Saturday, January 19, 2008

See the World

Ask any steward or stewardess of an airline, “Why did you join this industry?” I bet many would reply, “Because I want to see the world!”

No-frills airlines rely on many ingenious methods to cut cost. For example, an aircraft would fly from its “base airport” to a destination and return in shortest possible time, usually less than an hour. That way, not only can it make as many flights as possible in a single day, the airline also avoids paying for accommodation and food expenses of its crews.

But here is the thing that confounds me: If the cabin crews do not even have time to step out of the destination airport, how could they “see the world”???

I can think of two reasons why they join no-frills airlines:

  1. They get discount tickets when off duty.
  2. They use no-frills airlines as a stepping stone for joining first-tier, full service airlines.

Perhaps no-frills airlines need to work harder to retain their staffs.

2 comments:

  1. Making as many flights as possible in a single day.. sounds scary. Reminds me of our school buses, the ones that take schoolchildren to school a few rounds a day and then take tourists to places during school holidays.

    This busy schedule wears down the buses faster. Buses still have their tyres on the ground but in the case of planes?

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  2. happysurfer,
    Lack of maintenance was blamed for the air disasters in Indonesia. I hope AirAsia and FireFly send their aircrafts for service on regular basis.

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