'Timeline should be prepared for shifting Air India Exp HQs'

Kochi: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal Sunday said a timeline should be prepared for the completion of the shifting of the Air India Express (AIE) headquarters from Mumbai to Kochi.

The Minister has asked the Civil Aviation Secretary K N Srivastava to interact with the AIE management and create a timeline by when the shifting would be completed.

AIE is the low-cost subsidiary of Air India.

Venugopal, who interacted with the Cabin crew and Front line commercial staff here at a workshop today, said the budget airlines should focus on customers.

In 1991, Air India was the only airline to evacuate thousands of Indians from war affected Kuwait. Although the airlines did excellent service, passengers still had complaints, he said.

Few among the cabin crew and staff are not living up to the airline standards, he said. Issues like cancellations, delays, technical snags were not in the hands of cabin crew.

Explaining to the passengers about the situation and providing accomodation and taking care of their needs even in crisis situation matters a lot, he said.

The notification for AIE's Chief Executive Officer will be out in two days time, he said.

Well known writer, K Sehtu Madhavan, who is also National Book Trust chairman, will also be addressing the staff, AIE sources said.

The workshop teaches the crew on ways to interact politely with passengers and address their needs and help them out in difficult situations. The focus is on customer service, airline sources said. The workshop also aims to improve the inter personal skills and inter and intra department skills of the crew.

PTI