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With the increasing popularity of smartphones, airlines and airports have developed hundreds of mobile phone apps to help users through the different stages of their travel cycle, from planning the trip to booking it to sharing it with friends. However, these apps are often meant as an on-the-go complement to the airline website. Now, with the arrival of browser-based HTML5 apps, like the ones offered by Google Chrome in the Chrome Web Store, airlines are unsure of whether to enter this new channel. Most of them, for the moment at least, seem to have decided to have websites and apps as separate entities on separate platforms, often depending on the website to drive the majority of traffic.
Early Adopters
Unsurprisingly, the first to test this new playing field is an airline with a reputation for being innovative. AirAsia has used the Chrome app platform to build an environment aimed mainly at the SimpliPlan stage of the Connected Traveler Lifecycle. Not just that, it is also a place where users can have fun, play Angry Birds and discover new destinations.
Tailored Partnerships
AirAsia understands that, while both its website and its Chrome app work on web browsers, different types of people behave differently and some will find this environment more appealing. Moreover, given the meteoric rise of Chrome to the position of the most used browser in the world, it makes perfect sense to exploit its innovative features. For this reason, AirAsia has partnered with two web-centered companies to add elements that appeal to the target user.
For the “discover” section, AirAsia has partnered with Flocations, a startup that specializes in creating destination maps where each user can find out what destinations he/she can fly to, based on the budget, desired travel date and point of origin. Undoubtedly, this will be immensely useful for users at the planning stage of their travel, especially due to the visual approach it adopts.
Gaming
However, the most engaging aspect of this app is perhaps the most unexpected one. The app allows users to play Angry Birds Heikki, a special version of the popular game, based on the F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen who drives for a racing team sponsored by AirAsia. Once again, this inclusion was most likely driven by the target market as it provides an interesting reason for people to use and share this application with their networks thus increasing viral reach, especially amongst younger, tech-savvy audiences.
It remains to be seen whether AirAsia can drive revenues from this new platform of engagement. Young people, who make up Chrome’s biggest user-base, are also the most likely to adopt and appreciate better, more engaging travel planning tools. Moreover, they are also more likely to look for unique destinations or travel experiences that this visual approach ably supports. Taking travel planning right to the user, in a more inviting setting, could potentially be a winning strategy for AirAsia.