The Hindu Business Line : National air carriers settle spat over `smart voyager' scheme

THE Indian Airlines-Air India joint flight carrying `smart voyagers' is emerging out of high turbulence and slowly cruising into calmer skies. Caught in the air pocket created by the squabble between the airlines were top corporate executives, business people, Central Ministers and other Members of Parliament and top bureaucrats, who could now hope for a safe landing - or, rather, a pleasant take-off.

The dispute between the Government-owned domestic and international carrier over the Smart Voyager-12 (SV-12) scheme jointly launched last year has finally been resolved with Air India (AI) expressing its willingness to honour its commitment to issue free tickets to those eligible under the scheme.

Under the scheme, passengers who produced 12 boarding passes for travel on Indian Airlines (IA) flights between six metros — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kolkata — between October 1 and December 31, 2003, became eligible for one free ticket on an AI flight to any international destination where the carrier operated.

The popularity of the scheme, however, threatened to be its undoing.

To its surprise, AI found the queues outside its SV-12 free-ticket counters lengthening after the closing date. As against AI's early estimates of only a few hundred free tickets, it was informed that the list of such claimants had crossed 5,000.

However, much to the discomfiture of the beneficiaries of the scheme, AI subsequently decided to freeze the issuance of free tickets after clearing less than 300 such requests. With angry protests from the high and mighty the intervention of the Ministry of Civil Aviation was also sought.

IA, that had agreed to reciprocate the arrangement with any similar future scheme launched by AI, had argued the SV 12 scheme would ultimately benefit the international carrier since those availing themselves of free tickets were likely to travel with a companion or two with paid tickets, thereby, ensuring a higher passenger load on flights.

Faced with ire of the passengers, IA then contacted those eligible with an offer for two free tickets to international destinations where it flies (the Gulf countries, Singapore and Thailand) but few were willing to swap tickets to New York, Chicago and London (the most sought after destinations) for destinations closer home.

Settling their differences barely days before the July 31, 2004, deadline for issuance of the tickets expired.

AI has now agreed to issue tickets to all eligible persons and has extended the date by one year for booking tickets till July 31, 2005.

However, AI would stagger the request with only a few free riders on each flight, especially to the favoured destinations.

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