Zoom time for airline trade

An open skies'' policy, and a happening economy have all combined to make India one of the hottest destinations in term of travel and tourism industry. The domestic travel industry, till now dominated by the likes of Indian Airlines, Jet Airways, Sahara Airlines and Air Deccan, will witness the entry of Kingfisher, A-I Express, Virgin and Magic Airlines in the next few months.And, we are still not talking about the foreign airlines, which are planning to increase to and fro services from India in a big way.
According to Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) estimate, the domestic market is set to add five million passengers every year for the next five years. CAPA''s forecast is that the domestic market will grow to 45 million passengers by 2010. The Indian travel industry is expected to generate 10 million jobs in the next 10 years.
To cater to this need, Kuoni Academy of Travel (KAT), a part of Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd with well-known brands such as SOTC, SITA and BTI in its portfolio is launching a new programme called ''Airport Customer Service Programme and Cabin Crew Basics''. The vice-president and head, KAT, Kamal Hingorani, said: "Designed by Swiss Air, the programme caters to the college-going students, who wish to pursue a career in the travel industry. The programme, which is going to be launched this month, is of nine-month duration. Being a part-time programme, classes would be held alternate days. The programme endeavours to cater to the needs of the rapidly-growing travel and tourism industry by providing quality professional talent in airline services."
The programme caters to the back-office areas like passenger management, airport services and operation. It''s a comprehensive programme to train students in different areas of operation. "Training is real life and interactive, as industry people come to teach on different aspects of airport customers'' service. The training is provided through audio-visual and textbook mode as well. We have ensured that between 15 per cent and 20 per cent of the course component is going to focus on soft skills like personality development, communications skills, customer care, listening skills like passenger complaints, how cabin crew deal with them and helping passengers in as many ways as possible," added Hingorani.
The programme will be conducted in all the major centres in the country, which includes Delhi, Bombay, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. "All the centres will be equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, which includes teaching aids like power-point presentation and overhead projector to provide a more visual impact," claimed Hingorani.
Regarding the need to launch a new programme when the academy already offers numerous programmes catering to the travel industry, Hingorani remarked, "All airlines have more or less the same aircraft and the same salary structure. It''s the survival of the fittest principle that works, and the key here is to provide the best service to retain customers who are the kings. Our focus is to make students employable by equipping them with vocational skills catering to the present day needs."
The KAT plans to have 24 students per batch. The course fee for the programme is about Rs 40,000.
www.kuoniacademy.co.in