Listening to your customers

Two Singapore-based low-cost carriers, Jestar Asia and Valuair, have decided to give the newly opened budget terminal a miss.

Why? Simply because its customers said they preferred the existing Terminal 1 at Changi Airport. The terminal offers the creature comforts which these erstwhile legacy carrier customers enjoyed.

Also the lack of an integrated baggage system means connecting to another airline (at another terminal) can be a nightmare.

Of course, if you ask any passenger on a low-cost carrier, he or she would say certainly prefer that their low-cost airline continue to use a regular terminal.

So far only Tiger Airways uses Singapore’s dedicated Budget Terminal which reportedly lowers operating costs by half for airlines and passengers pay lower departure taxes.

I guess not many airlines listen to their customers and business decisions are taken for strategic reasons and to lower operating costs. Shareholders need to kept happy. Where customers stand in the greater scheme of things - ie: shareholders vs customers vs staff - we aren’t sure.

But in the other hand, whether the decision taken by Jestar Asia and Valuair makes business sense, we’ll find out. Since the airlines aren’t exactly flying high, taking a unpopular decision to move to the budget terminal might incur loss of passengers. So better safe than sorry.

Then again, it’s not always about cost.