AI passenger-unfriendly?

Delhi: There was utter confusion in the airline's passenger handling work besides lack of floor level co-ordination at the check-in counters, as AI-SATS deployed "inexperienced and newly-recruited" staff, according to airline sources.
AI-SATS, a joint venture of Air India and Singapore Airport Terminal Services, provides ground handling services to various airlines at many major airports, including Delhi. The sources said AI-SATS employees who man the check-in counters, were regularly shifted from AI counters to those of the other customer airlines of the joint venture, thereby hampering the work of the national carrier. Apart from this, the checks found that only a few AI-SATS staff were working with their individual confidential sign-in codes, which is a pre-requisite for performing check-in formalities.
Most of them worked on one common shared sign-in code. This was highly irregular and prone to manipulations and misuse, sources said, adding that the vigilance department asked the national carrier stop such practice immediately. The checks also pointed to the fact that Air India duty managers were not being provided with proper guidelines of the service level agreement between AI and AI-SATS.
While the duty timings of AI-SATS staff was not synchronised with those of the AI, the airline officials were not being provided with the lists of employees who were being deployed by the joint venture firm. These employees were also being changed frequently, even during a single shift, the sources said.
25/04/11 MiD DAY

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Categories: Air India Apr 2011, Airports Apr 2011