Air Mauritius is embarking on an ambitious review of its business model, the ‘7 Step Plan,’ in order to increase its profitability through service excellence.
The airlines recently returned to profitability in the 9 months from April to December 2013 for the first time in three years, showing that it is on the right track with the new business model. The ‘7 Step Plan’ was introduced by the national airline in 2012 with the aim of recovering profitability and securing long term business sustainability.
A workshop was held at the Swami Vivekananda International convention Centre last week and Air Mauritius invited Ron Kaufman, a leading motivational speaker in the customer service field, to lead the workshop, where executives and CEOs of many top companies were present.
It was noted at the workshop that there is a lot of competition in the tourism sector nowadays, where unknown holiday destinations want to seize the opportunity to be part of the preferred holiday route, and this represents a threat for Mauritius.
Hence, at the workshop, Kaufman said that the island economy needs to take advantage of its unique selling points (USPs) such as Mauritian hospitality and it will depend on its ability to offer quality service to determine if the tourism industry is on the right track.
According to Andre Viljoen, CEO at Air Mauritius, with its ‘7 Step Plan’, the airlines has been on the right track.
“We have achieved a lot this year and started to reap the benefits of the decisive actions that we have been taking under the 7 Step Plan. The financial results of the last quarter clearly indicated that we are on the path of recovery and sustainability,” Andre Viljoen said in his address.
It is to be noted that, for the third quarter of the financial year 2013/14, the national carrier notched up profits of Rs 357 million, an increase of 37.5% over the corresponding period last year.
Kaufman helped Air Mauritius improve its operations by designing a companywide training program.
The first steps of the ‘7 Step Plan’, which are network concentration and fleet realisation, reinvigorating commercial and revenue management and relentless cost reduction and cash improvement, have been revealed by Donald Payen, Executive Vice President for Customer Experience, Ground and In-flight Services at Air Mauritius.
These steps need to be performed by maintaining and selling assets, introducing new generation aircraft, improving service quality and developing human capital. According to the national airlines management, Step 6 of the Plan – improving service quality – is very important in the whole process.
“This is just the start of a journey that aims at evolving our core product and making it an excellent reflection of the tourist destination we proudly serve,” Andre Viljoen said.
Air Mauritius is constantly looking for new ideas to serve its customers better and it is planning to introduce new seat covers, more comfortable seat cushions, upgraded blankets, pillows, toiletries, give away and wider range of magazines in both travel classes.
Kaufman was chosen to lead the workshop because he is the founder of Up your service, which is a company globally recognised for its expertise in customer service culture. With his best-selling book Uplifting Service, Kaufman received positive reviews in The New York Times and Publishers Weekly.
Image (Dest Mauritius): The national carrier is planning to introduce new seat covers, more comfortable seat cushions, upgraded blankets, pillows, toiletries, give away and wider range of magazines in both travel classes.
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