austerity measures brought in by the government, he probably did not have the operations of Air India Express (AIE), the budget carrier of Air India in mind. But a trip on board AIE leaves passenger with the "cattle class feeling", says Pascal Pinto of United Associations of Karnataka, Kuwait.

 

His observation comes after a missive shot off to Praful Patel, then Union civil aviation minister on September 7 after enjoying the ’hospitality’ on board an AIE flight from Kuwait to Mangalore, went unanswered. AIE has failed to impress its passengers, who have suffered more than they have enjoyed the journey. "Giving respect to the passenger is probably the last thing on the priority list of the staff of this organisation," he avers.

 

 

Pascal told reporters on Saturday that the seating arrangement and air conditioning in private Volvo buses is far better than that on AIE aircraft. The journey from Mangalore to Kuwait and Abu Dhabi takes four to five hours. A passenger cannot move on the congested seating arrangement on the carrier and has to stick to the position through the entire duration of the flight, he said. There is no means of entertainment on the flight.

 

The curbs on passenger’s baggage where passengers are not allowed even more than a kilogram of the stipulated limit of 27-kgs compared to 40-kgs allowed by private airlines is horrendous, he says. The fare structure on AIE flight is costly and belies the main focus of the airline that was to ferry passengers of lower income group from the Gulf nations to India and back. This makes passengers to look up to private airlines, he noted.

 

 

AIE’s reluctance to use the more comfortable Airbus 321 on the international sector that it uses on the domestic sector is baffling. Irked by all these constraints, foreign passengers fly till Mumbai by private airlines and proceed to Mangalore by connecting flights. The facilities offered on budget carriers of other national airlines are far much better than what AIE offers, Pascal said urging the AIE authorities to get its act together.

 

- TNN