Air India transports Chennai-Bangalore passengers by bus!

Indian airline industry reached a new low on Thursday. Around 75 passengers, who had booked a ticket on Air India flight AI507 from Chennai to Bangalore, scheduled to fly on Thursday, were transported by bus. This has sparked outrage among the affected passengers in particular and air travelers in general. We spoke to one of the affected passengers to get a firsthand account of the shocking incident. This is what an enraged passenger, Shruthi had to say: “This is disgusting! Initially they told us that the flight was delayed by an hour. The passengers were already irritated about the delay in departure. After we were done with the security check, we were asked to proceed for boarding through gate no. 3. We boarded a bus from gate no.3. The passengers started getting impatient when the bus which usually reaches the flight in a couple of minutes kept continuing for around 15 minutes. We started getting a bit suspicious when we saw ‘Take Diversion’, ‘No Entry’, ‘Speed Limit 60 kmph’ signs on the road. However, we kept quiet as there is some construction work happening in almost all airports in India these days. We didn’t imagine in our wildest dreams that we would be transported to Bangalore by bus. But things became clear in around half an hour, when we saw a 4 lane highway with signs like ‘NH 4’ , ‘Bangalore 340 km’ and 'Toll Plaza 0.5 km ahead'. We got into an altercation with the bus driver. We were shocked to know that he was actually a pilot. Apparently, after he was caught for producing fake certificates, he was made a bus driver. He tried to convince us saying that he was working as per the instructions of the management and that he had no discretionary powers. To add fuel to fire, there were a couple of ‘air hosts’ who tried to give us safety instructions. But a group of angry passengers slapped them and made them stop the safety demonstration. And the worst part is that these air hosts were skimpily-clad! This is ridiculous! This is like outraging the modesty of a man.”

We spoke to Air India MD Mr.Pavan and asked him about this shocking incident. In a desperate attempt to defend this incident, he said: “Yes, it is true that the Chennai-Bangalore passengers were transported by bus. But I think there’s nothing wrong in this. You should understand the situation of Air India. We have huge debts. Most of our pilots had given fake certificates and we were forced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to remove these pilots. The remaining pilots do not work anyway. They are always on strike. The oil companies do not give us Aviation Turbine fuel as there is huge outstanding payment pending on our part. The passengers should not be cynical. They should look at the positive side of the incident. The Bangalore airport is located at Devanahalli which is 45 km from the city. It takes around 1.5 hours to reach Bangalore city from the airport which is much more than the Chennai-Bangalore travel time. We dropped the passengers in different parts of Bangalore city depending on their preference. Thus the passengers were saved the money and effort of getting down at the airport and then taking a taxi to the city. No passenger was graceful enough to acknowledge this. My personal opinion is that all the airline players should switch to this model, especially for short-haul flights. I say this because almost all the major airports are being rebuilt and modernized. There is no space in the city and hence the Airports Authority of India is setting up the airport in a location which is very far from the city. For instance, the newly proposed Mumbai airport is located 120 km from Mumbai and the newly proposed Pune airport is situated 110 km from Pune. So effectively, Mumbai airport is closer to Pune than Mumbai and Pune airport is closer to Mumbai than Pune. Now, if a passenger wants to travel from Mumbai to Pune by air (of course because it is reimbursed by his employer), how will he do that? Hence, I think there is an urgent need for a complete overhaul of the business model of the airline industry. Buses are the way forward for short distance flights. But there is a challenge for this model too. There is a diesel price hike – sometimes once in 2 weeks, sometimes twice a week. Diesel is now costlier than ATF. I strongly urge the government to subsidise diesel, at least for the airline industry!”
https://www.facebook.com/IndianTamasha

Follow @catasp247