8122019 A Painful Agony for Malaysia Airlines Employees - Gulf Times 18 March 2014

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Arsenal and Manchester City last week possiblyManchester United and Tottenham this week You canhear the sound of blade on whetstone if four PremierLeague sides go out of Europe in 10 days the backwashwill be bloody

So what if Jose Mourinho points out that anldquouncaringrdquo schedule often means English teams have aday less to prepare than opponents Or that as othershave suggested cumulative fatigue due to no winter break is a factor too Many will instinctively concurwith Roy Keane we have been ldquobrainwashedrdquo intothinking the Premier League is the best in the worldwhen it is merely the best brand

But before debating which league is best we shouldask a most basic question how do you define ldquobestrdquoBayern Munich are runaway leaders in Germany andthe reigning European champions does that make theBundesliga best This season in the Premier Leagueonly Newcastle and Southampton have little to play forin the home straight does that make English better

You could argue all day yet inevitably we base our

judgments on these grand but infrequent skirmishes between European elites And increasingly they lead usinto seeing a Premier League that is a step behind

This supposed decline fits a broader narrativewhich goes something like this there was a goldenperiod for English clubs in the Champions League between 2004-05 and 2008-09 when they reached

the final every year andwon the competitiontwice But since theGuardiolisation ofBarcelona and the re-emergence of BayernMunich they have been overtaken anddiminished

It is a Cinderellarsquosshoe of a theoryinstinctively it fits Itis broadly right tooSince 2009-10 English

teams have reached theChampions League semi-finals twice in four yearswhile La Liga sides have done so seven times andBundesliga sides five

But this decline might be overstated During thegolden age of 2004-09 English sides won exactly halftheir Champions League matches a win ratio higherthan Serie A (47) La Liga (45) G ermany (39)But from 2010 onwards English clubs won 52 ofChampions League games higher than their golden ageand similar to La Liga (53) and the Bundesliga (51)with Serie A on 42

That increased win percentage could be down tothe UEFA president Michel Platini allowing moreleague winners into the Champions League proper andthen English sides flat-track bullying them It doesnrsquotdisguise the fact that in the handful of pivotal games inrecent years the very best Spanish and German teamshave often been better than English counterparts

Still despite English clubsrsquo recent defeats whenyou step back a more sympathetic panorama emergesDuring the past 10 years English clubs have reached the

Champions League semi-finals 15 times La Liga sideson 12 occasions Bundesliga sides five and Serie A teamsfour

That does not mean Roy Keane is not right aboutslipping standards in the Premier League but it perhapsprovides perspective It will probably be Spain orGermanyrsquos year in the Champions League but arguablyit has been Englandrsquos decade Whether any league has been best over that period however is an open andperhaps impossible question

EPL struggles to punch

its weight among

European elite

POBox 2888Doha Qatar

editorgulf-timescomTelephone 44350478 (news)

44466404 (sport) 44466636 (home delivery)Fax 44350474

Chairman Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Attiyah

Editor-in-Chief Darwish S Ahmed

Production Editor C P Ravindran

Gulf TimesTuesday March 18 2014

COMMENT

28

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There was a golden periodfor Englishclubs in theChampionsLeague between200498308505 and200898308509

The mystery

disappearance of the

Malaysia Airlines aircraft has

left all asking endless

questions about its

whereabouts and more

importantly what happened

to those onboard

By Updesh KapurDoha

An aircraft facing problemsinflight is every airlinersquosnightmare

During the take-offprocedure during descent preparingfor a landing or merely during cruisingaltitude at 35000feet every move ofan aircraft is carefully monitored bythe airlinersquos operations team

An incident regardless of severity

can affect the companyrsquos reputation indifferent ways

Airlines prepare for all possiblescenarios that could shake up theiroperations A hijack bomb th reatterror attack explosion naturaldisaster ndash situations are endlessItrsquos not a matter of ldquoifrdquo but ldquowhenrdquothe worst can happen Every airlinefears the worst It is part of theircrisis preparedness plans Manualsare prepared for airline staff tofollow procedures and carry outresponsibilities in the event of a crisis

But none can imagine theunprecedented events that haveunfolded over the past 10 days abouta missing passenger jet in south-eastAsia

The mystery disappearance ofthe Malaysia Airlines aircraft hasleft all asking endless questionsabout its whereabouts and moreimportantly what happened tothose onboard

Anxiety over the fate of the 239passengers and crew on the Boeing 777

that vanished from radar screens morethan a week ago is unimaginable

Distressed families and friendshave been waiting nervously fornews of their loved ones since the jetwent missing on a flight from KualaLumpur to Beijing in the early hours ofSaturday 8th March

Fearing the worst they cling onto hope praying for a miracle theywill soon be reunited with those who boarded flight MH370

The world has been eagerlywatching developments glued tomobiles for social media updates andlive bulletins beamed by TV newsnetworks

As another day passes withthe search widening and probeintensifying hopes fade of finding theaircraft in one piece and those onboardalive Experts have emerged from allquarters to give their own account ofwhat could have happened Sadly thetheories remain theories as every daygoes by with little concrete news of theaircraft

With aid from neighbouringcountries and those further afieldMalaysia has garnered unprecedented

support from the internationalcommunity in its efforts to locatethe missing plane Sadly many arenow relegated to fearing a doomedjet somewhere amid large land andsea corridors covering northern andsouthern Asia

Despite search and rescue teamsmobilised 247 hope is fast fading thisis a rescue effort but more a searchoperation for wreckage It is by farthe biggest ever operation of its kindfor a civilian aircraft in the history ofaviation

A harrowing experience for allinvolved

While the trauma can be felt of theaffected families spare a thought forthe Malaysia Airlines communityaround the world Thousands ofstaff the majority working at headoffi ce in Kuala Lump ur and the ci tyrsquosinternational airport who have beenjust as affected as those watching fromthe outside

The incident triggered off alarm bells for the companyrsquos emergency

operations team at HQ at pastmidnight on March 8 Since then it

has been a constant flurry of activitywithin different departments to followprocedures of how to react to such asituation

Camaraderie and solidarity willundoubtedly be the focus internallyto support one another in these timesof need

With 227 passengers and 12 oftheir colleagues missing this is h ard

to swallow for the men and womenworking at one of Asiarsquos vibrantairlines

From the pilot and cabin crewcommunities to the training androute network departments fromflight operations and revenuemanagement to sales marketing andhuman resources and from stafftravel and ground handling rightthe way up to senior managementndash all will be affected in one way oranother

Cockpit and cabin crew regularlyclock in and out of Malaysiarsquos flightoperations centre at Kuala LumpurInternational Airport before and afterroutine trips The mood will be sombreto say the least Passing through headoffi ce to carry out pe rsonal tasks toowill be a muted affair as they wait fornews of their colleagues

Airport gro und staff and offi ce- based employees will be going throughthe anguish of their flying colleaguesWheth er on offi cial duty on holidayor simply having met any of the

missing crew on the ground the factthat employees within the tight knitMalaysia Airlines community wouldhave flown with the crew at somepoint is hard to digest There will bea support network for managementworking in the crisis centre tryingtheir utmost to cope knowing all toowell the airline has full responsibilityas guardian and protector of thoseonboard for the journey from A to B

With pressure mounting andexhaustion setting in it is notuncommon to have company medicson site to help those involved in theemergency deal with the situation

The support network of staffaround the clock is crucial for thoseworking their phones working theircomputers and making decisions inthe emergency crisis centre

Pre-determined teams will have been developed to handle variousactivities based on pre-plannedscenarios And these teams wouldcomprise of individuals who wouldhave gone through some form of crisis

training drafted in from the ir dayto day jobs that may not necessarily

be related to the crisis work they aretasked to carry out

This will include the familyassistance centre where trainedindividuals will be by the side of lovedones of those onboard offering careand assistance call centre agents toreceive calls from family membersand the public and a dedicatedmedia centre hotline manned by the

communications team to take callsfrom journalists around the world Inessence training is crucial The worldis watching how effectively the airlinedeals with a stressful environmentthat requires a level head calm andlittle or no nerves

As we have seen the scale of theincident has been too large to handlehence support from other airlines toassist Malaysiarsquos crisis team leadersin their emergency response effortsThe pressure is intense None of theindividuals can stay focused round theclock Colleagues working in shiftstake turns to fill the seats occupied bythe front line core team members asfatigue easily sets in

It will undoubtedly be diffi cult toconcentrate on the job in hand forairport staff to perform check-induties board and receive passengersoff flights while their mindset isfocused on one of their own planesand those on board disappearingwithout trace

Every front line Malaysia Airlines

staff in uniform would surely besubjected to questions of whathappened by inquisitive passengersSpeculating gossiping and rumourmongering will not be encouraged by the airline They will have to andrightly so stick to the companyrsquoscorporate line and not even engage inso called ldquooff-the-recordrdquo commentas the latter will never be observed bythe media in a crisis situation

Spreading rumours about whatcould have happened is not inthe corporate script Stick to thecompany line which staff wouldhave been issued with to avoid beingmisinterpreted and misquoted byfamily members or the media

Malaysia Airlines has been hit bycriticism about not revealing enoughinformation and not being timely in itsdissemination of information

But like any airline trained insuch scenarios speculating is notpart of the communication mantraCommunicating statements throughpress releases social media and even

the daily press conferences is a must but only information that is verifiedand trusted can be released to avoidconjecture Management at everylevel would have gone through someform of simulation exercise to seehow they would cope in the event ofan emergency Without any form oftraining employees cannot be expectedto be able to professionally respond andwork diligently in a crisis situation

No exercise however will trulyprepare an organisation or individuals100 in the event of a real-life crisisthat we are witnessing dragging oninto its second week Sadly eventssurrounding MH370 have led to somuch assumption and speculationthat Malaysia Airlines is beingforced on the defensive to protect itsreputation

A diffi cult time when bus inesscontinuity is essential for MalaysiaAirlines to ensure operations runas normal as possible for the globaloperator which flies to over 60destinations worldwide

A painful agony forairline employees

A Malaysia Airlines cabin crew member taking a headcount onboard their Boeing 777983085200ER 983142light MH318 before take off on route to Beijing at 1240am yesterdayMalaysia Airlines 983142light number MH318 replaces the 983142light number of the missing airplane MH370 that was retired as a mark of respect to the passengers and crew

while the 983142light route remains unchanged

Airlines prepare forall possible scenariosthat could shake uptheir operations

A mother assists her child to write a message at the Wall of Hope for the passengers of the missing Malaysian Airlines planeat Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday