airlinetrends.com | reporting on product and service innovations in the airline industry

1 September 2010 | Freshly prepared a-la-carte restaurant dining is mainly a service offered by airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, BA, Qantas, and Etihad to passengers in their dedicated First Class lounges. A select number of airlines, such as Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific, serve full breakfast and meals to all guests in their airport lounges , while BA and BMI offer passengers the option to dine pre-flight so they can sleep longer in the air. In general, however, full-service airlines offer their premium passengers just a light self-service buffet service on the ground.

Responding to passengers requests for more substantial meal options in its lounges, Delta Air Lines has just opened a new café concept at four Delta Sky Club lounges at New York JFK Airport. The new full-service cafés offer made-to-order breakfast, sandwiches, salads, small plates and desserts for purchase, as well as premium beverages. Meals are USD10-15 and premium drinks USD12 and bring another source of ancillary income to Delta. The café include dedicated seating areas within the lounge, but visitors also can order from the menu and dine anywhere in the lounge. Delta emphasizes that it continues to offer members the same selection of complimentary snacks and beverages in its lounge.
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Sun Country Air employees wrap their cars in ads to provide airline with free ‘carvertising’

30 August 2010 | Minneapolis-based low-cost carrier Sun Country Airlines earlier this month (August 2010) launched a new ad campaign through which employees have volunteered to wrap their cars in ads for at least three months. More than 60 employees were selected to participate in the campaign, and there are even more names on a waiting list, the airline said. The ads call attention to specific travel destinations and feature cartoon-like drawings that correspond with each location. Although the ad-wrapped cars are planned to be on the road for the next three months, Sun Country Air says many employees have indicated that they will keep the ads even longer.

According to Sun Country the employee car wrap campaign is not a matter of saving on advertising, but more so that it is a unique way to communicate its message which may be more effective than traditional ad mediums. “It catches people’s attention more so than billboards and radio. It’s a unique way to get our message out,” said Heidi Bausch, marketing manager at Sun Country. The airline’s employees do not receive any benefits from wrapping their cars with the ads.
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Schiphol Airport’s renewed ‘Holland Boulevard’ gives transit passengers a taste of all things Dutch

25 August 2010 | Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has just opened its modernised and extended ‘Holland Boulevard’, an area between the airport’s E and F piers that mainly caters to intercontinental transit passengers. With the Holland Boulevard, Schiphol aims to give travelers a taste of Dutch culture, especially those who are on Dutch soil for just a few hours.

In the new ‘Airport Library’ – a world’s first – visitors can read books, watch short movies and listen to music. The 90 m2 library features several ‘reading towers’ filled with Dutch literature translated in 29 languages, a reading table equiped with iPads, and there are laid-back reading chairs and seats with integrated listening devices. Passengers can also download digital content to their personal devices via a download station. The airport library is set-up by the ProBiblio Dutch public library organisation with funding from the Dutch ministry of education, culture and science.

Other new facilities at the Holland Boulevard include the ‘Bols Genever Experience’, set up by Dutch spirits brand Lucas Bols. Travelers can customize their own cocktail via a touchscreen, print the recipe and have it made at the Bols Bar. Every year, Bols and KLM also bring out a new miniature house filled with Bols genever. A ‘Dutch Kitchen’ offers typical Dutch fare such as ‘poffertjes’ (miniature pancakes), ‘kibbeling’ (small chunks of fried battered cod) and croquettes. In the Dutch Bar, passengers can sample Dutch coffee and special beers.
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Entrepreneurial airBaltic extends brand to taxi and bike sharing services

23 August 2010 | In the last years, Latvian national airline airBaltic has made a transformation from a point-to-point low-cost carrier to a hybrid network LCC. The airline has turned its Riga hub into a connecting point for travelers from Nordic and Northwestern Europe to the rapidly growing markets of the former Soviet Union and the Middle East. airBaltic offers transfer its passengers (60% of customers) at Riga through ticketing and check-in, as well as 25-minute connection times, and other hybrid LCC features include a 2-class cabin, airport lounge, and a frequent flyer program.

airBaltic has been growing its network fast, adding 15 new routes in 2008, 11 in 2009, and 27 routes this year (for example adding smaller cities in Finland). In 2009, the airline carried 2.75 million passengers and according to AEA data passenger numbers grew 19% in the first 5 months of 2010. Besides this aggressive hub strategy, the company behind airBaltic, Baltic Aviation Systems, seems to be turning into a Baltic version of the easyGroup (of easyJet and easyHotel fame), using the airBaltic brand (simple, reliable, affordable, visible) to enter other markets.

In April 2010, airBaltic established its own taxi company, BalticTAXI, in order to improve the quality of the taxi business in the capital. Taxi drivers in Riga often charge too much for rides, which is damaging the image of Riga and Latvia. Citing a lack of government interest to improve the situation, airBaltic believed there was room for a new transparent entrant. BalticTAXI’s fleet of 120 Toyota Corolla Verso vehicles is staffed by professional uniformed drivers, and for example there is a fixed price for the journey from the airport to any location in Riga.
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Airports in Europe entertain passengers in creative ways during summer travel season

19 August 2010 | The millions of air passengers traveling through European airports during the summer season present airports with a significant logistical challenge. To keep tempers cool and spirits high, airports in London, Glasgow and Paris have come up with creative ideas to make wait time at the airport more entertaining for summertime passengers. For example, London Gatwick’s ‘Gatwick Glow’ initiative offered travelers complementary spray tans before they fly. Holiday makers traveling through the airport between 28 July and 1 August were offered a free spray tan from self-tan brand St. Tropez Experts in bespoke tanning booths located airside. Research conducted by the airport found that pale skin is among travelers’ top worries upon heading off on a summer holiday.

Heathrow has teamed up with participatory arts organisation Ping London to install a ping-pong table in the Departures area of Terminal 3. The table is marked ‘Stop and Play’ and bats and balls will be on hand for passengers to take part in games. After a four-week period, the table will be donated to a local organisation nominated by the staff at Heathrow. The table is one of 100 to be installed this summer in key locations across London, including the London Eye, Tate Britain and the British Library. Ping London aims to encourage one million more people to take up sport by the time London hosts the Olympics in 2012.
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JetBlue, Sun Country Air offer all-you-can-fly passes

18 August 2010 | U.S low-cost airlines JetBlue and Sun Country Airlines are issuing all-you-can-fly passes to drum up sales during the traditionally sluggish travel period between the summer vacation and winter holiday seasons. JetBlue is bringing back its ‘All-You-Can-Jet’ pass that allows customers to travel to an unlimited number of cities in JetBlue’s network over a one-month period. The USD699 pass is valid seven days a week for flights between September 7 and October 6, 2010. Travelers can also choose a USD499 pass that excludes travel on Fridays and Sundays. Every available seat on every flight is available with no blackout dates, although there is a limited number of All You Can Jet (AYCJ) passes available. Last year, the first time JetBlue offered the AYCJ passes, they sold out in two days. (Update: this year they sold out in 2.5 days).

JetBlue’s first AYCJ campaign brought huge exposure to the airline, as customers documented their travels on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Travelers used the pass for tours of everything from the nation’s sports stadiums and music meccas to a 30-day nationwide job search or to raise money for charity. Says Robin Hayes, chief commercial officer for JetBlue Airways, “Last year, our AYCJ Pass inspired customers across our network to set out for more face time with important clients, visit 30 cities in 30 days or to live inside airport terminals across the country. We look forward to seeing how this year’s community of Jetters use the pass.”
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Airlines, airports and hotels experiment with location-based social networks

16 August 2010 | Airlines, airports and hotels are starting to embrace the latest trend in social media: location-based social networks. The most popular platform is currently Foursquare, which has 2.7 million users worldwide (of which 60% in the U.S.) and is adding 100,000 users per week. Foursquare allows members to share their current physical location with friends via their gps-enabled cellphone when they enter a new location, a procedure also known as ‘checking-in’. Foursquare just reached 100 million ‘check-ins’ and says that the most popular venues are transit-related locations such as airports and train stations.

An important social status element of foursquare are ‘badges’. Points are awarded for ‘checking in’ at a locations, and by checking in frequently, visiting specific locations, or performing tasks members can earn badges. For example, the ‘Jetsetter’ badge can be earned by visiting an airport 5 times, and the ‘Airport’ badge can be earned by visiting 5 different airports.

Since early August 2010, foursquare users can also check-in at 30,000 feet. Passengers in the U.S who use Gogo’s inflight Internet service can earn a special foursquare ‘Mile High Badge’, once they connect. Gogo is hoping that foursquare users will be tempted to try out its WiFi service if they know that they will receive a special badge for using it, as many foursquare users are avid badge hunters. Read full article »

Delta first airline to sell tickets on Facebook

13 August 2010 | Delta Air Lines has become the first airline to allow Facebook users in the U.S. to buy flight tickets without having to leave the social network. Dubbed ‘Ticket Window’, users can select different search criteria and then view results from within the application, including route options, aircraft type, times and inclusive prices. Once a fare is selected the user can enter the usual passenger and payment details and the booking is complete. Facebook members can also share their travel plans with friends on the social network. Delta says future releases will contain more social elements, such as coordinating group travel more easily.

Delta says it plans to expand the Ticket Window functionality to other sites, including online banner ads to allow full booking capabilities within the airline’s advertisements. Says Bob Kupbens, Delta’s vice president eCommerce, “Our customers are spending more time online and are looking for new ways to connect with us. “We’re now bringing Delta to our customers rather than the other way around.”
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New long-haul low-cost airlines prepare for take-off in Scandinavia

9 August 2010 | So far, the only region where the low-cost, long-haul business model has truly taken off has been the Asia-Pacific. In Europe, airberlin is currently the sole low-cost carrier to have established a long-haul operation, operating 13 A330s (it also ordered 15 B787s). The airline uses its extensive domestic network to feed its long-haul flights from Dusseldorf to New York, LA, San Francisco, Vancouver, Dubai, Beijing, and holiday destinations in the Caribbean, Africa and Thailand. Airberlin also just entered the Oneworld alliance and, amongst others, will codeshare with American Airlines to feed/connect its passengers in the USA. Ryanair has been hinting to start trans-atlantic routes with a separate company (rumoured to be named Ryanair Atlantic), but has shelved these plans until 2015.

Now, two airlines in Scandinavia aim to take advantage of the Nordic region’s geographic location between North America and Asia (as Finnair successfully does with its ‘Via Helsinki’ hub). Norwegian, the fourth-largest low-cost carrier in Europe has plans to established up to 20 long-haul routes from Scandinavia to Asia and the USA, capitalizing on its large regional network. The airline plans to start operations in 2011, in time for summer season, and eventually may order up to 15 widebodies, possibly B787’s. Norwegian has listed New York and Bangkok as initial destinations and has also mentioned Miami, the American west coast, New Delhi and Beijing. Flights will mainly be from its Oslo-hub, but also from Copenhagen and Stockholm. Norwegian plans to operate a 2-class configuration, with prices from Euro 200/400 return in Economy/Business to New York.
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Singapore Airlines goes digital with in-flight magazines

6 August 2010 | Singapore Airlines has introduced an electronic version of its its three in-flight magazines – SilverKris (in-flight magazine), KrisShop (sales catalogue); and KrisWorld (entertainment guide) – on its KrisWorld in-flight entertainment system. The digital magazines will be high resolution and passengers will be able to choose their own font, search by keyword, and zoom in to aid reading. Singapore Airlines says it is the first in the world to offer an e-magazine. The e-magazines are part of a trial with a Singapore-based company, SmarttPapers Aviation. and Singapore Airlines says it eventual goal is to create a paperless aircraft.

The airline may extend the initiative at a later date to cover other publications, including menu cards and the more than 100 international and local magazines carried in the cabin. This is “in line with efforts to reduce the amount of paper carried on board, thus reducing weight and saving fuel”, the carrier said in a statement. “E-books and e-magazines have gained popularity and we want to offer these to our customers.” The digital magazines made their debut on 2 B777-300ERs on 31 July, and will be followed by 2 A380s, before being rolled out Singapore Airlines aircraft equipped with the Panasonic eX2 IFE system. Read full article »

Thai Airways and ANA to set up low-cost airlines with partners

4 August 2010 | Thai Airways and Singapore-based Tiger Airways have joined forces to launch a new low-fare airline, called Thai Tiger Airways, in the first quarter of 2011. Thai Tiger will offer short-haul services out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport and planned destinations include Chiang Mai, Phuket, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Macau, Shenzhen and Chennai. THAI will have a 51% share in the new carrier.

Budget airlines are expanding rapidly throughout Asia and in 2009 accounted for 15.7 percent of total capacity (compared with just 1 percent in 2001), according to the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation. THAI has seen its market share on domestic routes drop from 80% to 50 % and its regional market share from 42% to 30 % over the last few years. Using the low-cost expertise of Tiger Airways will allow THAI to become more competitive in the fast-growing intra-Asian travel market, and prepare itself for the upcoming liberalization of the ASEAN skies in 2015. THAI already has a 39% stake in domestic low-cost airline Nok Air.
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Gatwick Airport wants travelers to tweet their feedback while at the airport

2 August 2010 | London Gatwick Airport is actively encouraging travelers at the airport to post complaints, feedback, and suggestions in 140 characters or less via Twitter. As part of a pilot programme, information screens in the check-in areas display the following message – “Are you on Twitter? Get in touch with us @gatwick_airport and let us know about your experience at Gatwick today”.

With this new initiative Gatwick Airport has basically set up a customer service system that addresses traveler’s needs in real time. Gatwick has been active on Twitter since August 2010, and often responds to comments, but according to the airport, “this now takes it one step further by actually integrating social media into the physical space of the airport”. Twitter replies from staff are currently only offered during office hours, as most other airports and airlines do. The plan however is to extend the Twitter service to run 24 hours a day. Read full article »

Virgin America raises the bar (again) with new IFE features

29 July 2010 | Virgin America has upgraded its ‘Red’ in-flight entertainment system with a number of innovative features, including the first ever seatback digital shopping platform, an open tab service, and Google Maps with terrain view. Already on Virgin America, passengers can use the IFE system to watch live satellite television, chat with other passengers, play 3D games such as Doom, and offset carbon emissions for their flight. Passengers can also purchase snacks, meals, and alcoholic beverages from their seats via Red. Flight attendants receive the orders via a tablet PC and bring the ordered items to the seat.

The boutique airline is the first U.S carrier to eliminate the traditional Skymall print shopping catalogues, moving it to the seatback screen instead. Called ‘The Red Store’, passengers will be able to buy a range of products – some unique to Virgin America – via the touch-screen display or the Qwerty keyboard in the armrest. Products range from the Sony PSP to the latest Michael Kors tote, and shoppers also earn ‘Elevate’ frequent flyer points. To pay, passengers swipe their credit card through the reader in the IFE system and their purchases are delivered to their home or destination address seven days later. Read full article »

Cathay Pacific customizes iPhone app for the iPad

28 July 2010 | On the same day (23 July) the Apple iPad went on sale in Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific launched one of the world’s first customised airline applications for the device. In April 2009, Cathay Pacific also was one of the first airlines to develop its ‘CX Mobile’ application for multiple mobile platforms, such as BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, besides the iPhone. In addition to the functionality of the existing CX Mobile app, the iPad application now also enables users to make bookings for their Cathay Pacific flights from the device.

The iPad app also provides users with flight schedule information and lets them manage their flight booking, check the status of their flight, and check-in. The CX Mobile app provides information on the airline’s frequent flyer program, and contains more than 70 Cathay ‘City Guides’, as well as the airline’s latest ‘Meet the Team’ advertising campaign, which stars real Cathay Pacific staff instead of actors. Read full article »

Qantas unveils ‘next generation’ check-in for its frequent flyers

26 July 2010 | Qantas has unveiled what it calls a ‘next generation’ check-in experience. The new ground service provides premium Qantas passengers on domestic flights with a smart card-based check-in, as well as electronic bags tags that keeps track of their luggage. The new check-in is designed by renowned designer Marc Newson who earlier created Qantas’ A380 cabin and its first class lounges.

The ‘next generation’ check-in will be trialled from August 1^st in Perth among 100,000 Qantas premium Frequent Flyer members, who will receive a new smart chip-embedded Qantas Frequent Flyer card, called the ‘Q Card’. Passengers arriving at the airport who have not already checked in either online or on their mobile, can check in simply by tapping their Q card against a scanning point. A visual alert confirms a successful check-in, and the frequent flyer card is turned into an electronic boarding card, which the passenger can use to self-board at the gate. Travelers also receive a confirmation SMS with details such as seat number, departure gate and boarding time. Read full article »