Bengaluru Airport Crisis Management During a Pandemic: Case Analysis

This case analysis discusses the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry and the measures taken by Bengaluru Airport to ensure the safety of its passengers. It also highlights the importance of effective communication and leadership skills during a crisis.

Case Analysis for
Bengaluru Airport
Crisis.

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus that emerged in the year 2020 has adversely affected many business sectors
and industries which resulted in the decline in the income of the households that where indulged
in these sectors and businesses, for several months the the virus continued to spread globally,
which put the lives of millions in danger, the two waves of the virus disturbed the economic
support of many nations as people were not allowed to leave their homes. The lockdowns made
it worse as it restricted people from leaving their homes and doing their businesses which
declined the sources of income in many households. India as being a developing country had a
hard time while dealing with the pandemic (Iyer,and Thomas, 2021). The government was
required to make the people follow the precautionary measures along with the providing food to
the needy as there were no ways of earning. Along with analysing the consequences of the
pandemic that will take place just after the lockdown.
MAIN BODY
India as being one of the most admirable travel designation for international as well a
domestic tourist because of its traditional and ethnic culture, values and traditions along with the
wide variety of food. As the tourism industry is a crucial part of the nation’s economy as it
provides employment to many and runs millions of households, which were put on a hold
because of the pandemic, that hit the country. Nearly tourism industry contributed 2.7% in the
nations GDP which is considerably crucial for the nation, which cannot be put on stake in any
scenario. The above percentage shows the direct contribution of the sector, if the indirect
contribution will be considered it will go up to 5.2% - 15.3%. BLR Airport attended only 10.91
million passengers in 2020-21 which is twice time less then what the airport did in the preceding
year along with the ongoing Covid – 19 scenarios (Kılıçand Karaman 2019). It has been reported
by many that passengers ate the BLR airport were negligent with the precautionary measures that
have been issued by the government of India, as they didn't wear masks through their entire
journey and removed it while the food section was opened. For which the management of the
airport has been blamed as it resulted in the increase of cases. While managing such huge masses
at a time is not a piece the BLR airport has made constant efforts to improve the precautionary
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processes. The airport has faced considerable losses throughout the two wave of the virus as in
the first wave that took place in 2019-2020, reduced 63% in the number of passengers that use to
flew through the domestic routes, followed by a 90% decrease in the financial year 2020-21,
because of which the organisation faced a huge loss. International flights were being suspended
continuously because of the increased cases because of the virus.
As the airports were required to follow the guidelines released by DGCA, also reduced
the number of seats that could have been provided to the passengers. Irrespective of the
worsening situations the company continued to work on its several other projects and didn't
compromised on it ( Dožić , 2019). As the tourism could have played a major role in the spread
of the coronavirus, precautionary measure was essential to be implemented as it have reduced the
business to a lot deceased number but it’s impossible to run a nation’s economy without its
citizens. Because of which the top most priority of the country was to protect the lives of its
citizens and provide the life they deserve living. If there were no restrictions for the travel and
tourism industry, the nation would not have been able to control the spared that took place in the
preceding years. The government of the nation invested tons of resources to protect and recover
the nation form the deadly virus, other than providing business the flourishing opportunity to
expand their businesses which could have led to the destruction of the nation.
While travelling with Bengaluru airport many professionals noticed that the airport didn't
followed the basic precautionary measures, as the airport was terribly crowded and the
passengers didn't keep their masks on which was not following the rules. The airport authorities
put all of their efforts to enforce the guidelines that were released by the government to follow,
but the passengers were to negligent to follow, even when the alternate passenger seats were
blocked by the airports authority to ensure social distancing the passengers were standing way to
closely which would have triggered the spread of Covid. For which the BIAL created a dedicated
team which have been responsible for the execution and implementation of the precautions.
(Abeyratne 2018). In accordance with the code of conduct, in most of the cases the passengers
were cooperative and understood the present conditions, and co-operated with the team, but
many a times there use to be passengers who didn't wanted to wear masks, neither wanted to
coordinate with the team. As the airport had an alliance with the security agencies of the
government helped to take actions against such passengers.
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BIAL believes to work with the government agencies in the future as well to ensure the
safety of the passengers while following the safety measures. Strict actions have been taken by
the state and local authorities to make the people pay the fine amount for not following the
measures. At the BIAL airport the safety measures have been displayed in three different
languages so that the passengers are able to understand and do not make any excuses, the
languages include; Hindi, English and Kannada. The other issue that the airport authority faced
was the unpaid dues of the airlines, which didn't prove to be beneficial in the Covid era as the
business was reduced by 90% which made the repayment of the loan difficult for the
organisation, along with some defaulted with the clearance of the loans, for which the ministry
considered restoring the legal right and penalising the airlines which helped in the repayment of
the loan.
The Covid – 19 shook many businesses from their roots, many businesses were not able
to sustain because of the poor management, and ineffective communication among the team.
Even through a pandemic is an unfavourable condition which varies largely from the other kinds
of crises, but a manager consisting good communication and leadership skills will be able to sale
through a as he/she will be making mistakes but more importantly will be learning from those
mistakes and with constant efforts and improvement the situations can be turn towards the
companies favour. As for communication it is required by one to understand the situation as well
as the other's perspective then only the conversation will have devalued. Work from home was
practised widely as the offices were not opened and for which the mangers needed to adopt a
transparent way of execution of organisational processes, which would not have been possible
without the handwork of the employees. A manger is always flexible with its processes as any
unexpected thing could take place, change management played a crucial role in the phase of
Covid 19 as it taught the mangers to be flexible and to have readiness for any unexpected thing
to happen.
Bengaluru airport with the help of Airport authority of India is able to regulate its
functions well, as AAI provides various facilities which eases the functioning of Bengaluru
airport by improving the infrastructure which facilitates the infrastructure. (ChikodziDube2021).
With the adaptation of latest techniques, the association is trying to develop a satellite based
communication and a software for managing the air traffic more effectively, because of which
the employees of these authorities will be trained from this software which will enhance their
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efficiency. Adaption an implication of new techniques works parallelly which helps the
functioning in the air more structured. Airport security plays an important role, as its restores
the confidence within the passengers along with it helps in sustaining and enforcing the measures
that are listed in the guidelines, after the 9/11 tragedy the authorities have started giving extra
precautions to provide the safety to its passengers. It is essential for every organisation to have a
well-qualified and trained staff which will ultimately will be working towards the achievement
of the goals that the organisation do possess, for which Bengaluru airport do have a Human
resource department of training which takes care of the training for the staff that have been hired
by the company as they will be carrying the values of the brand and showcasing them to its
customers.
The Indian – Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa believes in the growth that India is
experiencing under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because of which an investment
of $7 billion is made for over 5 succeeding years. Prem Watsa is 71 years old and is the founder,
chairman and CEO of a Canada based company named Fairfax Financial Holdings, recently he
was recently honoured by the Padma Shri award, after recognising his work in the trade sector.
(Chatterjee, and Bhowmik,2019). There have been repetitive investments made by the investors
in the Indian economy, Prem plans to double the 7 billion investment in the succeeding year,
along with the investment in the Bengaluru airport Prem Watsa has invested in the ICICI and
IDBI which is soon going to be public because of the privatisation initiated by the Indian
Government, along with a determined investment in LIC. 2020 has been a shocking year for
many businesses and so was for the Bengaluru Airport as the association that operated the
functioning of the airport was surrounded by two big obstacles which needed to be given
priority, on one hand when the business was reduced by 63% in the year 2020 because of the
coronavirus, followed by the chief human resource office report which focused on the
infrastructure of the Bengaluru airport which is being provided to the passengers along with the
deduction in the salaries of the employees by 50% on the other hand a dilemma which
constraining the association form executing the expansion plan which will cause a delay of 2
years as many other International airports stopped their expansion plans.
In 2017 with the arrival of new owner of BIAL Mr. Watsa, who promoted Marar as the
CEO and managing director of the company, he believed that any new person would not have
been able to execute as effectively as Marar would have, as he knew how things works in the
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association. Watsa. He mentioned that he invested in the company because a person like Marar
was a part of the organisation which gave him the confidence of investing in the company. The
leadership practises of Marar were praised by Watsa, he asked Marar to run the company as if it
was his own, and by giving the top most priority to the reputation of the company instead of
commercial outcomes(Barbosa,2020). He demanded Marar to sustain and adopt ethical and clean
work culture. To aid the objective of the company Marar hired individuals for serval positions
and gave promotions to the ones who deserved it the most, the position includes; chief strategy
and development officer, chief project officer, chief financial officer.
The enhancing technology sector showed it effects in booming the economy of the state
many MNC's have made investments in the state as it has the calibre of providing the skilled
individuals who will be the right fits for the companies, followed by many booming start-ups
which have significantly contributed in the economy of the Bengaluru state which in many ways
has helped the aviation sector of Bengaluru as when people are getting employments along with
the correct technology to excel their purchasing capacities and living standards improves which
promotes travelling via air, as it is a more convenient way to do so, which ultimately enhances
the business prospects for the Bangalore airport. The airport has seen substantial growth
throughout the years as the figures shows in the year 2008 the airport dealt with 8 million
passengers which increased to thirty – two million passengers in the year 2018, as the number
kept on growing the airport invested 2 billion dollars for the expansion of the airport and
improving is infrastructure and expanding the land used which would help the airport to
accommodate ninety – two million passengers by the year 2040 (Nhamo and Chikodzi,2020).
This showed the devotion of Marar and its team to captivate the integrity and growth of the
airport along with making advancements that will provide a untrusting future avenues for the
organisation.
Hari Marar stated that earlier the 9/11 incident changed the whole perspective of global
aviation, which caused a deeper affective on the mind-sets of individuals from which after many
years’ people are able to overcome. The coronavirus caused a massive disruption in the aviation
industry as it reduced the business by half the number in the first wave followed by a 90%
depletion in the second wave. Covid -19 at once changed the whole perspective of flying and
introduced new ways by which the contamination will be prevented. The aviation industry has
formulated new and effective protocols which will help in rebuilding the confidence among the
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passengers to travel the way they use to do earlier. Through developed technologies these
protocols can be effectively implemented as the technologies allows one to interact without any
physical contact (Gudmundsson, and Redondi2021). Bengaluru airport has been a part of the
collaborations that has been formed within the aviation companies, as together they are trying to
build the ecosystem that will help in rebuilding the confidence among individuals and begin the
operations of the airports successfully foe which the association has collaborated with the
aviation ministry and bureau of civil aviation security.
Its unusual that business competitors have come along to re-emerge the business
operations with the support of each other, as the reason for the collaboration between the airports
and airlines is completely centred around the customer experience. The airport has implemented
various digital solutions which has served in formulating contactless delivery systems which
follows the Covid protocols. Government applications such as Aarogya Setu analyses the
measures that have been adopted by the airlines and airports respectively to ensure high level
hygiene and health. As the airport has suffered huge loss while the Covid phase which the
company plans to recover, while the ongoing phase of Covid many employees from the aviation
sector lost their jobs along with disturbed salary cycle for which the company wishes to get back
on track by recovering the loss that has been incurred, as many airlines do have debts which
needs to be paid back the lockdown made it difficult for the airlines as well the airports to
survive (Kwon, 2020). Many precautionary steps have been taken to implement the protocols
formulated with the alliance of the airlines and airports to restore the confidence among the
customers along with providing better flying experience which will gradually build the trust
among them.
As compared to other sectors the risk associated with the aviation industry is relatively
high as the day- to- day operations are exposed to much greater risks which needs to be deal with
utmost technologies and strategies which is derived from effective leadership. Because of which
the style of leadership implemented to aviation is of great interest to the airports and associated
airlines, as it is responsible for the safety of the passengers travelling directly and indirectly to
the economy of the nation and its peace. Appropriate and effective leaderships will be
responsible in reducing the air accidents, the risk is not only associated with the passengers but
also with the employees who are responsible for the lives of the passengers, the risk factors to
employees is associated with the beginning of their jobs. The leadership style adopted should be
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capable of holding the trust of the association as well as should be able to motivate the people
associated with the organisation, an effective leadership is what which is able to make the
association achieve the predetermined goals which determines the existence of the company in
the market. Because of ineffective leadership will not be able to effectively execute the projects
and will leave its employees unmotivated and ineffective which will in no ways will bring the
benefits neither will be able to create the market place that the association wants to be at. There
are three types of leadership styles which are subdivided into further leaderships, the three
leaderships include; Transformational leadership style, Transactional leadership style, Non-
transactional leadership style (Thaichon,2021).
Transformational style is further subdivided into 5 leadership styles which includes
several factors including; influence associated with attributes, behavioural influence,
motivational factor, simulation, and Individualisation these factors are recognised as Leader
1,2,3,4,5 respectively. Transactional leadership style is further segmented into rewards passive
and active management and is recognised as Leader 6,7,8 respectively. Lastly non – transactional
leaderships are sub divided into laissez – faire, efforts, effectiveness and satisfaction which is
also known as leader 9,10,11,12 respectively. All of the mentioned leaderships are responsible
for safe execution of day to day operational activities which are associated with the aviation
business. It is identifying that when the variables have differences among themselves, improves
the structure of the model, in other words the more the variables will be correlated the more will
be the inefficiency in the processes, for which the variables are preferred to not be co- related.
Decrease in safety measures or levels will be noticeable when the use of leader 8,9 and 10 will
be increased, as non-transnational leaderships styles are responsible in reducing the the safety
levels of the business.
The reliable leadership style which is preferable by the Bangalore airport during the
pandemic is the transformational leadership, this helps in enhancing the skills of the mangers
associated with the safety measure of the business and helps them to effectively implement the
measure which bring the advantages that one the association is looking for, as the mangers do
have a lot of pressure as the employees are their responsibility and the actions taken by the
employees are also accountable to the manger, as in these situation an ineffective leadership style
will only be worsening the situation (Mohanty and Mishra 2021). As it will not be able to trigger
the effectiveness of the individuals which will ultimately result in the decrease of the business.
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As compared employees the responsibility of the mangers when it comes to implement the safety
measure increases by 0.06 %. The behavioural leadership which includes the passive and active
leadership is not used by the Bengaluru airports because of their inefficiency.
A single cause caused a crisis in the year 2020, whose impact was so strong that it
impacted the functioning of businesses adversely, as Covid 19 was a sever crisis that the aviation
industry faced, the pandemic took place in multiple layers and in different dimensions which
cannot be taken care by a common management team, for which the association needed a strong
and effective crises management team (BhattacharyGhosh,2022). The lifecycle of crisis
management comprises of different stages which aims to resolves different levels of issues
associated with the crises of different complexities. Identification of different stages is crucial as
it helps in formulation effective decisions which drives strategies which will be aiming to resolve
the crises. The different stages of crises management that the aviation industry includes; pre-
crisis, Crisis Response, Post – Crisis.
The airport authority analysed the risk of corona virus that can or will in future lead to
crises, as the issue will be showing its potential that how impactful can the crises be through
social media or government these hints should not be ignored doesn't matter if they are coming
from internal or external sources, both should be given equal importance and time. The next
stage is based on the response of the association that is responsible of dealing with the issue, as
the risk has out grown and has begun to take the form of a crises which needs to be dealt with
outmost responsibility. After the stage of response there exists the post- crisis stage which deals
with the repercussion of the steps taken in the response stage, and fulfil the goals that were set in
the response stage.
Airport authority in the Covid 19 time, tried to adapt the circumstance as soon as they
could which helped them in understanding the complexity of the situation along with giving
considerable attention to the precautions and protocols released by the government under the
guidelines of World health organisation. As air travel was the primary reason in the spread of the
virus in the country as it allowed people from other nationalities who carried the virus along with
the non-residents of India who triggered the spread in India. Crisis management requires quality
but quick decisions which does not triggers the spread and could prevent, as the airport already
invested a lot in its infrastructure it didn't put the association under a lot of pressure as they
already had the resources to effectively implement the decisions that has been formulated by the
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crisis management team. With the help of social media and other sources which helped the
customers in building the trust back which gradually increased the number of passengers
travelling via air even during the pandemic (Sreenath and Yusop2022).
To overcome the losses incurred while the pandemic the Bangalore airport has made
come back with much stronger resilience and collaborations which has made the brand become
much stronger in the market presence post Covid. The association incorporated effective and
adaptable approach in accordance with the code of conduct which helped the company
tremendously to redefine its structure in a more cordial and effective manner. As other factors
except Covid demanded a new approach which the airport association needed to adapt to make
flying better and safer in all perspectives (Adikaram and Priyankara,, 2021). Airlines and airports
collaborated to fight the tough times as during the pandemic the economy was price sensitive as
there were no source of income. Adoption of technologies that eliminated human interaction
from several processes, which has helped in protecting the employees from getting in touch with
the virus along with the passengers, which has contributed in enhancing the customer experience
in these tough times even.
Government has helped in rebuilding the confidence among the customers to travel the
way they use you earlier but while following the basic protocols which prevents the spread,
which has helped the aviation industry in India to execute their operations in full form.
Government officials that has been allotted to the airports make diuresis that the individuals do
follows the rules, most of the passengers understand the seriousness of the situation, but the ones
who do not, are treated by the way suited by the government (Mangarajand Samal 2022).
Bengaluru airport has made many a chances from adopting protocols, investing in the
infrastructure, adopting new technologies to ease the consequences that took place because of the
crisis.
CONCLUSION
The aim of the essay was to focus on the affects the aviation industry went through, more
precisely the focus was on to explain the Crisis management of Bengaluru airport during the
Covid -19 pandemic. The essay is structured within different topics which explains the critical
issues, that the officials of the Bengaluru airport needed to handle. Followed by the statement
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made by Prem Watsa for Hari Marar leadership style and his confidence in him to run the
business effectively, along with the crisis management hat took in the year 2019, for which Hari
Marar along with his team made excellent decisions which affected the business in a positive
manner all along. The next section focused on the style of leadership that was adopted by the
Bengaluru airport team to deal with the crisis in the different stages which comprises, the pre,
post and response crisis stage. And how the team come to a decision in choosing the appropriate
strategy to deal with such an impactful situation.
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REFERENCES
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