![]() Note: This article will be published in Flight's Airline Business, Feb 2019 edition.Moon Fun Chin (Chén Wénkuān, 陈文宽) was born in 1913, Zhongshan, Guangdong province in China. Shashank Nigam is the CEO of SimpliFlying and the author of SOAR, the quintessential book on airline marketing that features chapters on Southwest, AirAsia and WestJet. “The business of business is people, people, and people.” But the practice has had far-reaching impact in the employee-management relationship in airlines around the world. When Herb Kelleher started to help his crew with cleaning the aircraft, he may have not thought beyond the humble turnaround time. This and other measures reduced the airline’s costs by 13 percent in its first year under Fernandes’ leadership. The quick turnaround enabled AirAsia to operate its planes for an average of about 13 hours a day, as compared with the typical 10.5 hours a day for full-service carriers. most of the pilots, engineers, and the senior cabin crew are still with us today.” Tony decided to help out on board on a rotational basis as well. ![]() Captain Chin told me, “He kept quiet, but after three days he said yes.” Not only did Tony’s reasonableness motivate pilots and crew to take on the extra duties during turnaround, but as Captain Chin said, “He gained the trust of most of the senior guys in the company, and that is why. Captain Chin asked Tony if he would pay his pilots for that time, even though they were not flying. There had recently been a bird strike on an AirAsia aircraft that resulted in it being grounded for half a month. Captain Chin Nyok San, who was then AirAsia’s Head of Operations, was concerned about asking pilots and crew to go above and beyond what was usually expected of airline personnel in those positions, so he went to Tony with an unusual request. When AirAsia was starting out, to keep costs down and make the 25-minute turnaround work, Tony Fernandes did not hire a clean-up crew but called on the cabin crew to do the clean-up. How Tony Fernandes got the crew on-board for a 25-min turnaround In fact, WestJet was humble enough to thank Herb for inspiring its leaders with a tribute on its Boeing 787 hangar in Calgary. WestJet leaders put it into practice every day, just like Herb Kelleher did at Southwest. In many companies, “servant leadership” is a stated value. We are all equal on board that aircraft.” In a recent interview on the SimpliFlying Live Show, Ed told me, “When I help the crew groom the aircraft, we are doing exactly the same job. It brings them closer to the crew as well as the operations. While it started as a practice to ensure quick turnarounds, Ed Sims, the CEO believes that when executives clean the planes, it makes them humble. Every time there is an executive on board a WestJet flight, he or she waits till all passengers have alighted upon landing and then goes on to help the crew in cleaning. Servant leadership at WestJetĪt Canada’s WestJet, executives helping the crew "groom" airplanes has been a tradition since the airline started operations 22 years ago. Servant leadership, initially put in practice by Herb Kelleher, has become the go-to strategy for low cost airline CEOs today to win hearts. It was not only the posters, but also the people at Southwest have embodied his unique way of running an airline till date. When the book was finally released, the essence of Herb Kelleher and his philosophies came through strongly, despite having not interviewed him personally. “Our people make us what and who we are, and our people can deliver what our customers want and need.”Įven before I had started my first interview, I had been given a full dose of the Southwest culture and what the airline stood for. There were quotes from the legendary former CEO like, Posters with photos and quotes of Herb Kelleher adorned hallways. While writing my book SOAR, I had the opportunity to visit the Southwest Airlines headquarters to conduct interviews. ![]() He led from the front – often manning check in desks himself and serving peanuts on board and then helping clean the aircraft. Herb had realized that every minute saved in turning the plane around saved the airline $1000. His inclusive approach towards people managed to get Southwest’s unionized crew to clean airplanes and achieve a 10-minute turnaround time – an industry first. Herb Kelleher loved to shake up the old ways in which the airline business ran. While he pioneered a lot of innovations in the industry – few have brought airline executives and their crew closer than cleaning airplanes together. Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher passed away recently.
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