Yupangnenla Longkumer
Dimapur | March 11
A glimpse at the life of an air hostess looks fascinating but behind that glamour is a gradual unravelling of the harsh realities behind corporate business. With one of India’s biggest private aviation corporate, Kingfisher Airlines, on the verge of collapse, the career may turn out even harsher for the many Naga women employed in the aviation industry now.
Most young women from Nagaland are working in various airlines, living a successful career but there are also many now who are in harsh difficulties since private fliers, such as Kingfisher, have begun looking at the prospect of landing in the scrap yard.
Since December 2011, Kingfisher employees have not been given their monthly salary. Struggling to meet their ends, some were even compelled to seek financial assistance from parents while some more are surviving on whatever savings they have. The career itself is a demanding profession. Rain or sunshine with a smile they have to serve.
Managing Director of The People’s Channel Rozelle Mero said that, at the moment, they are helping girls who have contacted them for assistance in finding an alternative. She said options are being examined to enable the girls join other sectors in the hospitality industry. “Most of our girls are doing fine, who have contacted us for help.”
Some girls have joined international airlines such as Qatar Airlines and Emirates, Mero said. When they “groom the girls,” she said, they make sure that their passports are ready so that it will be easy for them to get a job abroad.
Considering the current situation in the country’s airline industry, Mero advises the girls working in the airlines to be very careful so that no opportunity is given for them to be fired.
Operational Head of Aviator, institute of Aviation Studies in Dimapur Akang Ao said one cannot just blame Kingfisher for unemployment. However, he said, the situation is also a chance for aspirants to utilise their skills and search for new avenues. It is not the “end of the world”, just because an airline company is on loss, he said.
Centre Head and Head English Trainer of Aviator, Rupa Dutta expressed apprehension that it would be harsher for girls who joined the company recently. The reason she gave was that other airlines would be reluctant to take in the less-experienced while the experienced ones would be absorbed easily by other firms.
The Struggle
A 20-year-old air hostess with Kingfisher Airlines said three months without salary is difficult. Wishing not to be named, she said there was no option but to ask her parents to support her financially. “...it is embarrassing but I have no other choice. I want to join other international airlines but am underage so I have no option but to stay here.”
Another Naga air hostess, also on condition of anonymity, said the company has been sending e-mails to them, giving them assurance that they will be compensated. At the moment she is somehow managing with her savings.
Enquiring on whether she has any plans to leave the company, the airhostess said: “...it is not that they never treat us well. We had our good times too and just because it is in a bad shape doesn’t mean we have to leave though we do not know what will happen.” There are many Naga girls working for Kingfisher, based in different cities, she said.
All Barbie, No Help
English Trainer of Aviator Rupa Dutta said there are many hard efforts to be put on behind the glamour. An airhostess needs to be patient, humble, accommodating and “beauty with brains”. “...just being Barbie won’t help,” she said. For instance, instructors advise students on financial management that while a job in the airlines is “high paying” one needs to be prudent to save for rainy days.
A former airhostess, Toshila, who is also an MTI instructor at Aviator, said much patience is needed. Narrating her experience as a former air hostess, she said managing different types of people every day is not an easy task. “...when flights are delayed or cancelled, some clients blame us but we have no other option but to listen to them with a smile.” Some of the most difficult clients she had come across were politicians. “...they give us their visiting cards and also ask for our numbers. It is very stressful because we have to handle the situation accordingly,” she said.
Another airhostess said patience is the best way to deal with foul mouthed clients, “...we meet them only once so we don’t take things too hard,” she said, refusing to be named.
Temjensola, an airhostess, said every day she comes across people with different personalities and it is quite a pressure tackling them – some are sober and decent; some are nasty and “sleazy”. However, she has to be good to all and just smile away the anger.
“It is an every day event so it has become a kind of habit to deal with such people. Just do my duty and ignore them,” she said. In the hospitality sector one needs to have immense patience, the airhostess added.
