And since I didn’t have to speak for the second time in the same week (first being the Eyefortravel summit in London), it was good to sit back and just be a sponge. I’m sharing here some of my key observations, as well as quotes from some of the CEOs at the conference.

If only flying was this simple..

1) Cost Leadership is critical

Time and again, we were reminded that a low-cost base is the most critical factor in making an airline successful. Alex Cruz, Vueling’s CEO emphasized that while they may consider code-sharing with airlines other than Iberia in the future, it will only be done if there are no incremental costs. He shared the example of how they’ve been able to put in-flight magazines on-board Vueling flights, only after the costs of producing the magazines and the cost of fuel required to carry the additional weight in the plane had been paid off fully.

It’s all [about] managing cost and only the carriers with the lowest costs will survive,” Alex said.

Azran Osman-Rani, the CEO of low-cost long haul AirAsia X, and someone I’ve looked up to for a long time, also re-iterated that vendors who pitch him products should be prepared to show how the investment is fully recovered in a given period of time. Moreover, Azran mentioned that when it comes to making profits, ”percentage market share of a destination is much more critical in making a profit than sector length”

2) Innovation may suffer, with the focus on costs

Something (a little disturbing) that emerged from all the discussion on keeping costs as low as possible, was that the focus on innovation may not be supreme. Azran was quite clear in stating that he’d rather make AirAsia X the HTC of the airline world, rather than the Apple. Which is to say he’ll offer more features at a lower cost, and have someone else be the first mover.

Unfortunately, since most of the CEOs concurred that they’d like to keep their costs low, I couldn’t really tell who’d take up the mantle and be the Apple. Perhaps a new airline startup (of which there aren’t too many), or an industry outsider (remember what Apple did to the phone market?).

3) No strict airline models

Over the three years that I’ve been part of the airline industry, I’ve seen ample debate on the dilution of the LCC model – with purists constantly favoring a bare-bones model of a budget airline, with a single plane-type, no code shares, online-only bookings etc. However, the conclusion I have reached after Istanbul is: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Conditions should define approach.

In an interview with SimpliFlying (to be published soon), Mr Borghetti also mentioned that he sees metal-neutrality and multiple-code sharing as the future, and the days of the big-three alliances may be numbered.

Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller went so far as to exclaim that, “we should clearly say that seamless product sold by alliances is a big smoke screen.”

4) Need to look beyond flying

Either way, the aviation industry is as exciting as ever. It gives me an adrenaline rush just to be part of this industry, because there’s constant change, which leads to pro-active (or forced) innovation, which ultimately translates into lots of new opportunities. Don’t you think so?

Keep flying! SimpliFlying

• Episode 5 of SimpliFlying Podcasts: Interview with Vueling’s CEO Alex Cruz and Industry Updates
• AirAsia X: a brand with a huge potential, but remember, “you’re only buying the flying”
• Airline branding: Keynote video from Abu Dhabi, and CNBC Arabia
• Five reasons why budget airlines in Asia are successful
• Five and a half secrets for airlines to drive revenue from social media: Keynote presentation from LCC Summit in Al-Ain

Routes Americas is a gathering of airlines, airports, aviation service providers and industry experts focused around air service development. With a constantly changing and evolving industry like aviation, the people in our great industry are always on the move, figuring out what direction to grow, what direction to stop growing and, quite simply, what to do next.

The focus of the Routes Americas event, and similar events that take place throughout the year, is often analogized with what common culture refers to as “speed dating.”  These meetings sometimes lead to new air service but most importantly allow airlines the opportunity to meet with multiple airports over the two-day period and to get a feel for what each community could bring to the table if the airline were to consider service.  Airports get the chance to wow the airlines with news and updates on their communities and even send the airline planning reps home with cool, memorable marketing trinkets.

As a former, small airport, marketing and development director, this will be the first “speed dating” event where I will not have any “dates” set up and I am looking forward to watching from the sidelines and getting a different view of the dynamics.  I am excited to listen in on the Live Airline Briefings; five airlines, five very different market segments, five (hopefully) open briefings, complete with live discussion on airline brands and upcoming plans for route development in the Americas.

From European charter carrier, TUI and full service European carrier British Airways Carrier, to two US low cost carriers (Allegiant and Alaska) and a Latin American Full Services carrier (TAM) we should have a pretty good program ahead of us.
What is the TAM growth strategy for the Americas and how is the LAN merger playing into that?  TAM currently only serves three cities in North America but perhaps the merger will open up new west coast opportunities.

Will British airways share any insight into the strategy for London Gatwick following their purchase of BMI slots at London Heathrow?

Allegiant Air has become a well-known domestic leisure carrier over the past few years, providing a unique vacation product at low fares, but international strategies for this carrier are still in development and Keith Hansen is expected to update us on next steps.

We reached out to a few aviation insiders to hear their thoughts on the upcoming briefings and the expectations seem to shadow my own: Candid, honest airline insight.

Justin Meyer, Manager of Air Service Development at Kansas City International Airport, is specifically looking forward to Ben Munson’s Alaska Airlines briefing. Alaska launches new nonstop flights between Kansas City and Seattle just three weeks after the event concludes.

From Justin’s perspective, “airline strategies are changing more frequently than ever before and the airline briefings at Routes Americas will provide air service professionals with the latest updates from airline decision makers, allowing airports to ensure they are on the same page with current and potential airline partners.”

Routes Americas, similar to many other route development conferences, is a channel for airports to access airline planners, creating priceless networking opportunities which help to build relationships and foundations for successful partnerships.

I wanted to hear a bit more about airline expectations from the conference, so I got in touch with Ben Munson, Manager, Network Planning at Alaska Airlines to find out more about what they hope to gain from participating in the live airline briefings. Ben shared with me that he too is looking forward to the opportunity to meet with some unique airports/markets in the Americas. Ben is hoping to reach a larger audience during the briefing and to answer questions, to free up time in the one-on-one meetings for sharing the non-generic details with airports.

Ben’s tip to airports going into Routes Americas – “Share the information that is not easily accessible from our sources.” Airline planners can pull standard DOT data and OAG schedule data all day long – use the one-on-one meetings at Routes to sell your community and provide the unique insight that the planners can’t pull from a database.  Community wins, local business trends; share what makes your community unique and a great fit to the network strategy.

Brad DiFore, Managing Partner at Ailevon told us that he specifically hopes to find insight into the non-U.S. carriers.

“My hope is that they (the carriers) provide some candid insight as to the direction of their networks.  I think that oftentimes airline planners are so close to their own network and the constantly evolving nature of their plans/priorities, that they assume outsiders know what their priorities are.”

Sunshine + industry news and updates + airline/airport networking time– sounds like I have an exciting few days ahead of me.

Are you attending Routes Americas? We want to hear about your Routes Americas 2012 experience first hand.

Keep a look out for SimpliFlying while in Nassau to share video accounts of your Routes experience. SimpliFlying will be on deck throughout the conference to help document the takeaways of this fantastic development forum.

• Simplinnovative Air Service Development Marketing by Penticton Airport to get Westjet service
• [Videos] Reliving the Best of Routes Americas 2012
• Three ways airports can use social media for air service marketing and route development
• Multi leg flights on budget airlines, great idea
• Announcing the judges for SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media

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!

1. 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)
2. SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 launch: Imagine launching new destinations between secondary and tertiary cities in a market that is scared of flying turbo props. SpiceJet did just that with Bombardier’s Q400 this year and educated the customers about the superior product and new destinations., primarily through social media. The result? 88% load factors for the five newly launched destinations in  just three weeks. Read more…
3. Finnair launch Helsinki-Singapore with Angry Birds: Route launch marketing is critical to fill up the plane (see our Top 10 case studies). And Finnair this year tapped on the most famous Finnish brand (no longer Nokia) – Angry Birds – to drive awareness of the new route. They filled up the plane full of Angry Birds fans who were not just passionate about the game, but really good at it too – who played throughout the 15 hour flight! And while at that, got the world to know about the new route. Read more…
4. KLM Miami route launch and customer service: KLM changed the dates of their new route to Miami after a Twitter challenge with Dutch radio host to fill up the plane. They have also set the standard for customer service through Twitter and Facebook, where all requests are addressed within 60 mins. No wonder they won the best airline in social media award this year! Read more…
5. Delta Assist: Delta Airlines goes a step ahead of even KLM, by promising to answer tweets within 10 mins, and resolving the situation within 24 hours! Now that 88% of all tweets from travelers to airlines are about customer service issues, this is certainly needed. Read more…
6. Air New Zealand’s safety videos and Rico: Think about an airline with a personality, and it’s Air New Zealand that pops into your mind today. Their quirky safety videos are complemented by their edgy and furry mascot, Rico – who had almost of a cult following. You wither loved him or hated him! Interestingly, he was recently “killed” by the airline through a murder mystery. Read more…
7. Virgin America GiltCity giveaway: 2011 was the year  of group-buying deals. But Virgin America launched the mother of all giveaways where not only could you charter a full plane but also get to name the plane for $60,000 (about $410 per person for a round trip). The deal generated a ton of buzz for Virgin America, and was grabbed by a group of Stanford Alums. Read more… (Gadling.com)
8. Airline booking on Facebook uses the social graph: A year ago Delta Airlines introduced their Facebook booking engine. Then this year, Malaysia Airlines started allowing booking through Facebook and allowed you to sit next to your Facebook friend too (or avoid one!). Recently, Alaska Airlines started allowing you to make a booking by clicking on your Facebook friend’s profile photo! Certainly lots happening in the travel distribution space. Read more…
9. SAS Scandinavian crowd sourcing a new route: SAS became the first airline to get its social media followers to decide one of the new routes for Summer 2012 through online suggestions and voting. Turkish city of Alanya became the clear winner by the end of the contest. All decided by fans alone! Read more about crowd sourcing initiatives…
10. Indigo Airlines’ uber-chic brand campaign: India’s Indigo Airline started flying international in 2011 and launched a brand campaign through YouTube, featuring a Chicago-musical styled advertisement that generated a tremendous amount of interest, given how different it was from the typical airline marketing efforts in India. Read more about their campaign…
11. AirAsia’s leading marketing through social: AirAsia was one of the finalists for our best airline in social media award this year, and for good reason too. They’ve pushed the envelop for driving key business goals through social media – they’re handling customer service through AskAirAsia, launching new routes through Chinese social networks and driving revenue through BIG sales on Facebook! The result? They’re the first airline outside the US to get a million fans. Read more about the AirAsia story…

So, there you have it! The 11 best marketing initiatives by airlines in 2011. Do you feel we have the complete list? If you have a favorite we missed out, please feel free to add it in the comments section or Tweet us @SimpliFlying.

Meanwhile, we’re working on the 12 key airline marketing innovations to look out for in 2012, which will be out in the first week of Jan. Do check back then, or subscribe to SimpliFlying, if you already haven’t done so!

Full Disclosure: SimpliFlying worked with Estonian Air and SpiceJet/Bombardier to bring the above-mentioned projects to reality.

• How SpiceJet launched Bombardier Q400 in India through social media and achieved 88% load factor
• The Big Flight: How Malaysia Airlines is using social media to launch their new A380
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2011 – Finnair vs Delta Air Lines vs Malaysia Airlines
• Delta Assist brings airline customer service to Facebook
• Socializing the airline booking process – Germanwings follows Alaska Airlines’ lead

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, was a horrible one for airlines. As a group, airlines in the US lost $54.6 billion, and made money in only three of those years (2006, 2007 and 2010). The Air Transport Association has numbers going back to 1947. In the 64 years from 1947 through 2010, the industry has been profitable in 45 of those years. However, the profits in those 45 years, $63 billion, is more than offset by the losses in the other 19 years, $97 billion). That means the industry since 1947 has cumulatively lost about $34 billion.

This trend accentuates further when we look at national airlines.

National airlines are bottomless pits for taxpayers’ money

While some of the private budget carriers somehow make a profit through innovative marketing and product offerings, majority-government owned airlines are almost always complete basket-cases. Look at Air-India. It loses so much money that it’s enough to feed 400mn Indians for a year. If we analyze Alitalia, it’s no  mystery the airline is still flying only because of multiple bailouts by the government. Air Canada is not only loss-making, but the Canadian government is too scared of allowing competition in, as jobs are at stake. Or at least that’s the thinking.

So why is having a national airline still in fashion in government corridors?  Because it is “the mother of all cash-cows — milked by the political and bureaucratic class she is now being forced to give their life blood since she has already been sucked dry”, as Devesh Agarwal from Bangalore Aviation puts it, referring to Air India.

And that’s possibly the only reason why unprofitable national airlines still fly – to serve as private jets for the political class and their cronies. Which is why I was shocked when I read an article in the Daily Monitor in Uganda advocating that a national airline should start a national airline to boost tourism.

Does Uganda need a national airline? Nope.

For those who’re unaware, Uganda is known as the “Pearl of Africa” for its scenic beauty, temperate climate and flora and fauna. Certainly lots to do for a tourist. But that doesn’t justify setting up an airline.

The article, written by a former employee of the now-defunct East African Airways, advocates that a national airline is needed to boost tourism. Unfortunately, that was the case in the 60s, not today. Ryanair carrier more passengers to and from Britain than British Airways. AirAsia has more planes on order than Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines combined. Even in Africa, non-national airlines like Mango and Kulula carry more passengers than the likes of South African Airways. Moreover, the capacity added by other airlines from the Gulf and Europe cannot be ignored.

So in order to boost tourism, a conducive environment for airlines to operate out of should be created. In fact, Uganda is very well located in the center of Africa, to act as a natural hub for airlines flying small regional aircraft across the country. Perhaps, the money should be spent upgrading the airport, which is decades old, like the Rwandan government is doing. And airlines already flying to the country should be empowered to spread the word about the tourism potential, as if they were the national carriers.

Listen to Warren Buffet

Warren Buffett, who put some money into US Airways back in the 1990s, wrote in his 2008 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders: “The worst sort of business is one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money. Think airlines. Here a durable competitive advantage has proven elusive ever since the days of the Wright Brothers. Indeed, if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down.”

A national airline can only promise to provide direct employment, but in no time has the likelihood of turning into a government stooge, and burn up taxpayers’ money.

Hence, if a country doesn’t have a national airline, precious resources should be spent in boosting tourism by bringing other airlines to the country, not plundering money into a new source of national pride.

• Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways up for sale – do the brands stand a chance?
• What does 2010 have in store for Middle East airline brands like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and others?
• Why Indians need to get over Air India and recognize Emirates as the national carrier
• The future of Middle East Super-Airlines: Emirates and Etihad to merge, and Qatar to join an alliance
• How business lessons from AirAsia can rescue the battered Air India brand

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!

• Why Should I Friend you on Facebook or Twitter, United?
• Thoughts on the United and Continental merger – as quoted in the press
• The day airlines’ Twitter accounts were hacked, and three steps to reverse the brand damage
• SimpliFlying in The Media: FinanceAsia, USA Today and Aviation Security International
• Southwest vs. United: Why Authenticity Wins, Even In TV Advertising

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.

Will the Singapore Girl fly budget? Probably not.

One big question everyone is wondering about is whether the Singapore Girl would fly this new airline. For those who’re familiar with SIA, they know that the airline is very protective of its brand icon. And multiple questions will be raised if the same Singapore Girls walk the aisle of the new airline.

1. How to ensure that people know SIA and the new LCC are different, yet have the same flight attendants?
2. Will service failures like flight delays or cancellations be dealt in an SIA manner, or Tiger Airways manner?
3. Will SIA Economy Class passengers transferring on to the LCC be offered free meals and amenity kits?
4. What baggage allowances will people get if they are transferring from one airline to another?

Close brand association between the two airlines might prove to be too risky for both brands. Hence, it’s likely that SIA will dis-associate itself completely from the new brand. For example, when things went bad for Tiger Airways in Australia, no one boycotted SIA – the latter still holds its reputation for impeccable service. SIA’s greatest leverage will be that they’ve run a long haul airline successfully, with a very low cost base.

Learn from the competition, then fight on your own turf

While SIA’s track record is an asset, it is also a reason for concern. The airline already has a very low cost base – how would they reduce it further, if operations are to be based in Singapore? One of the reasons for the success of AirAsia X and Jetstar have been the feed from their short haul operations. Interestingly, SIA is a purely-long haul airline, hence feeding the network for this new long-haul airline would depend on SilkAir and Tiger Airways. These and other factors will require SIA to re-think its commercial strategies for the new airline, learning from the competition.

1. SIA till today only sells airline tickets on its website (trying to book a hotel will take you to an external site). Whereas on AirAsia’s RedTix website, I can even buy Justin Beiber concert tickets! So the new LCC SIA sets up must re-evaluate what businesses it gets in and how best to leverage the brand
2. SIA’s frequent flyer program, Krisflyer, also currently only allows burning or miles on SIA flights. This is in stark contrast to Qantas’ Frequent Flyer program, where I can redeem and earn miles by shopping for groceries! Krisflyer will also have to evolve, just like Jetstar has been introduced into the Qantas’ program.
3. SIA’s new long-haul LCC can expect very stiff competition from AirAsia X and Jetstar. Moreover, the competition has one year to sharpen its knifes before SIA launches the new airline. While Jetstar would want to start routes Melbourne-Singapore-Athens flights sooner, the Malaysian government has even more reasons to grant AirAsia X coveted routes like Sydney. SIA needs to run two steps ahead to out-think the competition.
4. SIA also needs to learn from mistakes made in its Tiger Airways venture – running the new airline like a Ryanair may not work, especially in long-haul. They need to ensure high customer service standards, like they have with themselves.

A golden opportunity to co-create the brand with the customers

To provide exceptional customer service, SIA will also need to understand that the customers of the new airline more like those of Tiger Airways’ than its own. And they need to deal with them in a different manner. What do I mean?

Currently, SIA has no official Facebook fanpage. No official Twitter account. Or any other new medium engagement channels. All this when AirAsia, right next door, has become the first airline outside the US to reach 1 million Facebook fans. Tiger Airways’ social media interaction isn’t something to speak of either.

SIA needs to hire manager who believe that the brand is no longer about control. Rather, it’s about influencing a certain behaviour, and engaging with customers using mediums they’re familiar with (I still have to fax in certain requests to Krisflyer!). They can no longer be in a state of educated nonchalance about these new ways of building a brand, as I had mentioned earlier.

Singapore Airlines has a rare opportunity to involve the potential customers in the brand creation process of its new low-cost long haul airline brand. For starters, they can look at how the best airlines in the world are crowd sourcing ideas. And then wholeheartedly embrace the customer.

Given their track record, I think Singapore Airlines is going to do a good enough job setting up this new airline – what remains to be seen is whether they are able to sustain profitable operations in the face of changing customer realities and fierce competition. Exciting times ahead! What do you think?

(Special thanks to Khoa Huynh and Anthony Prsakasam – my two aviation geek friends who helped seed some of the ideas in this article)

• Australia’s Qantas Airways – the world’s most agile airline brand?
• AirAsia X: a brand with a huge potential, but remember, “you’re only buying the flying”
• Five reasons why budget airlines in Asia are successful
• Malaysia Airlines launches FireFly to Singapore – a community airline brand. Interview with Head of Marketing
• Is Premium Economy here to stay? A brand review of All Nippon Airlines

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 home to their lover

For two long days, not a plane left the ground
And we brought the old Facebook-team around

From early morning, to late at night
We were on Facebook, setting things right

With the help of our friends, all over SAS
We did what we could to help with some class

Rebookings and care, refunds and trains
The questions came back – “Where are the planes?”

Our colleagues all over this great air line
Pulled all the stops, to make it all fine

When it all seemed hopeless, and spirits started to fall
Someone wrote “SAS – you rock!” on our wall

All spirits were lifted and we had another go
Helping out or passengers, stranded by snow

And just as we said: “Enough with this trouble”
“We’re going to London – bring your own shovel!”

The good news came, from that snowed-in aerodrome
“Both runways are open – we’re flying home”

And the news started flowing, on Facebook and Twitter
We’re back in business – we’re leaving this sh***er!”

And as planes rose into that wintery sky
With cheers from every SAS-gal and –guy:

“Let’s fill those airplanes, and don’t groan!”
“We’re finally, finally binging’em home”

With only a few hours until Christimas-dinner,
We’ve proven once again – social media’s a winner!

With lightening speed, and in a folksy tone
We reach out to people’s PC and smart-phone

So next time you find yourself in a mess,
Type in facebook dot com slash S-A-S

So Santa, as you fly with your raindeer
Don’t you worry – we will be here!

We have what we want, but just so you know:
Santa, please give another snow-plow to Heathrow!

• Five airlines (and an airport) that surprised passengers this Christmas with Wow campaigns
• [Video] The best holiday greetings from airlines this season
• True account of a Qatar Airways passenger stranded in Sudan
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• KLM Surprises and Spanair delights! Can surprises be used as a sustainable brand strategy for airlines?

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?

1. “Gotta get off the fence on social media. Time to act is now, otherwise it’s too late” – a major west-European hybrid airline
2. “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
3. “It’s time to accelerate data personalization for travelers, both online and offline” – Datalex VP
4. “Turkish Airlines should become a lifestyle brand – selling all top brands that are co-related to the THY brand, eg women’s apparel, co-branded credit cards etc.” – senior Turkish Airlines executive
5. “Stuff you’re selling on the web should also be sold on the phone” – a senior airline executive from an Asian carrier
6. “We’ve got to revenue optimize the whole travel process, not just the passenger seat” – senior Navitaire executive
7. “We’ve got to start listening more – better feedback, quicker” – Frank Kardonski, Director of eCommerce, COPA
8. “Use content to add value to specific customer segments you’d like to market to” – major regional European airline
9. “We’ve got to learn from retailers like eBay and Amazon, not just airline websites for marketing” – Ethiopian Airlines CIO Sushil Bagaunt
10. “That travelers search 21 sites over 9 sessions before booking shows sheer indulgence in the travel process – and that’s a missed opportunity. How do you know you’ve got enough information?” Sarah Kotlova, VP, Geary Interactive
11. “Customers are willing to give us data, and we should be able to use it. Usability is critical for online sites. Why not have Facebook connect for Check-in? Why need a PNR number? People are not logging on to airline websites >> no incentive! Why should they?” – Karlis Smiltens, airBaltic
12. “Is your airline cheaper cheaper or better? It’s both! Unique value that you offer to your customers.” – senior VP, Sabre
13. Trend is toward merchandising and personalization.
14. If you see something you like, do it.

Well, I hope with these top 14 takeaways, you’ve got a good idea of what the IATA CSS was about and what senior executives took away from there. If you weren’t able to join this year, do join us next year in Singapore during the IATA Passenger Week in October, where the CSS will be held.

• SimpliFlying and IATA partner to offer training courses on airline social media strategy
• Join me in Istanbul, for IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium (two passes up for grabs!)
• KLM Surprises and Spanair delights! Can surprises be used as a sustainable brand strategy for airlines?
• IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium 2010 – Live from Istanbul
• Keynote from IATA Commercial Symposium 2009 – Driving revenue for airlines from real-time customer insights on 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!

——-

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 to extreme measures such as declaring the “state of alert” and putting the ATCs under military control.

It is not my intention here to delve into the causes of the crisis or on the chronology of the events , but to look at how the different actors of the crisis have been using social media to get their message through.

The role of social media during crisis has become more and more important and this crisis. I find that the current situation has many points in common with the recent volcanic-ash episode that forced the closure of practically all European airspace. As I explained in a previous post, the recent Social Media for Airlines conference, dissected the response of airlines and organisations to sudden short-term disruption of air traffic. In that case, the crisis was a catalyst that pushed organisations to embrace social media. And this case is no different…

Spanish air traffic controllers dived into social media first

In fact when the crisis started all the social media artillery seemed to be on the side of the air traffic controllers, that had their own blog and at least two Facebook fan pages presenting their point of view (this one seems to be the main one, but has much less activity than this other page that is focused on the current conflict…This put them automatically on the spotlight, with thousands of angry people directing their anger at these platforms. The Spanish ATC Twitter account was replying to comments and actively tweeting until Saturday morning when it seems that it stopped tweeting (the deluge of mostly negative comments was possibly too much for whomever was managing this account).

Snapshot of Radarvirtuel around 7pm CET, air traffic returns slowly to Spanish skies, spot the empty region in Central Spain and around Madrid airport (MAD).

AENA jumps on Twitter

The government side did not have this sort of social media channels in place when the crisis started to unfold. Spain’s airport and air traffic management organisation (Aena) had an institutional website that was in no way suited for this task, providing just some informative notes and a contact telephone. There was no Twitter account to speak of until Saturday mid-morning (more than twelve hours after the strike had started), when the official Aena Twitter account was opened. The first time I checked it out it had only two followers and they had not even had the time to upload an avatar picture for their Twitter profile. To their credit however, they got up to speed fairly quickly, I checked it again 15 minutes later and it had already over 1000 followers, by early afternoon they had reached 3000 and it was tweeting a constant flow of information on Spain’s airport network situation. Besides English and Spanish it had also streams in the other official languages of Spain: Catalan, Basque and Galician. We hope that, as in the volcano crisis, this level of engagement with the public will remain going future.

Key hashtags to follow

It is unusual for events taking place in a mid-sized non-English speaking country with little Twitter penetration to make it to Twitter’s global trending topics, but at some times today the Spanish airport chaos made it to the top of the list, for example: #controladores, #barajas,

Other hashtags you can monitor to follow the events are:
#aena #huelga #controladores #prat #estadodealarma #DGAC #Spanishstrike

most of the tweets related to these hashtags are in Spanish, but quite a few are in English too.

And obviously Eurocontrol, was also informing via Twitter, by the way, it must have been a complicated day for them since there were not only issues in Spain but also closures and disruption due to snow at Schiphol (AMS), Paris-Orly (ORY) and UK airports such as London-Gatwick (LGW).

Airport Hotels get part of the action

Other unexpected side actors of this crisis have been Hotel Auditorium, a huge hotel next to Barajas airport with its own twitter account as it is in this hotel that air traffic controllers were holding a meeting on Friday night while the crisis was at its peak. They required police protection after the ATCs were discovered by a number of distressed passengers that had been hosted at the hotel after their flights got cancelled (as a side note, I also had the chance to stay at Hotel Auditorium earlier this year after my flight was cancelled due to an air traffic controller’s strike in France).

I have also seen the potential of Twitter as a tool to arrange alternative travel plans, for example, I have spotted several people on Twitter looking for car-sharing arrangements to travel by road to their destinations as well as some online car-sharing companies, such as Comuto and Amovens, promoting their services.

And other online services that thrive with public attention in days like this are the air traffic live monitoring sites, such as FlightRadar24 or Radarvirtuel, that I already used, with spectacular results, during the volcanic-ash crisis.

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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 as well. For instance, a clear line has to be drawn between what is “too little” and “too much”. This is not always an easy task. Our case studies will show why and much more!

We’re sure you’ll find these case studies inspiring and useful. Please click here to download the PDF containing all of the six case studies.

Special thanks to Shubhodeep Pal, Li Guen and Matt Brennan – all of whom have put in a lot of effort in helping bring these to shape. All feedback welcome at feedback@simpliflying.com

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