Global Economy Means World of Rules for Global Flying
CHICAGO _ For airlines with decades of international travel under their wings, adding another flight across the ocean might seem no more complicated than finding a good map and topping off the fuel tanks.
But when American Airlines decided to add a 7,484-mile, nonstop flight from Chicago to Delhi, India _ which will become the longest flight in its network when it launches Tuesday _ it walked into a four-month maze of tasks and details.
As the global economy takes off, airlines and all sorts of other companies will be thrust into countless new situations where they will have to address not just unfamiliar markets but unfamiliar cultures.
Entry into Delhi has involved negotiations with the Indian government, changing work rules with current employees to accommodate the long-haul flight and planning to choose the best route. Not to mention choosing menus and movies, training staff in cultural differences and getting all the required approvals.
But American expects the hassle to pay great dividends. As does Continental Airlines, which launches its nonstop service from Newark, N.J., at the end of October.
For U.S.-based commercial airlines, India remains an untapped market with potential. Large carriers have pushed to make more of their flying international. Such flights tend to be more popular and can bring a premium. And, unlike domestic routes, there is no competition from discount airlines.
When American begins Delhi service with Boeing 777-200s, it will be the only nonstop flight from Chicago to India’s largest city. The airline said it hopes to tap not only the growing Indian population in Chicago, but also large concentrations in cities such as Washington and Detroit. The business traffic that already passes through O’Hare International Airport made it the natural choice from which to serve India, American executives said.
American has already signed a code-share agreement with Air Sahara, which will connect to 22 other Indian cities from Delhi. The deal is important to both airlines. American’s network means Air Sahara can offer its customers access to cities around the world, while American will quickly be able to offer one-stop service to all of India’s major cities.
On a tight deadline, the preparations to ensure travelers feel comfortable flying to or from India has meant hours of meetings and training sessions with pilots, flight attendants, gate agents and salespeople.
Plans were unveiled on July 11, after securing the agreement with Air Sahara and ensuring pilots would fly the long-haul routes. The airline could have pushed back the launch date, but it risked losing ground to Continental for service to the new market.
For Athar Khan, the deadline meant cramming a year of work into about a third of that time. From the day India service was announced in July, meeting a November launch deadline has been like running a marathon _ one where you sprint and wait, then sprint and wait.
“We’re going into Shanghai and we have one year to get all this done,” he said of American’s plans to launch China service in 2006. “With Delhi, it’s less than 150 days.”
Actually, from announcement day to launch, it will be 126 days.
For Khan, the carrier’s managing director of Asia-Pacific operations, many of those days were spent waiting: for permission to operate in Delhi, for approval of security plans, for bank authorizations to transfer money back and forth. The carrier has waited for business licenses, for the OK to begin construction work, for the approval needed to begin advertising to Indian consumers.
“The speed of the bureaucracy … can be frustrating,” Khan said.
Entering a new country involves more than two countries agreeing to allow access to each other’s aircraft. A complex hierarchy is involved, including government regulators, business permits and employees. The accelerated schedule for launching Delhi service added another level of complexity, condensing steps that normally take months into weeks, from hiring contractors to building office space in Delhi to hiring salespeople in India, from planning in-flight menus to securing the right to run Hindi-language movies as in-flight entertainment options.
The flights are being launched with a special introductory fare from Chicago of $998. Flights there are about 14{ hours, and about 90 minutes longer coming home.
Trips to India from the United States now involve a layover before transferring to an airline authorized to fly into the country. In April, the United States and India signed an open skies accord, allowing each country access to the other.
But the long government-to-government process that culminated in that deal was only a first step for carriers. For American, it took more than a month to get an operating permit from the Indian government to offer service in that country. The security plan took five revisions before it met with the Indian authority’s approval. It wasn’t until early October that the OK came to build office space in the airport.
And then there are language barriers to overcome, not to mention training to understand cultural differences.
“When you ask someone about something, everyone shakes their head and says, `yes,’” Khan said. “But that doesn’t mean, `Yes, it’s done.’ It means they’re trying to understand what you’re telling them.”
Some American employees were transferred to Delhi to take part in the launch, and new employees had to be schooled in the airline’s way of doing things.
“The reservation group has to be trained in what the American standards are, how to answer the phone calls. How to convert a conversation to a sale,” he said. “Security has to be trained. That’s taken place in Europe, some in Delhi and some in Dallas.”
And they’re working out other issues.
“I’m going to warn you right now, there’s going to be a huge problem with bags,” Neena Shetty, an American account sales manager, told a group of about 30 employees during one recent meeting in a conference room at O’Hare. “Weight will be an issue.”
American limits checked baggage to a maximum weight of 50 pounds. But, gift-giving, especially around the holidays, is a big part of Indian culture, and many travelers will be loaded down with gifts for friends and family, Shetty warned.
An Indian native, she wore a traditional sari, a brightly colored garment made of a single piece of cloth that wraps around the body, for a presentation to airline staff. It is the kind of clothing some Indian women will wear, she told the group, largely made up of gate agents who had cultural questions.
Most travelers will speak English, Shetty said. As to religion: Every major religion in the world is practiced in India, she told them. And the dot _ called a bindi _ on her forehead? For some, it’s a religious symbol of marriage, and for many younger women it’s a fashion accessory, she told the crowd as she reached up and plucked it off.
The airline used groups of Indian employees to help develop an in-flight menu, with dinner, breakfast and a snack served aboard the flights. Seventy percent of meals will be vegetarian, with items such as vegetable wraps and a mushroom-and-chive omelet.
The airline also secured rights to Bollywood _ the Indian film industry. In addition to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or “Everybody Loves Raymond” reruns, travelers will be able to watch “Kya Kool Hai Hum” (“We Are Cool People”) and “Main Aisa Hi Hoon” (“It’s Who I Am”).
Ron LaDuke has overseen the construction of office space at the airport. Except for a 10-day visit in September, he has done most of his work via e-mail and the telephone.
There are many differences between the two countries _ including Indian contractors who will work on a site from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week to get a job done, to regulatory hoops to ensure American’s office can have its own bathroom, LaDuke said. There are a myriad of things that have to be dealt with, including a smaller space than is typically found in the United States and constraints on available power at the airport.
Opening a new office anywhere means dealing with challenges, LaDuke said.
“You learn to be flexible,” he said. “And you have to be willing to make changes when things come up.”
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(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune.
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