What a year it has been for the airline industry when it comes to marketing. With healthier profits this year, we’ve seen many airlines push the envelop when it comes to marketing and social media innovation. So to sum up the year, we’re sharing the top 11 marketing innovations by airlines in 2011.

While going through these, you’ll also realize that most of those that made the list aren’t one-off campaigns, but mature strategies made up of tactics that drive very specific business goals. So gone are the days of fluffy, one-off social-media campaigns with questionable ROI. Hope these inspire you for 2012!

Estonian Air social loyalty program: AirScore, the airline’s groundbreaking, yet simple, loyalty program rewards travelers for online advocacy. You earn virtual points on Facebook for sharing a trip report or booking through the airline’s Facebook app. And these can be redeemed for simple privileges like fast-security lane access. In 10 days, the program generated over a million impressions on Facebook, more than the number of passengers carried by the airline in a year! It’s now won three global awards in three months. Read more… (airlinetrends.com)
SpiceJet Bombardier …

Some of you know from my tweets that I was in Africa for the first time this month, in Kampala, Uganda to be specific. It was a great experience to be finally on the continent that I had heard so much about. It was also when Qatar Airways launched their non-stop daily service from Doha to Kampala. And at the press conference, the CEO promised to add services to neighboring Kigali in Rwanda, Mombasa in Kenya and Zanzibar in Tanzania.

And Qatar Airways is not the only airline expanding into Africa. Gulf Air is adding flights, so are Turkish Airlines and regional giants Ethiopian and Kenya Airways. Which begs the question, if a nation doesn’t yet have a national airline, should it start one to boost tourism, or get other airlines to fly more often into its airports? I’d say starting a national airline would be self-defeating today.

Travel is growing, but not airline profits
While the growth in the number of air travelers continues to surge ahead in the developing world, due to fast growing middle-class, that doesn’t necessarily co-relate to airlines making profits too.

The last decade, 2001-2010, …

As I checked in on Foursquare at Washington Dulles Airport this morning on my way to Chicago, I couldn’t help but notice the following display at one of the idle United gates:

In light of the article I wrote in this space a few months ago, I must say I was quite proud. Since I wrote that first article, UA has merged their Twitter presence with Continental (and are actually still tweeting from both), but it’s nice to see them complete the message by including the Twitter handle this time. Glad somebody’s paying attention…and well done, United!
This is how it looked previously on their napkins!

I have to admit that I’m a big Singapore Airlines (SIA) fan, and when someone says “you’re a great way to fly”, I can almost sing the SIA melody in my head.  But even I was surprised when SIA announced that they will be launching a low-cost long-haul airline, on the lines of AirAsia X and Jetstar.

Yes, Singapore Airlines is no longer the most profitable airline in the world (Cathay Pacific took over that title), and yes they’re losing market share to the likes of Emirates and AirAsiaX (to a lesser extent), but to go with a business model that’s hardly proven was a surprise move for a brand that’s been risk-averse of late.

While the initial reports stated that a good amount of analysis has gone into the decision and a “largely untapped market” exists, it’s safe to say that SIA is playing catch up in a market carved out in its backyard by AirAsia X and Jetstar. While the key success factor for SIA till date has been its endearing Singapore Girl brand, that’s exactly the dilemma they need to address – whether to extend the brand to the low cost airline or not….

While I was extremely lucky to get myself out of Heathrow yesterday, most people were not. There were foam mattresses laid out across Terminal 3, with travelers stranded for up to three days. In fact, I only know one other friend who managed to get out on time!

As I boarded my flight, I got an email that had a Xmas wish that got me all cracking up! It was a prose style composition by my friend Christian Kamhaug, also the Head of Social Media at SAS Scandinavian Airlines. And Christian was kind enough to allow me to publish his original piece here on SimpliFlying.

Hope it brings a smile to your faces as well, and you get to spend the holiday season with your loved ones. I’m halfway there, with a last flight to Vancouver to catch tomorrow. Merry Christmas everyone!

’Twas a week before Christmas at London-Heathrow
The skies darkened over and it started to snow

And just as they say that it pours when it rains
The snow kept on falling, grounding all planes

Pretty soon all terminals were flowing over
With passengers wanting to go …

As many of you are aware, I spent the last week in Istanbul at the IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium, being the Chairman of the eMarketing track as well as delivering a keynote on why CRM = Cult Relationship Management (view presentation).

The last session at the conference turned out to be an intimate round-table sharing session, where all those present shared their key takeaways from the conference. It was unique because unlike most sessions where someone speaks and others listen, everyone loosened their ties and got up-close-and-personal.

I’ve compiled here some of those sharings, which essentially gives us a to-d0 list of senior airline executives from a commercial perspective in 2011.
What does the future of airline marketing look like?

“Gotta get off the fence on social media. Time to act is now, otherwise it’s too late” – a major west-European hybrid airline
“The expansion of the traveler lifecycle is a key development to be acted upon, as travel begins much before the passengers board the aircraft.” – Stuart Barwood, Brolin Consulting
“It’s time to accelerate data personalization for travelers, both online and offline” – Datalex VP
“Turkish Airlines should become a lifestyle brand – selling all top brands that are co-related to the …

Remember how Eurocontrol used social media to update travelers in the aftermath of the Icelandic volcanic eruption? Another crises, this time the Spanish Air traffic controllers strike, has caused the whole Spanish airspace to shut down. And AENA, the Spanish air traffic management organization has responded by using social media.

A brilliant analysis of the situation has been done by Miquel Ros on the AllPlane blog, and they’ve kindly allowed us to re-post their article here. It’s quite insightful as to how the events have unfolded. Enjoy the read!

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At the time of writing these lines the effects of the Spanish air controllers unannounced and almost total strike are still being felt throughout the whole South-Western European airspace. This industrial action has forced the closure of the entire Spanish airspace and gravely affected that of the surrounding countries (Portugal, Morocco), the chaos at airports has been total, more so when the controllers’ walk-away has coincided with the start of a five day holiday in Spain. The Spanish government has had to recur …

SimpliFlying has earned its reputation over the years by offering thought provoking insights into the world of airline branding. And nothing has been as instrumental affecting airline brands as social media.

As airlines become more active in this sphere, we attempt to answer a crucial question: Has social media truly benefited any airline? If so, how? To answer this question, we put together a series of case studies. In this set of six case studies, top executives from airlines such as Qantas, Volaris, airBaltic, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, and of course, Southwest, talk about how their social media strategies are pushing their airlines into the next era.

Recently, Facebook announced that its user base now exceeds 500m. Twitter, on the other hand is still lagging in numbers, but the growth rate of users easily outstrips that of Facebook. As our case studies will show, both of these platforms offer their unique advantages in terms of customer engagement and information sharing. However, more importantly, each requires its own unique strategy.

The heady growth of social media has brought its own advantages and ills. While platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and wikis offer unprecedented levels of engagement and information sharing with customers, there are perils …

I’ve spent early last week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, speaking at and Chairing the Pillars of Aviation conference, featuring industry stalwarts from around the world, including airline and airport heads. The conference instilled a lot of positivity in me, about the future of the sector, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Airports demonstrating leadership
For starters, no speakers backed out, and the conference hall was full. This may not sound significant, but it’s one of the early indicators of things getting back to normal. Among all the speeches, I was impressed by the efforts airports like Melbourne and GoldCoast are making to work in-tandem with airlines to ensure a healthy, business-driving relationship.

In fact, Malaysia Airports is doing a tremendous job creating the hub of the future, with an LCC terminal interconnected with the existing Kuala Lumpur International Airport. That means when the new LCC Terminal is ready in 2011, passengers would be able to seamlessly connect from a Cebu Pacific flight from Manila, to an AirAsia X flight to Delhi, or a Malaysia Airlines flight to London. And at a combined capacity of 53 million per year, it would be the largest airport-hub in the region.

To read more about what folks …

There has been a lot of educated commentary about Emirates’ latest A380 order taking the fleet size for that specific aircraft to a total of 90. Though that’s impressive, it’s worth thinking about how dramatically it would change Emirates’ competitors’ business plans.

While we can expect the likes of Air Canada and Lufthansa to seek more protection from their respective governments, the order is likely to dramatically change the airline environment in the Middle East itself. Specifically, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – both of which have been closely following the Emirates model – that of connecting any two cities in the world in one stop – will be forced to think about how to compete with a bigger, much bigger, Emirates. Here’s what I foresee happening within a couple of years.

Etihad Airways – if you can’t beat them, join them
I’ve dismissed an immediate merger of Emirates and Etihad previously on this blog, though it cannot be ruled out in the medium term.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ CEO has promised the Abu Dhabi government that the airline will be profitable by 2011. Given that Etihad …