The article is surprising only because it is in the normally rabidly sycophantic local media.
It backs up much of the comments from the skytrax (remember all those lovely awards Ek used to receive/ buy a few years back?) website, and from what the regular passengers have been saying for a long time.
The goodwill and loyalty that has been lost over the last few years is beyond measure. The seats have continued to filled however, so the accountants feel there is no cause for concern. How long they continue to be filled will be somebody else's concern I guess.
The complaints about the decrease in service are in perfect sync with the increase in hours that employees are expected to work. The strain of the increasing number of minimal rest ULR flights, plus the added hours overall, coupled with the insane sign on times has had a direct impact on customer service. Next time you walk into a briefing room at 0200, see how many crew manage to smile, or look even remotely enthusiastic, you'll be able to count them on the fingers of one foot. In the mean time, watch the few remaining capable crew (who can think for themselves, or manage basic arithmetic) flee to other countries or jobs, leaving only the bitter, the trapped, and/or the truly clueless to be the face of the company.
It's conceivable that when the new terminal opens in DXB, it will take a lot of the pressure off, easing the congestion in the passenger areas, and ensuring an efficient baggage system. Conceivable, but not likely. More likely it will be a huge logistical clusterphuq.
How does EK deal with all this? more toys of course. Our pax have been fed up for years with those irritating cords on the passenger handsets. Our new versions all have wireless handsets in first and business. The fact they are remarkably troublesome, prone to locking up, or not being docked properly by pax is a mere trifle compared to the cries of ecstasy that come from all the other passengers upon discovering these wireless controllers... apparently.
Passengers love spending half their flight trying to get a simple movie to run, elderly pax in particular see these technological contraptions as a veritable challenge that will surely aid in fending off Alzheimers for another year or two.
If EK was even remotely interested in getting feedback from its pax or crew, one of the first things they need to be told is that "Needless gadgets of questionable reliability do not replace basic, efficient customer service."
Here endeth the rant.