AirlineTrends

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Keeping the pulse on the latest trends and innovations in the global airline industry. Inflight Ancillaries: How airlines can monetize their inflight engagement platforms January 2020 | As ancillary revenues are on the agenda of every airline, much has been written and said about the grand vision of airlines as omni-channel retailers, in which the in-flight part is just another touchpoint in an end-to-end, personalized, seamless, digital travel eco-system.However, as airlines are only just embarking on this merchandizing journey, we take a look at the current state of inflight retail, which sees the opening up of a cabin environment that was previously ‘closed’ because of proprietary IFE platforms and the lack of Internet connectivity.From In-Flight Entertainment to In-Flight Engagement platformsAndroid-based in-seat IFE platforms, wireless IFE, Internet connectivity, plus the large number of passengers – and increasingly cabin crew as well – that carry a digital device, provides airlines with much more control how to move beyond providing just entertainment to new opportunities to generate ancillary revenues in-flight.Jeff Standerski from Rockwell Collins summarizes this evolution nicely: “Passengers’ expectations have evolved from a passive ‘Please entertain me’ to a proactive ‘I want to entertain myself’. Our industry needs a new term to describe a holistic experience that is equal in every way to how people leverage their devices on terra firma. The future of the passenger/cabin interaction is beyond one of mere entertainment and can be more accurately described as one of deep and ongoing engagement: In-Flight Passenger Engagement.”A similar vision is painted by Thales CFO Fred Schreiner: “We are going to go into a period where it’s about engagement. How do we move from an in-seat system, where an airline is looking at cost line, to an in-seat solution coupled with connectivity that moves to a revenue line?” Schreiner said families will be able to plan their holidays from the seatback: booking restaurants and exploring street level views of a city’s sights.Eventually this means that this new ‘inflight engagement platform’ – be it seatback systems, inflight wireless portals or mobile apps – will become another touchpoint in the airline travel ecosystem. Read full article »AirlineTrends has an extensive knowledge of developments in the airline industry. Their trend presentations provided high quality output that played a significant contribution to our marketing strategy. - Peter Verheijde, Director Inflight Innovation, Air France KLM KLM s new Amsterdam flagship lounge has zones inspired by the Netherlands, including a ‘Dutch Mountain’ This article originally appeared on THE DESIGNAIRDecember 2018 | Just shy of KLM’s centenary, the airline has opened the first stage of its brand new lounge at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. The lounge – designed by Amsterdam-based Concrete – now boasts a completely new setup, set over tiered layers, with a ‘trendy’ ambience.The lounge features the latest technologies and innovations along with improved service and catering. While this is just a taster of what is yet to come, customers can already take advantage of this in a temporary setup while refurbishment of the second part of the lounge continues until its festive opening in summer 2019.Catering to KLM’s premium customers travelling on intercontinental flights, the international KLM Crown Lounge is located between the E and F Piers at Schiphol.The lounge has a new impressive entrance on the Schiphol’s so-called ‘Holland Boulevard’. Customers  access the lounge by escalator (or elevator) and pass glass walls that contain five thousand of KLM’s iconic Delft Blue houses on their way up.The lounge facilities are located on the second floor and on a newly opened, completely rejuvenated third floor. Passengers are welcomed individually by personal lounge assistance and can gain easy access by scanning their boarding passes at self-service devices. Read full article » From Lounge to Cabin: China Airlines’ branded premium passenger experience December 2018 | Airline passenger experience innovations can be nicely summarized along the lines of the customer experience dichotomy of ‘time well saved’ (e.g, removing friction, with a strong focus on digital innovation) and ‘time well spent (e.g, creating branded and/or experiential spaces).Following our trip last year on Finnair’s A350 to report on the airline’s ‘Nordic Experience’, this year we travelled onboard China Airlines’ A350, which is another example of how full service airlines are becoming more creative and bold in the design of their lounges and cabins in an effort to differentiate their brand in the midst of fierce price competition.Lounge to CabinThe idea of commencing the journey early by providing a lounge experience that comes near or matches the experience in the air has began to take hold.Air China, for example, worked with its design firm (JPA Design) to develop a holistic ground to air experience which incorporates the story telling theme of the airlines’ new cabins including traditional Chinese iconography designed by renowned Chinese artist Han Meilin.And Finnair, together with dSign, developed a ‘Space Alive’ design standard which is applied on the airline’s Helsinki lounge and its A350 cabins. The concept uses dynamic mood lighting and neutral furnishings to set a mood that suits the time of day, destination or season.China Airlines NexGen initiativeIn 2014, China Airlines launched its ‘NexGen’ program with a design team led by Taiwanese designer Ray Chen. Moving beyond the neutral lounge designs and generic grey and blue cabin environments, Chen sought to design a lounge and cabin environment inspired by the Song Dynasty that – in China Airlines’ words “serves as a platform to showcase Taiwanese culture.” Read full article » Delta partners with Uber-inspired package delivery platform Roadie to deliver delayed luggage to passengers December 2018 | Delta in 2011 became the first airline to make the baggage process more transparent for passengers with its ‘Track Checked Bags’ service. Delta passengers on domestic flights can track their checked bag(s) in real-time via the Delta app, even when up in the air.Plus, Delta’s ‘Bags On Time’ guarantee means that passengers on domestic routes will have their checked luggage at the bag caroussel within 20 minutes, or receive 2500 SkyMiles when this takes longer.Delta in 2016 also invested USD 50 million in RFID technology to further expand is bag tracking service to international stations. RFID scanners, RFID bag tag printer, and RFID pier and claim readers have been installed in 344 stations worldwide, which has resulted in baggage tracking that is 99.9 percent accurate.With sharing real-time bag tracking with passengers still being a novelty in the industry, Delta has further innovated its baggage service to include delayed luggage.Delayed baggage claim via Delta appEarlier this year, Delta expanded its Fly Delta app functionality to allow passengers to skip the bag service office visit when luggage is missing.The mobile bag service feature allows passengers to file a bag claim at their final destination through the Fly Delta app, instead of having to visit the local Delta baggage service office, when Delta sees the bag has missed a checkpoint. The airline proactively notifies passengers if their bag will be delayed, and provides a link to complete a delayed bag file with the app.“This is one more way we’re putting the power for a customer to control their experience in the palm of their hand,” commented Delta’s Chief Operating Officer, Gil West. “The last thing a customer wants to do when their bag is delayed is to go in person to do something that can be done with a few taps on their phone, knowing that we’ll deliver their bag directly to them when it arrives.” Read full article » Bikevertising: WOW Air s bike sharing scheme in Reykjavik December 2018 | A marketing tactic that has been adopted by airlines such as KLM, Alaska Airlines and AirBaltic is to advertise on bike share programs (a.k.a. ‘bikevertising’).As cities across the globe have been taken part in bicycle share programs which are enjoyed by tourists and locals alike, those bicycles are a smart and relevant way for an airline to advertise.BalticBikeLatvian-based ‘value carrier’ AirBaltic even operated its own bike sharing program, called BalticBike, between 2010 and 2014 in Riga and the seaside resort of Jurmala (the bike sharing scheme is now operated by Sixt https://www.sixtbicycle.lv/en). At that time the airline commented that “BalticBike makes a marginal profit, but it is hugely popular among the city residents and tourists, and hugely visible, and so irreplaceable in advertising.”WOWcitybikeIn a similar entrepreneurial spirit, WOW Air, which bills itself as a “happy low-fare, long-haul, airline based in Iceland,” last year launched a bike sharing scheme in Reykjavik called WOWcitybike. In 2016, the city of Reykjavik advertised for ideas and interested parties in running rental bicycle stations in Reykjavik, and WOW Air answered the call  in cooperation with Canadian bike sharing company PBSC Urban Solutions.Targetting the millennial demographic, WOW Air has been compared to a “flying youth hostel,” and providing tourists and citizens an affordable and fun way to explore the capital on their own fits well with the airline’s brand image. Read full article » Branded Experience: China Airlines’ A350 showcases Taiwan’s nature November 2018 | As the airline industry has always captured people’s imagination, airlines can tap into their country’s heritage to incorporate a bit of storytelling into the passenger experience. Legacy carriers in particular can benefit from their ‘flag carrier’ status to differentiate from cheap and cheerful low-cost airlines.Going local provides airlines – and their countries of origin – with a ‘soft power’ tool to showcase their national heritage and offer passengers a way to experience local culture onboard – even when they are only flying the airline to transit to a third country. This also resonates with consumer trends such as authenticity, storytelling and the rediscovery of national and regional identities in a rapidly globalized world.Airlines that are doing a good job in this perspective are Finnair, Icelandair, SWISS, Hawaiian, Etihad, Air New Zealand and China Airlines. For more on this ‘branded experience’ topic, see this excellent article by Marisa Garcia.Flying Ambassador of TaiwanIn 2014, China Airlines launched its ‘NexGen’ program with a design team led by Taiwanese designer Ray Chen.Moving beyond the generic grey and blue cabin environments, Chen sought to design a cabin environment that – in China Airlines’ words “serves as a platform to showcase Taiwanese culture and setting foot into our cabins is like stepping into a traditional Chinese landscape painting.”For example, the cabin walls and seats of China Airlines’ B777-300s and A350s are decorated with finishes of persimmon wood grains, as well as the table surfaces of the seats in Business. Persimmon is an edible fruit whose tree is symbolic to good wishes.Apart from the wood veneer finishes, the cabin is also covered in a dark carpet with geometric images of the persimmon fruit. The negative spaces of the caligraphic drawings are of light gold colors while the positive spaces are dark blue. Furthermore, lavatories on the A350 also follow the local design philosophy in having a Chinese landscape ink painting on the wall. Read full article »The airlinetrends.com newsletter is highly appreciated at airBaltic. We are always inspired by the latest innovations featured in the newsletter and for example use it as input for our brainstorming sessions. - Janis Vanags, Vice President Corporate Communications, airBaltic Short-hauling: Spanish regional airline Air Nostrum wants to operate high-speed rail routes October 2018 | As short-haul flying is mostly a tedious, uncomfortable experience with lots of queuing and waiting, while at the same time a growing number of consumers have become more conscious about the environmental impact of air travel, the popularity of high-speed rail as an alternative to short-haul flying has steadily been growing.Compared to air travel within a range of around 700 kilometer, high-speed rail means less hassle, because of direct connections between city centers, lighter security and luggage regulations, and a much more comfortable journey.In Europe, for example Eurostar’s London-Amsterdam service – which was launched in April this year – has proved such a success that the train operator expects to operate a third and possibly even a fourth daily service from next year on.And on many city pairs, high-speed rail now has a much higher market share than air travel. For example, between Madrid and Barcelona, 65 percent of the market has moved to high-speed rail, while ItaloTren has a market share of 75 percent between Milan and Rome. In Japan, the Shinkansen for a long time has a market share of over 85 percent on the routes between Tokyo and Osaka and between Kyoto/Osaka and Fukuoka.And as Google Flights nows shows Deutsche Bahn as alternative to a flight when searching for a fare between for example Amsterdam and Frankfurt (a journey of over 400 km), ‘short-hauling’ via high-speed rail is on track for further growth.High-speed rail as feederSeveral airlines and rail companies are already working together to provide travellers with a seamless ‘intermodal’ connection, effectively using high-speed rail as feeder service to long-haul flights.For example, Lufthansa Express Rail is a collaboration between the airline and Deutsche Bahn and provides passengers with an integrated booking from 8 destinations throughout Germany to and from Frankfurt Airport. This means reserved seats on the train, remote baggage check-in, plus a guaranteed connection. Lufthansa will expand its Express Rail service to 20 German destinations by mid-2019. Read full article » China Airlines mobile app lets passenger pre-order duty free, pre-select meals, and book high-speed rail tickets October 2018 | Passengers, spoilt by availability of user-friendly apps on their smartphones that allow them to manage many parts of their daily life, are raising the bar for airline apps to become more relevant as well.Digital travel companionAt the same time many airlines are working to evolve their app into a ‘digital travel companion’ in order to extend their service beyond just flying passengers from A to B, and generate some ancillary revenues in the process.Describing its mobile app as a “personal travel secretary,” China Airlines’ app features innovative functionality that goes beyond the regular airline app basics of searching, booking, seat selection, check-in, and flight status.Ancillaries, recommendationsBesides offering passengers the option to purchase ancillary services such as excess luggage and in-flight Wi-Fi, the China Airlines app provides recommendations on destinations and duty free items. The suggestions are based on the data of passengers who are logged into the app and uses elements such as the flight history and duty free purchasing records of members – as well as data of members with similar attributes – to generate personalized recommendations.Duty free items can be purchased via China Airlines stand-alone SkyBoutique duty free app, which is accessible linked to the main China Airlines app.Pre-select Business Class mealMany airlines today – ranging from Singapore Airlines to American Airlines – give passengers in Business with the option to pre-select their meal. This gives frequent travellers more meals to choose from, while it allows the airline to plan and load more efficiently and reduce waste.However, several airlines still only allow passengers to pre-select their meal via the website, or even the phone, while this kind of service is a typical mobile app feature, as it offers passengers a convenient way to add their preferred meal to their booking in the run-up to their flight.Similar to Qantas and Qatar Airways (among others), China Airlines Business passengers can select their preferred meals via the mobile app and choose from 10 different meals to pre-order 14 days to 24 hours before departure. Read full article » Transavia offers passengers the option to order a breakfast box for pick-up on arrival October 2018 | Much has been said how airlines should evolve/transform into travel platforms that provide passengers with relevant products and services during their journey from door to door. Think airport transfers, baggage pick-up and delivery, duty free delivery on arrival, etcetera.These kind of convenience-based services are taking off in a response to the expectations of customers used to manage their life from their smartphone in an ‘on-demand’ economy.Beyond the flight: GroceriesA new example of how airlines are thinking beyond the flight is a pilot between Dutch LCC Transavia and Holland’s major retailer Albert Heijn which aims to ease the woes of travellers who find an empty fridge and a closed supermarket when returning home, for example in the evening or on a Sunday.Similar insights have led retailers such as Tesco to trial a QR shopping wall trial at London Gatwick back in 2012, while Lufthansa has held trials with German supermarkets Rewe and Edeka to let passengers order groceries via its FlyNet inflight wifi portal for home delivery.Appie FlyAppie Fly is a joint experiment by Albert Heijn and Transavia that allows passengers on all inbound Transavia flights to Rotterdam The Hague Airport to order fresh breakfast boxes and then collect them after arrival. The breakfast boxes can be picked up from the Appie Fly collection point, which is located at the Illy Coffee Corner in the arrival hall of the airport.Passengers can place their orders online when checking in for their flight to the Netherlands via Transavia’s mobile responsive website. The ‘Welcome Home’ boxes, which are sufficient for two people, offer two varieties of breakfast and are priced at euro 12.50 each. Read full article » Philippine Airlines A350 features innovative lighting design by LIFT This article first appeared on THE DESIGNAIRAugust 2018 | Philippine Airlines’ A350 – featuring a brand new cabin product – will soon start flying on its long-haul city pairing of Manila to London Heathrow. The lighting system onboard might not have taken the limelight, but it certainly creates it, designed as part of a truly holistic cabin concept.“Following on PAL’s A330 retrofit and new A321neo with fully flat beds in business class, the A350 program was about underlining the airline’s positioning as a full-service, global network carrier,” says Daniel Baron, owner of LIFT Strategic Design. “So it was important to look beyond the usual color, material and finish, and communicate ‘the heart of the filipino’ in a brand new way.”Branded ExperienceIt is true that in many cabin design programs, mood lighting is often considered after the rest of the trim and finish is in place due to the still-siloed approach to the passenger experience. “In the case of the PAL A350, the robust lighting system gave us the ability to make mood lighting an integral part of the onboard experience, with distinct scenes designed around country, culture and brand. We aimed for a new level of differentiation, a new emotional connection,” says Baron.LIFT has worked with Philippine Airlines on a variety of projects for over a decade, which meant that Daniel has spent a large proportion of his time in the Philippines. “Thanks to those experiences, we understand well the character of the nation and the aspirations of the staff. We wanted to communicate the spirit of a nation that prides itself on hospitality, on generosity, on celebrating life.”Welcome HomeOver five million Filipinos work outside their country, many for years at a time, sending money home to support parents and send kids to school. “They may be flying in economy class, but in my mind their hard work and sacrifices make them super VIPs. A lot of time was spent developing lighting scenes that would instantly say, from the moment they board the aircraft, ‘you’re already home’.” Read full article » KLM ‘Anytime You Wish’ service caters to passenger expectations shaped by the on-demand economy At the 2018 Passenger Experience Conference, AirlineTrends founder Raymond Kollau held a presentation on the impact of our on-demand lifestyles has on the food and beverage expectations in-flight. This overview was the starting point for a wider discussion, bringing together experts from KLM, Norwegian, LSG Group and Diehl to consider the challenges the on-demand catering trend poses and how the industry could address them.April 2018 | Consumer behavior is changing. As smartphones make it quick and hassle-free to order goods online, watch a movie, or flag a taxi, the so-called ‘On-Demand Economy’ has generated a sense of entitlement with consumers to fast, simple, attention-saving experiences.Expectation TransferAnd, in what TrendWatching has dubbed ‘Expectation Transfer’, the experiences consumers have with one brand also impacts the expectations they have from brands in other industries.David Mattin, head of Trends and Insights at TrendWatching believes the expectation transfer happens in customer-business relationships when an innovation serves a basic need in a new way, and therefore sets new customer expectations. Mattin uses the ubiquitous rideshare app, Uber as a shining example, “Uber helped to create new expectations and those expectations spread, becoming the now well-established trend known as on-demand. That’s expectation transfer: the mechanism by which new innovations from around the world shape what your customers will soon expect from you [the business].”And raising the bar even more: Analysis from Uber has found the longer Uber has been in a city, the less willing to wait for a car everyone becomes.Food Delivery PlatformsOne of the areas where the on-demand economy has had an enormous impact is food delivery. Online food-delivery platforms such as Just Eat, GrubHub, Delivery Hero, Deliveroo, Takeaway.com, FoodPanda, Foodora, Uber Eats and Amazon Restaurants have expanded choice and convenience, allowing urban customers across the globe to order from a wide array of restaurants with a single tap of their mobile phone. Read full article » Finnair’s A350 features a host of innovative passenger experience elements By Raymond KollauNovember 2017 | Finnair has been the first European airline to take delivery of the A350-900 and the third carrier worldwide (after Qatar Airways and Vietnam Airlines). Finnair’s 297-seat aircraft is configured in three classes with 208 seats in Economy, 43 in Economy Comfort and 46 in Business.There is a lot to like about Finnair’s (and its design agency dSign Vertti Kivi & Co) approach towards designing the A350 onboard experience, which features several innovative elements. 1. Welcome Onboard: Galley ScreenOn most widebody aircraft passengers enter the cabin at the so-called door 2 and often their first impression is the sights of an industrial-looking galley area. Finnair has come up with a clever (and economic) solution by installing galley screens that are lowered when passengers are boarding and which feature a striking photo.Marisa Garcia from FlightChic summarizes it nicely: “There is a very clever introduction of Finland’s lush green nature with a calm forest image in a galley screen, which I found was an attractive detail. It helps the cabin feel fresh, quieting the disturbing visual noise of galley equipment. It’s really a very simple thing, but Finnair took the time to consider it.” 2. Mood Lighting: Northern LightsA remarkable feature of the cabin is the dynamic mood LED lighting. When passengers board the plane, they are greeted by the sight of clouds drifting across a blue sky throughout the cabin (video), while cool Nordic blue shades resembling the Northern lights will set the mood as the plane approaches Helsinki.In all, there are 24 lighting schemes, and for example a warm orange glow can be created to suggest an Asian ambience on flights to the Far East. Says Juha Järvinen, Finnair’s Chief Commercial Officer, “Finnair’s new Airbus aircraft feature a cabin interior largely based on the Space Alive concept developed by dSign, where the main idea is to change the mood of the cabin space as the flight progresses.”The mood lighting is also integrated with the in-seat IFE system. Jouni Oksanen, VP Digital at Finnair tells Hangar.no, “We’ve also added a timeline for dimming of the displays. This means that during the flight the screens will adapt to the time zones the aircraft passes. When it’s night outside, it will be night on the screens so it does not light up a whole bunch of bright displays that disturbs people who want to sleep.” 3. Business Class: Ladies’ RoomFemale passengers in Business Class have access to a dedicated Ladies’ Room which is stocked with cosmetics and other supplies from Finnish brand Clean (images here and here). Australian Business Traveller reports that the ladies-only lavatory will be made available to “high-flying hommes” in the event that there’s a higher than usual proportion of men to women in business class, but as a rule it will be reserved for women. Read full article » AIX 2017: Smart design innovations to make Economy seating more comfortable This article first appeared on Future Travel Experience (FTE)April 2017 | While Business Class passengers have become used to full-flat beds, those who travel in Economy have had little to get excited about in recent times. As airlines seek to increase cabin density, many Economy passengers have seen comfort levels at best stagnate, and at worst decrease.In-flight entertainment developments and the ongoing rollout of onboard Wi-Fi are at least helping to provide welcome distraction, but if shoulders are rubbing and legroom is limited, the Economy Class experience is unlikely to be remembered with fondness.At the heart of the discussion about Economy Class comfort is the seat itself. Surely, if passengers have a comfortable seat, they will have a more enjoyable flight. With this simple premise in mind, FTE at the recent Aircraft Interiors Expo 2017 in Hamburg spoke to a number of aircraft seat designers and manufacturers to learn about their efforts to increase comfort across the board.Wider Middle SeatFor example, recently we have seen several initiatives that aim to increase the popularity of the dreaded middle seat. Bombardier’s C Series aircraft (currently operated by SWISS and airBaltic) features a 3-2 configuration, with a slightly wider middle seat (19 inch vs 18.5 inches for the window and aisle seats).Patrick Baudis, VP Marketing Bombardier Commercial Aircraft explained that feedback from airlines and passengers so far has been positive. “The wider seats are a big element that pleases the passengers. With wider seats, you can turn, you can move your legs, and that compensates for pitch to a certain extent.” Read full article » Jeju Air offers passengers on overnight flights the option to stretch out April 2017 | Moving beyond the low hanging – and very profitable – ancillary fruit of checked bags, advance seat reservations, extra legroom seats and last-minute upgrades, airlines are becoming more creative in generating revenues beyond just the ticket fare.One way to approach ancillary innovation is to look at the different needs passengers travelling in the same class may have. For example, SWISS has recently introduced a fee to pre-reserve one of the popular solo business class seats on its A330 and B777-300ER aircraft.In Economy, airlines are increasingly offering passengers options for more comfort at a time when seat density is increasing and load factors are high.Empty Seat OptionSouth Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air – which flies between South Korea and Japan, China, Taiwan, Guam, Saipan, The Phillipines, and Bangkok with a fleet of 26 single class B737-800s – has come up with a clever, hands-on, way to generate last-minute ancillary income, low-cost style.About two years ago, Jeju Air introduced a ‘Side Seat’ offer, which is similar to OptionTown’s ‘Empty Seat Option’ (adopted by airlines such as AirAsia X, Vietnam Airlines and Spicejet), and lets travellers purchase one or two seats next to their own seat, in an effort to sell last-minute seat inventory.Whereas the Empty Seat Option lets passengers purchase an option to a possible empty seat for a small fee and be notified if an empty seat is available 1 to 3 days before their flight, Jeju Air’s passengers can only book the additional seats at their departure airport on the day of the travel (up to 1 hour before boarding).Jeju Air’s ‘Side Seats’ are priced at USD 10 for domestic routes, USD 25 on routes to and from Japan and China’s Shandong region, USD 30 on flights between South Korea and Southern China and Taipei, whereas the fee for a last minute extra seat is USD 50 on routes to and from Southeast Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand) and Oceania (Guam, Saipan). 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