Opportunities Today :- June 2004 Issue

Interview of  Nalini Gupta

 

Nalini Gupta is the General Manager India for South African Airways since 1st September 2001. Nalini has played a pivotal role during these years in creating awareness and increasing numbers between the two nations for which she has recently received a Message of Appreciation from the South African High Commission in New Delhi and the South African Consulate General in Mumbai.Here she shares with us how South African Airways has grown to be one of the premier airlines worldwide and the leading airline of the African continent.

 


Tell us about your airline and how long has it been operating flights to and from India?
South African Airways has been in existence for over 8 years. We started in March 1995 in India. The Airline Headquarters has been in existence for over the last 70 years. This year it is going to celebrate 70 years in South Africa. There was a phase when in March 1996 we had just 850 passengers and now it has grown to 42000 passengers. This shows that there were not many Indians going to South Africa but now the mindset has changed. For a change I see that the consumers are asking for the destination. Earlier the travel agent used to be trained to influence the consumer for a particular destination but now the travel agent wants to be equipped with the demands of the consumer. This airline is the national carrier of South Africa. It has a network within Africa itself and of course connects to different parts of the world (Europe, Australia, South America, US). 

While every other airline after September 11 moved away from ordering new aircraft, South African Airways is the first one who went ahead and ordered for 41 aircraft which was the largest transaction that took place with Airbus and phasing out the old aircraft. As far as we are concerned South African Airways comes through as an Airline which is not only taking care of the changing needs of the customers but also taking care of the technological advancements


How many sectors does South African Airways fly?
As I said earlier regional Africa, South Africa, Europe, Australia, South America, USA. There are some subsidiaries like S.A Airlink which is the domestic carrier of South African Airways. 


What way South African Airways has played an important role in increasing traffic to/ from India?
Like any other airline, all modern facilities are available on board. We provide Asian hospitality without compromising on any service element. Keeping the Indian passenger in mind, we make sure there are Indian newspapers and magazines. We have Indian meals on board. We have also sent Indian chefs to train their counterpart in Johannesburg to ensure quality and taste standards. We have Hindi announcement on board and choice of Hindi films. As South African Airways is the national carrier of South Africa, that itself made a big difference. The events that took place there brought us in the limelight, which motivated people to talk to us, as we are the direct carrier to South Africa. Being the official carrier for the Cricket World Cup also helped. So I think lot of things helped us to be top of the mind recall.


What are the plus points of South Africa vis-à-vis other destinations ?
 Another thing about South Africa is that it is a very niche destination. It comes as a surprise to people who go to South Africa with a Africa mindset because it is a very modern country and it has maintained its richness in terms of resources and nature. I think people are also very warm. In terms of infrastructure and hospitality South Africa has it all. Other destinations are also very good but what's happening is I think tourists basically, do one destination and then all of them move on to explore other places. I feel this decade belongs to South Africa. People have done the US, the Europe, the Far East and are searching for a new destination i.e South Africa. Obviously the numbers in terms of South Africa and India are so large that I see a huge wave for South Africa.


Why is the year 2004 such a special year for South Africa and how has South Africa planned to celebrate this event?
South Africa is celebrating 10 years of democracy this year. They are rightly celebrating this event with a whole lot of events associated with wine tasting, fashion shows, film festival. Of course huge get togethers with the travel fraternity, socialites, media et. al are being organized to celebrate this event. I personally feel that what they are bringing home to India in terms of celebration is essentially to show their biggest strength. Not many people know how fantastic their wines are. They are reasonably priced and of a very high quality. In a way it comes as a surprise to people who go there. I find that wines are the best gifts during festivals as it is reasonably priced and also good value for money. That apart I think they have associated this event with things which not only are strength for them there but also which has high appreciation for them in this country. Our film festivals, the way the fashions are designed, the way the pageants are made, match very well with the fashions that prevail here. We thought lets merge things which work well for both the countries. There is also some bonding between the countries which has happened. It is not something that you are on your own trip. We always look at how can this partnership work and this always has a positive effect on the airline because people go first to see how business will work and then they automatically become your tourist. There are a lot of people coming and they are having a Food Festival this time. Within these 2 -3 weeks they are having a lot of activities but I don't think they will finish it in 2-3 weeks. They will continue to have competitions in various cities. I have suggested that we can have a photography competition because I think people go from India and take fantastic pictures so we can give them an opportunity to exhibit it and people would be happy to see what others have done. I have always felt that children are very big fans of our and I think they are great influencing agents, so what we can do is have an ostrich egg painting competition. So I think while the Consulate has taken upon itself to do end number of things, this whole partnership I see happening is very rare in comparison to the other countries and their Consulates. But here the partnership is on a continuous basis. If they have a key, we run with it automatically. Be it the tourism, be it the Consulate, be it the Airline.


How do you go about promoting South African Airways and South Africa as a tourist destination?
Frankly, South African Airways does very little to promote itself. The best promotion we get is through our own customers fantastic experience. They come back being our Ambassadors So what we do is make sure that we give our customers good service and we make sure we attend to his requirements in the way he wants. We respond to his suggestions, we make sure that we have good aircraft, we make sure that he comes back with a feel good factor about the country and I think in terms of what we are doing we make sure that we are doing our jobs very well. What goes very well for us is word of mouth - be it a tourist to a businessman or a person who is going for a film shoot.


Does South Africa have special packages to attract tourists from India?
I don't think we have special packages, What happens is very often we have passengers who almost think that South African Airways is everything put together i.e One Shoppers Stop. There is a segment on S.A Holidays in South Africa but we don't use it here. What we do is when the passenger calls up we inform them of the agents & tour operators who can assist you. If they ask how much it would cost we give them a brief idea. We don't get involved with them. We certainly give them an idea because we almost believe that when South Africa sells, South African Airways sells. So we don't let go off such queries. We don't do special packages but we guide those who come to us to go to any agent and they will take care of the rest.


Tell us some of the achievements and awards that the airline has won for its superior services over the years?
In 2003, SAA won a total of 10 awards, including Best African Airline, Best Domestic Airline, Best International Airline flying to South Africa (ASATA Diners Club), Best Airline in Africa and Best Cabin Crew in Africa (SKYTRAX), Best Airline Based in Africa by Official Airline Guide (OAG), Top Airline to Africa at Travel Bulletin's Travel Stars 2003 and is listed in the Top Ten Transatlantic Airlines by Conde Nast Traveler. In January 2004 it received the Best Airline in Africa for the 13th consecutive year at the Travel Weekly Globe Awards. South African Airways (SAA) has been named the Best Airline in Africa, beating 65 formidable airlines vying for the prestigious honour. This is the fourth award SAA has won since the beginning of the year. The other awards that SAA has won since the beginning of the year, include the Best Online International Airline and Best African Airline at the Diners Club ASATA Awards in March. 

Actually reaching that position is one thing but sustaining that kind of service is a challenge and South African Airways is doing it extremely well.


How is India popular as a tourist destination for people from South Africa?
India has become very popular amongst the South Africans because at one time we saw people coming to India to visit their roots. India today is looked at as a very modern country. well educated with fantastic manpower in terms of resources, in terms of the kind of experience that they can get. Also the Ayurvedic massages of Kerala have become popular. They want to see the Taj Mahal and they want to shop in India. I think today we are getting not only South African Indians of Indian origin but we are having even the other communities coming in. They are coming to experience India, the houseboat experience of Kerala, a Goan kind of experience or shopping in Mumbai. Today we have a very good balance between people coming from India and the people coming from there.


Which places you like most in South Africa and why?
I think I like Capetown the best. Capetown is a fantastic place to chill out. I don't blame it to be one of the 5 most beautiful cities in the world. Just name it and it is there. There are plays, lots of places to eat, or you can just walk if you feel comfortable doing that. The weather is also excellent. There are other places within South Africa which are beautiful too. If I have to say in one word about the airline experience I will say “Wonderful”. All the various events that took place in South Africa, the IIFA Award to the AIDS Conference, I realized that every event or opportunity that took place we capitalized on it. We planned very well and created a demand around it. I think the Indians responded very well to the demand that we created. The headquarters also responded very well to my team in India.


How did you first venture into the Airline Industry and tell us something about your airline industry experience?
I graduated from Sydenham and I had no clue of what I would do and like any other person from my batch who had applied for being an air hostess in Air India I too followed suit. There was a traffic assistant position also. So I applied for that as well. I got that job of a hostess in 3 months. This happened in 1976. Very soon I got the job of a Traffic Assistant and I seized the opportunity. I realized that I enjoyed being in the service industry. I did not leave at that but made sure that I equipped myself by acquiring additional skills. So I did a course in Mass Communications. Subsequently, I did my MBA. 


I remember that when I was a traffic assistant when there used to be a board meeting of the directors, I used to always feel that I was meant to be there. Air India used to also take officers who were MBAs or even internal people could apply to compete with the outsiders who had 3 years of work experience. I already had the experience. Strangely enough from that batch there were a lot of internal people who got selected as officers and I was lucky to be one of them. So I was a Traffic Assistant turned Officer through a normal process. Instead of 22 years, I was in the officers' position in 4 years time. I still wanted to do my MBA. So subsequently after 7 years I did the 3 years MBA degree. The moral of the story is that if you have a dream of moving, you need to work very hard and that eventually gets rewarded. Organizations need people who are dedicated, who are sincere and most importantly willing to go to that extra stretch. Money is not an important factor, what is important is getting the job well done and to have a sense of achievement. I have really enjoyed this journey and after working with Air India for 20 years, I got an opening of setting up a CRS company called Abacus for 4 years. However deep within I was still an airline person. So when I got the opportunity in South African Airways I jumped at it. South African Airways is one of the few airlines that has got an Indian as a General Manager of the airline here in India.


What are the future plans of South African Airways in India?
I personally think that the very fact that the bilaterals are renegotiated in our favour to allow a daily flight in Bombay and to capture the growing interest in the destination from Northern India. I personally think that we will face a situation where there will be more flights from Mumbai and Delhi. As of now I don't have the dates but the headquarters are working in that direction.


What is your role as a General Manager?
My role as a General Manager is to make sure that the image of South Africa in the eyes of the customer continues to remain as a high quality airline. As a team leader I make sure that my team is as motivated because to a large extent it is they who will ultimately interact with the customer. If they are motivated they know where they are going. My role is to make sure that the airline is constantly growing and the headquarters should work on the feedback of the market here and accordingly provide the kind of services. And lastly my role as a General Manager is to make sure that South African Airways continues to be successful in India.


On your personal side, tell us about your family, interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes?
I have 2 kids - both are teenagers. My boy is an undergraduate studying in the US, doing Computer Science and my daughter has just finished her 12th and my husband is a computer engineer. More than anything else I make sure that my children get their values in place. Values in terms of 'Hard work always rewards'. You have to be sincere, true and believe in yourself. My husband has been very supportive not only in terms of a husband but also in terms of a father in giving the children the right upbringing. You can be successful only if you have full support of your family. As for my interests, I swim, do Yoga, just sit with the family and do nothing. I read a lot of business books. I dislike people who shirk their work, I dislike people who lie.


Your message to the readers?
"Make it a habit to use your Creativity and Resourcefulness. Once you do that, it will give you an endless flow of ideas for your business life and your personal life, and that will enrich you beyond any measure"