Ryanair, presently flying through the flak of public criticism over service standards, or the lack of them, might be interested in this week's change of customer strategy by Aeroflot, the Russian flagship carrier. Notorious for its taciturn and grim-faced Soviet-era personnel, Aeroflot differs from Ryanair in that its cheap, no-frills, no-manners operation is imposed upon it, its customers lacking both choice and money. But all that is about to change. The Russian carrier, which has bizarrely incorporated a flying elephant into its livery, this week announced a move upmarket to improve its reputation, introducing new standards of customer care.
The airline is beefing up its existing fleet of 115 with 12 new aircraft. It also plans to offer quality food inflight, hire more cabin and ground staff, a requirement being high intelligence, politeness and consideration for passengers and fluency in several languages. Those nice people at Ryanair will watch from afar with some interest.
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