INDIA: Lessons To Learn On Indigo Flights

Each time I step into an Indigo aircraft, the cleanliness in the cabin never fails to astonish me. Everything is in place; there are no crumpled or badly folded newspapers in the pocket in front of you, there are no crushed paper cups visible, and there is no sign of any garbage.

And, as the flight heads towards its destination (on time, in most cases), you experience the ‘creation’ of garbage. Meals are ordered, as are beverages. Newspapers (carried by passengers into the aircraft, not provided free by the airline) are folded into the seat pockets in front as trays come down so that we can eat.

The meals are done, and each passenger, by now, has tens of grams of waste in front of him or her.

The cabin is not pristine any more.

Then comes an announcement that the cabin crew will walk down the aisles to collect the garbage, and we see two crew members approach each row with a large plastic garbage bag, wide open, invitingly beckoning passengers to deposit the newly generated garbage within.

In a few minutes, with the garbage walk completed, the cabin is almost as sparkling as it was at the time of boarding.

What we’ve seen is the involvement of passengers in cleaning an aircraft cabin. We, you and I and all the other passengers on the plane, have just done something as menial as the harried, overworked and underpaid workers of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other corporations across the country do each day.

We’ve been, for a short while, a part of the garbage disposal squad.

First timers on Indigo are bemused and surprised. Regulars on Indigo are used to this, and are now willing and enthusiastic participants in the exercise.

The regulars know that this little act ensures that the passengers boarding the aircraft after we have disembarked will step into a sparkling, shining cabin.

For regulars, helping clean an Indigo cabin is a habit.

What if we, all us passengers, could be as enthusiastic about consciously cleaning up our homes, our offices, our hospitals, our schools, our public spaces, and so on? What if we became partners to our household help and our office cleaning staff and so on?

That’s why the Prime Minister and the key personnel in charge of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan should schedule a meeting with Rahul Bhatia and Aditya Ghosh of Indigo.

Indigo has made a small dent in our attitude towards cleanliness and, as any good marketer or advertising professional will tell you, habit change is one of the largest challenges in marketing. How can one change the habit of an entire nation?

Bhatia and Ghosh will be able to share details on how they made it work with their passengers and, indeed, their own staff.

No young woman or man aspiring to work as a member of the Indigo cabin crew visualised the walk down the aisle with a garbage bag as part of their future.

Yet, Indigo has managed to convince all stakeholders of the importance of this seemingly simple act.

Indigo’s zeal to clean the aircraft is rooted in a business objective. The less time it takes to clean the aircraft, the less time it takes for the aircraft to take off again, allowing them to deliver on their tagline: “On time is a wonderful thing.” That’s a promise that all passengers want and embrace.

Swachh Bharat, if left as a cleanliness drive, will be a struggle. It has to transcend the bare statement and convince citizens that cleanliness and hygiene bring the attendant benefits of good health and a longer life.

When the nation says “Cleanliness is a wonderful thing”, we have arrived.