Nobody gained from the Air India pilots' strike. But the 10-day strike did leave behind a significant amount of damage. The airline, which is struggling to attract passengers, lost out on valuable holiday season bookings.
Its brand image was also tarnished, with the strike shaking up passengers' faith in Air India. With private airlines prospering during the strike, questions were also raised on the viability of Air India's presence in the domestic aviation industry.
Air India has seen its market share slip away steadily. However, just days before the strike, Air India's strategy of summer special low fares was proving to be correct.
Passenger load factor on the day of the strike was close to 80 per cent, according to airline officials. “Even forward bookings were close to 77-80 per cent because of the holiday season. So we were doing well,” said a senior Air India official.
But the strike grounded more than 1,000 flights during the 10-day period, resulting in Air India losing out on a large number of passengers.
For the duration of the strike, the seat offerings per day had declined by 22,500. As compared to 30,000-32,000 seats on offer every normal day, during the strike, the number slipped to 9,500. All this resulted in a revenue loss of close to Rs 150 crore for the 10-day period.
10/05/11 Debabrata Das/Business Line
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