I never cease to be amazed that the board , or the Swires themselves ,have not removed the entire management team from this once great company and installed a management team that actually knows what they are doing .
Our product has slipped well below that of our Mid East competitors, and the location advantage that we once held in HK, no longer has the same strategic importance. Our passengers are moving to other airlines because the food is better , the seats are better , the entertainment is better and the service is better . They will put up with the inconvenience of the extra stop to enjoy a better product . Once they are gone it's very difficult to get them back .
So what is the issue ? Basically this penny pinching management team , who pay themselves huge bonuses , have debased the product to such an extent that our once loyal passengers no longer wish to avail themselves of the product on offer and are voting with their feet .
Salaries and COS company wide have been decimated . the not unexpected result of this is that no one really gives a sh-t any more and it shows . Starting from check in ,right through to the service on board from the Cabin Crew, the enthusiasm has been effectively beaten out of the employees . So why should they go the extra mile ? The food choices in FC are often not available, simply because they don't load sufficient quantities . Try ordering a beer in FC , the choices predominantly are Carlsberg , TsingTao , or Heineken . That's it . Only One champagne label, the list goes on and on . Everything is limited because it has been cut to the bone . Take a look at Air NZ's mattress tops for J and FC passengers,they are about an inch or more thick . what do we get a super thin pad . Whoopie !!!
People who pay top dollar for FC expect a certain level of service and we are no longer providing it . The only difference between Business and FC food is the plate that it is served on, That just isn't good enough in today's competitive world .
Seriously this management need to take a trip on one of the Mid East carriers to see how passengers should be treated . They need to understand, but are seemingly incapable of grasping a rudimentary fact ,that you need to provide a top class product to attract a passenger prepared to pay a premium . This starts with spending money on the items alluded to above, and more importantly recognising the importance of the impact that frontline staff have on your business . Staff that are happy and feel valued will willingly go the extra mile
Then we get to the fuel hedge debacle . The oil company executives will be receiving huge bonuses for selling a bill of goods to a bunch of absolute amateurs . Again why haven't those responsible for this mess been terminated ? So to counteract the fuel hedging losses the managements brilliant strategy is to cut spending on everything else , which is ultimately driving our passengers away, and so the cycle continues into a slow death spiral . But because the management team are totally myopic and determined to continue with this failed policy , I do not see any decent outcome .
If this were my company , I would have fired the whole lot of them years ago and employed someone who understands the airline business and what it takes to succeed