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Why IndiGo changed the uniform of their airhostesses?

In picture: Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo, while speaking at SABRE India
We’re living at time when the Indian economic condition is not at its best. India’s GDP hit a decade low of 5% in FY13 and sank to a four year low of 4.4% in the quarter to June.  The rupee has weakened by 5% in the June – Sept period, and this includes a 9% recovery after hitting an all-time low of 68.80 versus the dollar. Business indicators are keeping growth prospects low. 

Amid such circumstances, the news from IndiGo where it announced that their profit soared 6 fold to Rs787crore was really amazing. And this is when all other airlines are grappling with the effects of a slowdown! In the announcement captured by The Economic Times, the company attributed this to a combination of aggressive expansion and better yields. The company president, Aditya Ghosh, also stated that they’ve been relentless about squeezing out efficiencies.

This was something that Mr Ghosh reiterated when he delivered a keynote at the SABRE India awards held in July this year. He spoke about how keeping costs low and being on-time was not just an external proposition of the company, rather a value engrained in it. And then he spoke about something that took me by surprise - Why Indigo changed the uniform for its airhostesses? And their airhostesses wear wigs.

He said, earlier IndiGo airhostesses wore a white shirt, a blue skirt and a short blue coat and then they changed their uniform to a one piece blue tunic dress. This shift took place because wearing these 3 pieces of clothes took time, as you need to get the alignment right. Plus, having 2 different colors meant, it used to get dirty too. Now with one piece blue tunic dress, it saved the airhostesses’ time to get ready, because it was one piece. Also, it was blue, so didn’t appear murky. The part about the wig got even better. So earlier, when the airhostesses’ had to make a bun for their hair, it used to take them 20mins, but with a wig it just takes them 2mins!

The thought process really shook me and it all came back with news of IndiGo’s profitability. So when Mr Ghosh next time speaks about being ‘relentless about squeezing out efficiencies’, we should really estimate the extent IndiGo must be going to accomplish the same. 

karanbhujbal

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5 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 12, 2013 at 5:53 AM

    Gets me thinking. I have always admired Indigo's passion for being on time and making it a success in a country like India, where no one seems to care about time. And these small details such as keeping a single uniform, adding wigs to save time etc is even more inspiring. Thanks for sharing this, Karan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. best camouflage patternDecember 4, 2014 at 4:14 AM

    For literally hundreds and thousands of years the human race has used uniforms to set themselves apart. With uniforms we tell apart our favorite football, Baseball or Hockey Teams.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AudrinajeanOctober 26, 2018 at 11:31 PM

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  4. UnknownApril 26, 2019 at 10:28 AM

    Can't the uniform be worn with full sleeves?

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  5. UnknownApril 26, 2019 at 10:29 AM

    Can we wear the uniform with the altered long sleeves.

    ReplyDelete