Fell short of meeting customers' expectations, working to fix mistakes: Vistara CEO

After receiving some flak in recent months over deteriorating services, the Vistara CEO on Wednesday wrote a heartfelt note to the customers saying, "we hear you".

After receiving some flak in recent months over deteriorating services, the Vistara CEO on Wednesday wrote a heartfelt note to the customers saying, "we hear you".

In his note, CEO Vinod Kannan admitted the airline hadn't lived up to the customers' expectations in the last few months. "Knowing that you have been inconvenienced and disappointed with our services has been heartbreaking for the entire Vistara family and me," the note read."I know how our recent flight disruptions must have altered your plans and how frustrating it's for you to hold the phone line for a long time to speak to our customer service representatives or when your choice of meal or beverages was not served on some occasions," the CEO said in the note.The airline CEO wrote that he owed an explanation as to why Vistara had been found wanting on various fronts.

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"The varying restrictions that we have had to navigate and the constant safety concerns due to these unusual times had brought us some unique challenges in these past months, forcing us to curtail many aspects of our services, temporarily," he said.

Kannan explained, "The new year brought along a sharp decline in demand right after a brief but very optimistic period. While we had resumed recruitment and ramp-up of resources on various fronts, buoyed by optimism in late 2021, the requirements around training and occupancy meant that we were not able to scale up as desired. This, coupled with a scale back incapacity, necessitated by a precipitous decline in demand, implied that the volume of enquiries and requests increased manifold."The airline has promised that it is now working on a "war footing" to correct mistakes, which include improving the experience of customers as they try to connect with the airline's helpdesk either over the phone or online.

In his open letter to customers, Vinod Kannan also said, "We have already restored some of our onboard services to pre-pandemic standards and are bringing back some of the other things you love about your in-flight Vistara experience."

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