AirAsia X chief executive officer Kamarudin Meranun admits that his company has a problem with respect to customer service in Australia.
Related news: Aussie aviation expert calls for AirAsia X suspension
Kamarudin said he was determined to see the airline improve in that aspect and one of his priorities was to set up a dedicated customer service team based in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.
“We spent a lot of money building the brand, building the credibility of the brand, and issues like this can seriously damage our credibility,” Kamarudin said, referring to the outrage that followed AirAsia X’s decision to scrap flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Bali last year, and the subsequent delay in the payment of refunds to those who had bought tickets for months.
This followed the frustration endured by customers who bought tickets for flights from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur in 2015, but also had refunds delayed after the route was cancelled from January that year.
According to the Herald, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had to intervene to ensure customers were treated properly following the cancellation of the Adelaide-KL service.
Acknowledging the perception from customers in Australia that AirAsia X is difficult to contact and slow to respond, Kamarudin, who is also chairman of AirAsia, simply said: “We are looking at it and you will see a big improvement.”
He added that the Australian customer service team will be operational around mid-2017 and they will take over from the current customer service team for Australia who are working out of Kuala Lumpur.
Two years ago, a survey carried out by Roy Morgan Research in Australia, showed that AirAsia X had the lowest “satisfaction” rating among all international airlines flying out of Australia, registering only 61%.
According to the Herald, that number has now increased to 68%.
However, a spokesman for the research company told the daily that the improved rating could also be due to repeat customers having developed more realistic expectations.
Wing flaps failed to deploy
The low-cost carrier’s safety record is another sticking point for customers in Australia.
On Oct 8 last year, AirAsia X flight D7-200 was diverted from the Gold Coast to Brisbane because its wing flaps had failed to fully deploy.
The wing flaps are critical in helping to slow down an aircraft when it lands, hence it was feared the A330 aircraft would overshoot the runway at Gold Coast’s Coolangatta Airport and plough into traffic.
All other flights were temporarily suspended at the Brisbane airport, where fire trucks were also placed on standby, and other aircraft cleared from the runway, ahead of the landing.
It was reportedly the sixth incident involving AirAsia X to be investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in a matter of 18 months.
The first of six incidents occurred on March 10, 2015, when AirAsia X flight 223 departed Sydney and headed for Melbourne – instead of its intended destination, Kuala Lumpur.
The ATSB later found that the captain had inadvertently entered the wrong data into the flight computer. The flight crew were unable to correct the error and the A330 had to divert to Melbourne for landing with the assistance of Air Traffic Control.
Kamarudin pointed out that despite the incidents reported previously, the ATSB has never escalated any investigation to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which grants licences.
“We are no different to a lot of the other airlines. In fact, I think we have been unfairly perceived because of the number of reports,” Kamarudin was quoted as saying by the Herald.
He added that ticket sales have recovered in Australia and that AirAsia X is now flying with 80% of its seats occupied.
“Most Australian routes were now profitable, but Perth remained ‘challenging’, Kamarudin told the Herald, adding that returning to Adelaide was a logical next step for the airline.
He was also hopeful that AirAsia X would resume its service to London, a service which the Herald said was popular with Australians who paid as little as A$378 (RM1,300) for a one-way trip to London in 2010.
AirAsia X flies to Kuala Lumpur from Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast, while AirAsia Indonesia flies to Bali from Perth and Darwin.
Original article from http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/02/20/airasia-x-boss-admits-australian-customer-service-below-par/
