It might seem like an anxious start to the new year for AirAsia X, which recently announced that it would be introducing a daily KL-Sydney service and terminating all its flights to Europe and India. Far from being in the doldrums, it’s all part of the airline’s strategy to refocus and strengthen its brand, as its CEO Azran Osman-Rani shared with SimpliFlying in our latest airline strategy podcast.

Listen to the exclusive podcast below.

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(c) 2012 SimpliFlying Podcasts

Note: The HTML5 player above should work with most modern browsers including those in mobile devices such as the iPad and iPhone. However, if you’re having trouble playing the file, please use the flash player at the bottom of this post. Please also note that the podcast above has only a snippet of the interview with Azran. To delve deeper into the mind of …

Since taking over the helm seven months ago, Estonian Air CEO Tero Taskila has been the driving force behind the airline’s makeover. But as he shares in our inaugural marketing strategy podcast, the changes that we’ve seen so far are just the beginning.

Being placed in charge of a company that has been losing money since 2005 isn’t exactly the kind of dream job that most people have in mind. However Tero Taskila has always relished a good challenge. After all, the Finn, who was previously the Chief Commercial Officer of Latvian competitor airBaltic, lives by the motto: “I want to have frustration and excitement in good balance.”

There’s certainly been no shortage of both and since assuming the position last June, Taskila has been busy overseeing the restructuring of the airline and introducing initiatives to increase the number of routes that it serves and the frequencies of its flights. And while there are plans to introduce long-haul services in the future, for now, Estonian Air is concentrating its efforts on becoming a leading regional airline and establishing a strong network in the Baltic States, Nordic countries and Russia….

We promised we’d make the New Year exciting for you. And here we are – delivering on the promise we made! After creating quite a buzz with our revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative that saw almost 3000 votes pour in over just a week, we’re back with something even more exciting. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show that we’re bringing you today (and every fortnight hereon)!

Today, we’re launching SimpliFlying Podcasts – a brand new product that should excite our readers, most of whom are travel marketers. Starting this Wednesday, SimpliFlying will be releasing Marketing Strategy podcasts for airline and airport marketers on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Each podcast will have great insights on the latest in marketing from the best minds in aviation.
Why you should listen to the podcasts
Helmed by Shashank Nigam, the CEO of SimpliFlying, every fortnight we will interview a well-known face from the world of aviation (mostly CxO level). The in-depth interviews will be followed by a detailed discussion of insights into the latest in airline and airport marketing by SimpliFlying staff.

The podcasts will be available …

Most social media and aviation geeks would have heard of or even used MySkyStatus and Cloudstream, two applications brought to travelers by Lufthansa. MySkyStatus instantly sends updates to your Twitter and Facebook accounts to indicate your departure, location, and arrival information. Cloudstream allows a traveler to “pack” articles, videos, and other entertainment into a digital carry-on that can be perused later on the flight, even without an internet connection. The best part about both these applications is that they are completely free of charge.

As coordinator of social media marketing at Lufthansa’s USA office, Alison Russo has been a key player in the launch of both these products, along with Lufthansa’s success on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. It was not surprising, therefore, when she won comprehensively in our SimpliFlying Hero Poll for July 2011 with almost 60% of the votes.

Well-planned beginnings
Much of Alison’s (and Lufthansa’s) success can probably be attributed to the great amount of time and planning that is put in by the team at every turn. Right off the bat, when Lufthansa first started its social media journey, it realized that it was …

Almost everyone reading this blog books most of their airline tickets online. Without question, it is the easiest and most cost-effective way (for all parties involved) to make a booking. So it makes sense that a start-up airline would focus its distribution strategy around direct online sales. However, imagine if you were tasked with launching an airline in a market where only 10 percent of the people have reliable Internet access. And of those, a small percentage trusted online payment systems. What would that do to your customer engagement and distribution strategies?

I had the great opportunity to interview Nico Bezuidenhout, the CEO of South Africa’s Mango Airlines who faced the exact challenge described above, at Aviation Outlook Africa Summit in Johannesburg. I have highlighted different topics we discussed below, with the full video interview available at the end of this post.
Starting up is only half the battle…
Mango was launched in 2006 with a very specific task: expand South Africa’s aviation market. In what was already a relatively small market to begin with, Mango was diving into direct competition with both an established legacy (South African Airways) and low-cost carrier (Kulula) that seemed to have both ends of the market covered. …

With his large responsibility as VP of Product Development for Sales and e-Commerce Platforms for Amadeus, Denis Lacroix doesn’t often know when he’ll get to go on holiday. What he does know, however, is that he wants to see Lady Gaga. And thanks to that, passengers around the world are now able to search for flights from their hometowns to wherever Lady Gaga happens to be.

Such is the flexibility offered by Amadeus technology with its Affinity Shopper platform, which Lufthansa and Croatia Airlines are currently piloting. Rather than searching the familiar pattern of flights and dates, customers search for experiences—essentially putting in any criteria into the search and having the best options that meet that criteria populate in a completely bookable form. That could mean searching for a warm, sunny beach with moderate humidity, or a place where you can watch live theatre and a sporting event in the same afternoon, or a countless number of other creative search inputs. “We really want to change the user experience when it comes to booking,” Lacroix says. “The idea was to rethink the way people search for flights. I know Lady Gaga is touring in Europe and I’m in Nice, so where …

Yes, you read it right – Fred Taylor doesn’t work in the Customer Service Deptartment at Southwest Airlines – he works with the Proactive Customer Service – and that makes a pretty big difference, as you’ll realize in the interview we managed to grab with him recently.
Who is Fred Taylor?
Keeping a finger on the pulse of Southwest Airlines’ daily operations and making sure their Internal and External Customers are on the same page is a way of life for Fred Taylor. As the Senior Manager of Proactive Customer Service Communications, Fred is charged with shepherding a unique approach that has its roots firmly embedded in one of the Company’s Core Values—The Golden Rule. Fred and his Proactive Customer Service (PCS) Team of four are responsible for coordinating timely information, guidance, and support during disruptions of Southwest’s scheduled service.

Working with 14 other departments, the PCS Team explores new ways Southwest can operate more efficiently; provide more-effective communications; and implement better Customer accommodations.

To Fred, being proactive means practicing what you preach. As such, through effective internal and external communication/action, Fred and his Team helps Southwest Airlines prudently …

Do you remember the first time you ever flew? What do you remember about it? How big the cabin was on the inside? How small those cars looked on the ground below? The pain in your ears from the air pressure, or perhaps the gum you had to chew to make it go away?

Alice Liu, American Airlines’ Managing Director of Onboard Products, remembers something completely different from her first flight as a 13-year-old, and remembers it so fondly that it helped fuel her desire to work in the airline industry. Despite the nerves and excitement of moving with her family to a new and unfamiliar world across the Pacific, and the experience of seeing the tops of those fluffy, white clouds for the first time, what did Alice remember most about her 18-hour-trek from Taipei to Dallas via LAX? The food, of course.

That’s right. Good old, economy class airplane food, which she enjoyed so much that she asked for a second helping. If I can read your thoughts right now, you must either think that someone so passionate about airline food (!!!) is either flat-out nuts, or a match made in heaven for the job she does for American. Based …

There has been a lot of ruckus about the relevance of loyalty programs lately, where many frequent fliers have been disgruntled by their respective programs. Part of the problem is also that airline loyalty programs have never been fun – they’re only about earning and burning miles. But that may change, if Virgin Atlantic has its way.
Let’s Play, and earn miles, says Virgin
Virgin Atlantic recently announced plans to re-launch  its social travel community site, www.vtravelled.com, with a strategy focused on rewarding their frequent flyers using gaming mechanics.

As  one  of the first airlines to launch their own online community, Virgin Atlantic  will  partner with social gaming experts Lithium, as they plan to engage  with  their  1.8  million  Flying  Club  members.  The airline will introduce  the  ability  to  earn  real  currency  in  the form of miles in addition to the more usual virtual rewards. The  plan  is  to  take  the  fundamental  thinking  and technology behind social gaming and develop it to allow  loyal customers and Flying Club members to be rewarded for their contributions.

Lysette Gauna, Creative Director at Virgin Atlantic and one of the key people behind this initiative was kind enough to be interviewed over this new development, and …

For creating innovative Facebook and Twitter campaigns like KLM Surprises and various crowdsourcing projects, guiding KLM during the the ashcloud crises and being a key part of a team of 16 people engaging customers on social media,  Lonneke Verbiezen is the SimpliFlying Hero for Feb 2011 (Yes! Heroes is back!)
The volcanic explosion that led to explosive growth
The ashcloud crises about a year ago was a catalyst for many airlines, especially in Europe, to start engaging their customers through means they were familiar with – often tools like Facebook and Twitter (click here to see case studies). It was also then, that social media tools became the necessity for airlines to communicate during crises with their customers.

One of the airlines that transformed its customer interaction methods after the ashcloud crisis was KLM – and Lonneke Verbiezen was in the center of all the action. And the impact of her team’s work is truly felt today. In the last year, KLM has come up with various innovative campaigns like KLM Surprises (see video below), Fly2Miami – where the first flight to Miami will transformed into a party flight on the request of a Dutch DJ, and …