Baltia Air Lines has been looking to take-off for over 20 years, and now are finally making serious moves to do so. The American airline has had more than its share of set-backs to prevent flight in those years; financial woes and lack of route approval amidst the then uneasy USSR hurt the airline in its starting years.

This new kid on the runway recently made news with their purchase of a Boeing 747. The formal press release was accompanied by a YouTube video which welcomed Baltia’s new prize into Malaysia for tune-up. The video is one of two recently uploaded by thee airline, accompanied by promises of more to come. It’s nice to see that even in its most early stages of setup, Baltia is making an effort to utilize social media. By introducing marketing via YouTube and Twitter, the airline is establishing itself in the new era and can only improve from here!

Baltia’s Twitter does not hide its grass roots- which in the case of this newbie airline may be beneficial to its followers. The account already boasts 539 followers and is clearly geared toward the shareholders whose …

Virgin America has unleashed a new social-media based campaign in recognition of its expanded routes to Mexico. The trendy airline uses Loopt Star, a rewards program which tracks subscribers by location log-in and offers promotions.

Both San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX) airports offer new routes to Cabo and Cancun respectively. In both locations, Loopt log-in booths allow customers to book a complimentary ticket for a friend when they book one for themselves (promotion ran 11:00 am to 3:00 pm). This can all be done wirelessly through Loopt Star’s iPhone app. For the less adventurous, two for one tacos were sold at Virgin taco trucks outside the airports (proceeds were given to local animal care). See Mashable’s article on this here.

Virgin America is maintaining its ability to set precedents for social media based promotion; this is the second time it has used rewards in advertising new destinations. They’ve created a perfect storm of advertising via an up-and-coming app, rewards (which ultimately create more traffic on their planes) and local charity. We’re seeing now that social media can be taken …

EasyJet is certainly not new to well-executed social media. In fact, the British airline has some of the best customer response tweeting online, accompanied by an active Facebook page and Youtube broadcast. Adding to this all-star line-up of social media, Easy Jet has implemented an opportunity to receive free tickets via Twitter. Every Thursday has now been dubbed an “EasyJet Thursday” and asks followers to simply Tweet about the organization for their chance at a free getaway.

The kicker of Easy Jet thursdays is its exceptional use of Twitter’s facets. The airline asks that when customers Tweet their hopes for free tickets, they mention @EasyJet as well as trend the topic #easyJetThursday. This keeps EasyJet (on Thursdays atleast) among top trending statements on Twitter. Trending is a great way to gain face time; as people look through the top trends of the day, they too will in turn take on the trend. This goes back to a major theme among Clever social media use: amplification. The key in social media is its everywhere-everyday-anytime ability, thus when the billions of people who are constantly cruising the net come across interesting topics- …