A hit-and-miss by Air India [ Is'nt this a COPQ ]

Ashwini Phadnis
Air India tried to get into the world's biggest interlining group, Star Alliance. ‘You aren't good enough', it was told.

August has been an unfortunate month for Air India. Early in the month, it lost out on an opportunity of being the first Indian carrier to join a global airline alliance. Mid-month saw a change of guard at the top. Heaven knows what will happen by the end.

On August 12, the Government appointed Mr Rohit Nandan, a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Air India (AI), thereby bringing down the curtain on the tumultuous innings of Mr Arvind Jadhav.

It is also believed that the airline will get new independent directors on its Board. The persons to be inducted are likely to be from the finance and hospitality sectors.

JADHAV'S NOSEDIVE

During Mr Jadhav's over two-year-long stint as CMD, the airline's domestic market share plunged to the fifth position from the third. Its employees expressed their disgruntlement on more than one occasion by going on strike. This not only inconvenienced flyers but also led to a severe dent in the Maharaja's image.

Worse, the airline's total accumulated losses on March 31, 2010 stood at Rs 13,326.86 crore with the loss before tax during 2010-11 expected to be Rs 6,994 crore (provisional).

The financial health of the airline is precarious with current monthly revenue collections being around Rs 1,100 crore, while the expenditure is about Rs 1,700 crore, thereby leaving a gap of Rs 600 crore a month.

NOT NOW, DARLING

Given this dismal performance, an entry into the largest global airline alliance, the Star Alliance, would have been useful. But this was not to be. Others have standards, even if Air India doesn't.

In Dubai, Ramadan turns month of food waste [ Big Opportunity ]

1850 tonnes of food thrown out on an average per day during Ramadan in 2010 !!!

By Reuters Aug 16 2011
Hundreds of As­ian labourers sit silently on the floor outside Du­bai’s Fatima Hassan Mosque in front of plates laden with fruit, pakoras and biryani as they wait patiently in the energy-sapping humidity to begin their Ramadan iftar.
The mosque, situated downtown just yards from Dubai’s creek – the location of the emirate’s original trading hub when it was just a small trade and fishing centre – provides a free iftar for the poor every day during the holy month, cooking enough rice, mutton or chicken to feed some 1,500-1,800 workers in one sitting.

The Fatima Hassan Mosque’s waste bins may be empty, but Ramadan brings a huge increase in food waste across the city and the Gulf as leftovers from more lavish banquets attended by the well-to-do are thrown out in a region where soaring summer te­mperatures mean that fresh food goes off quickly.
“We hardly have any waste. Whatever is left over we serve to people. We call the people over and give it to them,” said Nour Mohammed, a sales coordinator who volunteers to serve food. But not all iftars in Dubai are simple meals provided for the poor — many of whom are migrant workers, paid less that 1,000 dirhams ($272) a month and often have large debts.
Dubai has transformed itself over the last 50 years into a regional business and tourism hub renowned for extravagant real estate projects, flashy living and the luxurious banquets at hotels and restaurants to accommodate the demands of wealthy consumers who want the best fresh food at their iftar feasts.