Arrogance of IndiGo Airlines reaches to the skies these days

Attitude plays a key role in the success of an individual. But do companies, corporates and business conglomerates also have attitudes - bad or good? The answer is 'yes' because people manage business entities and the sum total of the attitudes that employees of a company wear on their sleeves can be termed as the attitude of that company.

Way back in 2007, I attended the Dubai Motor Show, one of the world's leading automobile shows. When I walked into the massive pavilion of US auto giant General Motors, the world's leading carmaker by sales in those days, I found around 25 new models on display, ready to be launched. By the time the last new model was unveiled, many people at the launch event might have forgotten the name of the first new model. I surely did. At that time, GM, as General Motors is popularly known, owned multiple automobile brands - Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Hummer, Saab Automobile, Saturn, Pontiac, and whatnot. In a true example of cannibalisation, most of these brands used to compete against each other instead of taking on the rivals. But most of the GM executives that I interacted with then, exuded confidence about the exemplary sales performance of the auto giant. GM employees seemed to believe that whatever GM makes will sell. Going by these experiences, I sensed that something was going wrong with the auto giant. In that year, GM lost its coveted position as the world's largest carmaker to Japan's Toyota. The US carmaker enjoyed the coveted tag for over 77 years. Two years later, it filed for bankruptcy in the US in 2009. What a disgraceful fall for a global automotive giant! Of course, the US government saved it. But automakers should make cars that people want, not the other way around!

A couple of years ago, I had a bitter experience with Jet Airways. I was returning to Hyderabad from New Delhi and reached the Delhi Airport (Terminal 3) an hour in advance to board a Jet Airways flight. Shockingly, the staff at the check-in counters flatly refused to allow me in. Can someone miss a domestic flight after reaching the airport an hour in advance? That could only happen with Jet Airways. So, I was not surprised when Jet Airways went down the drain and shut its operations abruptly in April 2019. Of courses, bankers and financial institutions, which doled out huge loans to the airline, received a big haircut, losing over Rs7,400 crore in the bargain!

Last week, I was scheduled to travel by IndiGo Airlines (6E 995, Aug 26, 2021) from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad. This flight was scheduled for early in the morning. Even though I had an unexpected problem, I managed to reach the Hyderabad airport 20 minutes before the departure. As I was carrying just hand baggage and checked in via the web, I hurried towards security check. Around that time, I received a call from IndiGo, saying that 'departure gates' were closed for the flight and I should take the next flight! Of course, a pleasant voice delivered that terrible message. But Hyderabad airport is not a big one and it hardly takes two minutes for anyone to walk from the security check area to the departure gates. IndiGo team's behaviour shocked me. Day in and day out, reports are pouring in on how the Covid crisis has pushed the aviation sector into a deep financial mess. It is a known fact that many airlines are finding it extremely hard to attract passengers as people are reluctant to travel for the fear of contracting Covid. Against this backdrop, airlines should walk an extra mile to keep passengers happy. But here is an airline which doesn't care two hoots about its customers i.e. passengers. Is IndiGo so rich financially that it can discard the passengers as useless things? Not really. The financial numbers of the airline paint a pathetic picture.

As per official data, airlines in India suffered losses of over Rs15,000 crore in FY21. Interestingly, IndiGo lost Rs5,829.7 crore, or nearly Rs16 crore a day in the last financial year - the highest among all airlines and more than a third of the total loss. InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of IndiGo, continued to bleed in the first quarter (April-June 2021) of the current fiscal too, as it reported a record loss of Rs 3,174.20 crore. Some estimates put total loss incurred by the airline in the last 18 months at over Rs 10,000 crore. And its debt burden had zoomed to Rs 31,690.1 crore by June this year.

These numbers clearly indicate that the Covid pandemic has taken the heaviest toll on IndiGo. But if the bitter experience I have gone through is any indication, IndiGo has not learned any lesson from the turmoil the Covid pandemic has caused to it. For it, the customer doesn't seem to be the king. So, it is no exaggeration to say that the arrogance of IndiGo Airlines has reached to the skies now. I don't think this airline needs any financial support and sympathies for what it's going through due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But what we need are airlines with a human face. Such airlines will succeed in a longrun. For that matter, companies that believe that customer is the king in the true sense of the term will only survive. Others will simply disappear or reappear in new avatars ala General Motors. Will that happen to IndiGo? Signals are clearly visible. Of course, time will tell. Will IndiGo mend its ways or fall from the grace? It's up to it.