FT,
I second your thoughts. VK
PR leaves much to be desired. Although and to give them them credit they managed the Hajj very impressively, they seem to be lagging behind in most other areas like punctuality, product competitiveness, new destinations roll-out, and marketing in general.
The common excuses: crew rostering problems, weather, fuel shortages, closed runways, being a young airline....At least that last one no longer applies as the airline approaches its 3rd anniversary of inception. Today their ops are marred mostly by the ground staff who refuse to assume responsability. There seems to be a lack of creativity or motivation to tackle the hurdles. I hope they don't take for granted their title of Nigeria's "largest airline" and its flag carrier.
VK people will start bashing me now but i ask them this: Didn't Richard Branson promise a "world class airline" back in 2004? Is there any end in sight to the lame excuses? Nigeria has the market and a reasonable infrastructure today to host a truly international-status carrier. In the meantime, ET, KQ, EK and soon QR will soon devour most of the pie on the continent if left unchecked.