Layoffs, Airlines etc

Having seen the drama created by the massive layoffs at Jet Airways and the subsequent reinstatement of the staff, I now understand why the IT companies in India behave the way they do when it comes to retrenchment. They never admit to layoffs, it is always described as “performance related separation”. Initially, I had thought that it is related to their stock price, but now I realize it is to avoid getting the politicians involved.

As for Jet, I fear that it may not be around in its present form for much longer. Though the immediate crisis has been averted, the conditions continue to be as difficult as before and they will continue to hemorrhage money. They have also cut down their schedule drastically for the coming months, so I wonder what all these people are going to do?

Speaking of airline schedules, I had to fly to Chennai earlier this week at very short notice. To my surprise, the agent just came up with a couple of options for flights in the morning. It did seem like the airlines have drastically cut down on the short haul flights. The rates were astronomical as well, Kingfisher was quoting over 10K, they finally got me on a Jet flight at 5K. The days when all 3 of us flew round trip from Bangalore to Goa for 10K, seem like a very distant memory.

The other observation I had was the security check at Bangalore airport. The queue was atleast 50 people and according to a Jet employee, this was an everyday occurrence due to the huge number of flights that take off in a very short time period. If that was the case, I wonder why they do not double the number of security personnel for that time period to make life easier for the passengers?