The no.1 man of cabin crew has been transferred out to another division in the airline recently. I hope I am wrong but I have this suspicion that he was transferred out because of low crew and staff morale,the upswing in passenger complaints,high resignation rate of cabin crew, the downgrading of cabin crew to third place in the World's Best Airline Cabin Staff survey by Skytrax etc.
To run a division like cabin crew is likened to walking the tightrope. It is very difficult to do a balancing act. Firstly, you have got to make sure the operating cost is lower eg. slashing of crew hotel accommodation cost, allowances, tightening of rosters and others to please your big bosses. Second, with all measures like tightening of crew rosters and downgrading of hotel accommodation at oversea stations to save money for the company you would also need to maintain high crew morale.
All the above belt tightening measures which I have mentioned are necessary because of the fierce competition from other airlines. You either be cost savvy or be left behind in the competition to survive.
In the 1980s, a somewhat similiar situation existed. But it was not a situation of cost cutting that caused the crew morale to drop and passenger complaints to rise. It was the way the crew were managed.
To solve the morale problem of the crew and the senior office staff, the company brought in a respected and affable genaral manger from the cargo division by the name of Mr. Yap. He did an awesome job and passenger complaints dipped to an all time low. Crew morale was once again skyrocketing. As a result, passenger compliments went up so high that we in cabin crew were pleasantly embarrassed. Subsequently Yap was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President or SVP.
