The airline has launched a campaign called “The Big Flight” where it offers the chance to win a ticket for an joyride on the A380 and be amongst the first to experience the new aircraft.

In order to enter the competition users have to submit a video proving that they can do something special like the YouTube celebrities that took part in the MAS campaign launch. The airline will then shortlist the best videos and the 8 most voted ones will win tickets for themselves and three friends.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This initiative is part of a wider social launch campaign that uses Google+, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create sharable content and generate expectation for the launch of the new aircraft.

Expect more great initiatives this year!

While route launches via social media have been popular for sometime now, it seems that “plane launches” will be the big thing in the coming days given the number of A380s and 787s scheduled for delivery to airlines across the world. Due to the novelty factor of these planes (787s a bit more, certainly), we can be sure to expect airlines to cash in on their hype and generate not just favourable buzz online but also use it to fill up their new planes and drive profitable load-factors in the short to medium-term. We can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us!

Looking to launch a new plane or a new route? Contact us at strategy@simpliflying.com to know how you can leverage social media to drive your business objectives and measure the success of your campaigns as well.

• Angry Birds to fly Finnair from Helsinki to Singapore – innovative route launch marketing!
• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• [Video Tour] Bombardier CSeries cabin and cockpit setting new standards at Dubai Air Show #avgeek #dxb11
• Top 11 marketing and social media innovations by airlines in 2011
• For successfully leading SpiceJet’s launch of the Bombardier Q400 via social media, Pooja Dua is the SimpliFlying Hero for January 2012

Airlines are in a unique and somewhat enviable sector when it comes to social media. They all fly to exotic destinations, are able to sponsor the biggest events, use amazing machinery, have huge amounts of glamour and produce reams of interesting facts. The sector is literally bursting with potential for engaging Facebook posts.

According to Unmetric’s data (based on secret sauce technology and kept as confidential as Coca Cola’s recipe), the average engagement score for the airlines sector is 33. Interestingly, European airlines tend to be well ahead of their American competitors when it comes to engaging their customers. However, if there is one unifying factor for all the airlines, it is that above everything else, photo posts are the driving force behind getting fans to “SimpliEngage” with a brand.

We have selected 10 worldwide airlines for this short article, but our research shows that the results are the same across the sector: if you want engagement, post photos. Below you will find a screenshot of the average engagement scores for the 10 airlines based on posts in the last 30 days.

If we take a quick peek at Virgin America’s Facebook page you’ll notice a dearth of specific photo posts. Infact, even though Virgin America are the most prolific airline when it comes to posting with 79 admin posts in the last 30 days, only 9 were photos. Most tellingly, the photos they have posted result in engagement way above average.

Air New Zealand and Air France take a less is more approach to posting on Facebook with just 9 and 10 posts respectively in the last 30 days. However, in a clear case of quality over quantity they had amongst the highest engagement scores for the whole airline in the last 30 days. Air France has a very clear content strategy: 70% of their posts were photos and post equally between current events and brand related content.

The chart below illustrates just how stark the difference is between the average engagement score and the engagement score when the airline posts a photo. Airlines are seeing 500% or more increases in engagement scores when they post interesting photos.

Clearly, Virgin America and others should consider posting more photos if they want to drive up their engagement scores. Lufthansa is already posting plenty of photos but not all of them are striking a chord – something for their social media team to look at perhaps!

Find out more about how Unmetric can help your airline benchmark its social media prowess here. Or drop us a line directly at unmetric@simpliflying.com. Among Unmetric’s list of illustrious clients are are Citibank, Nestle and AirTel. Look out for even more exciting stuff from our collaboration with Unmetric in the days to come.

• An analysis of how KLM is winning the social media battle among European Airlines
• The most successful engagement strategy on Facebook is _____.
• A Tweet by Tweet Analysis of US Airlines
• [Infographic] How airlines around the world are using Instagram and what should you be doing
• Eight steps to driving results for travel brands from the new Facebook timeline

As Hisham says, it’s hard to imagine not having a social media channel nowadays, but only a few years ago, when brands were still floundering on social media, Malaysia Airlines, after cosying up in social media, set some clear objectives: to stay in touch with their customers and to understand their preferences so that MAS could enhance their journey and experience, every time they interacted with the brand.

Growing Pains

Like all good brands, even MAS chose to under-promise and over-deliver, rather than the other way round. Within the team, there was a clear focus on not chasing everything but mastering a few things so that the brand would not be diluted by low performing initiatives.

When Hisham joined MAS in 2009, the MAS communication team had already established the airline’s social media presence. However, initially, skepticism about the potential of social media had led MAS to adopt the safe, somewhat direction-less route of doing whatever other airlines were doing. Soon, however, the rudders on their social media boat slowly began functioning and MAS embarked on e-Marketing through Social Media and was rewarded with increased engagement from their customers.

Initially, and perhaps presciently, they did not jump into the race to enter all social media channels since they realised that most of their social media fans could be found on the most popular channels. Recently, however, they have tried to identify their audience at various parts of the traveller life-cycle. Today, MAS has presences on Sina Weibo as well as Foursquare.

On the road to glory

The moment that helped push MAS’s social media initiatives to the forefront was the closure of European airspace due to the Icelandic volcanic eruption in 2010. This saw a marked change in the social media landscape for the aviation industry.  Suddenly, social media was important, relevant and worthwhile. No longer was it just a channel for marketing; it was an important engagement and real-time information dissemination tool to customers.

In 2010, MAS launched their MHmobile mobile application. They partnered with with SITAlabs, and explored possible scenarios on how they could use the platform in different ways that were useful to the customer. Hisham reveals how during their brainstorming sessions he would keep returning to a scene in the movie “When Harry Met Sally”, where Harry & Sally were on a plane, talking about planning their next trip.

Eventually, building on the thought, the team came up with the idea of adding a social layer to the platform, as they saw a need for a new Facebook Commerce app that offered greater convenience to their customers. That saw the birth of MHBuddy – MAS’s then-revolutionary social-seating initiative that allows their customers on Facebook to choose seats alongside their Facebook friends if they are on the same flight. Response from customers has been heartening and Hisham firmly believes that it’s the right way ahead.

While KLM may have kicked the ball that MAS got rolling further ahead with their recently launched Meet and Seat social-seating initiative, Hisham believes that more competition is good since it ensures faster development of ideas as airlines constantly try to push forward to gain an edge over competitors.

Managing, building and measuring

Along with social media, the team managing MAS’s presence on it has evolved. Today, their social media team has 4 people including Hisham. However, other business units do have a say in what they present on social media, offering cross-functionality as well. To ensure participation, the social media team has weekly meetings – Jedi Council Meetings, as Hisham calls them – to develop and assess their social media strategy and ensure that it’s in sync with the specific end-goals that they set.

For MAS, sentiment and and traffic to the website are the two main criteria for measuring the success of their initiatives. They pay close attention to their social media presence and measure their online efforts via social sentiment analyses contained in daily (as well as monthly) listening reports which outline the main issues in the industry. Further, they also measure traffic driven to their website (web and mobile) through their social media channel through tools such as Omniture and Google Analytics. For social monitoring and engagement measurement, the MAS team uses off-the-shelf solutions but they’re keen to emphasise that the tool matters less than the actual process of managing their social media presence.

The Road Ahead

We can safely say that 2012 will be a busy year for social media as it evolves beyond its adolescence and takes flight. For Hisham, this will be an important year for Malaysia Airlines as it seeks to explore the furthest boundaries of the social space. He tells us that MAS is gearing up to exploit their social media channels to the fullest in order to attract a global audience. In his words, “we will do so by planning our conversations so that they’re customized for specific places, feature global content, and we seek to build loyalty as well as to continue building social relationships.”

Hisham signs off with some essential advice for airlines wanting to build their social media presence. First, own your end goals and be ready to improvise from time to time because social media changes in a flash. Second,  be brave enough to try new things. Ordinary voices get lost in the crowd. You will be able to discover ROI on your efforts if you strategise upfront. Last, and perhaps most importantly, know your market’s potential. Don’t be a Jack of All Trades and Master of None.

Most excellent advice from a man who has been at the forefront of the initial airline wars on social media! Congratulations once again to Hisham and the Malaysia Airlines social-media team. We look forward eagerly to what you have in store for us this year!

Know someone who’s worthy of being a SimpliFlying Hero?

Simpliflying Heroes are individuals recognized for outstanding social media use in the world of aviation. Do you know of somebody who uses social media effectively in their airline or airport to achieve specific business results? Or do you think you fit the bill?

Then go ahead and fill up the SimpliFlying Heroes nomination form. By filling out the nomination form, you bring them a step closer to being recognized by SimpliFlying for their efforts.

• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2011 – Finnair vs Delta Air Lines vs Malaysia Airlines
• [PRESENTATION] How Airlines Dedicate Resources to Social Media – delivered at #omtravel in Miami (June 2011)
• Malaysia Airlines takes booking and check-in to Facebook. And now, you can sit next to your friend too!
• Airlines and airports in social media should think about scalability of efforts, not just buzz!
• Karlis Smiltens – the man behind airBaltic’s rise in social media is the SimpliFlying Hero for August 2010

—-

It’s been a truly exciting start to the year! Our revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative received over 3000 votes last month; we launched the new SimpliFlying Podcasts; we expanded the SimpliFlying team and now we begin the second month of the year with the promise of more good things to come! On that note, let’s continue building on what we started last month.

Each month we nominate three rockstars from the aviation industry who’ve led their airlines to dazzling heights on the social web through their innovations and cutting-edge initiatives. As usual, voting will automatically close in exactly 7 days from now (Monday 11.59 pm Pacific Time). The winner gets multiple goodies: an extended profile on SimpliFlying, a Certificate of Appreciation as well as the chance to gain a wildcard entry to this year’s SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence.

Without further ado, we present this month’s nominees:

Aku Varamäki, Finnair

You can’t deny that Finnair has a penchant for the unusual and innovative. Whatever they do makes you sit up and take notice of them. The recent Republic Day dance coupled with the Angry Birds route-launch competition and the Quality Hunters initiative have secured them this month’s nomination. Aku has been personally leading a number of these initiatives and forms a critical part of the Finnair marketing machine.

Jerry Fletcher, Delta Air Lines

By now, Delta is firmly established as one of the Big Daddies of airlines on social media. Their Delta Assist initiative which offers real-time customer service over social media has set the benchmark for other airlines to follow. Not only is it known for its legendarily short response-time, but Delta makes sure to reply to every mention they get, all within 9 minutes!

Jerry has been the one leading the charge to revolutionize customer service at Delta through social media and this nomination proof that his hard work is paying off.

Mohd Hisham Saleh, Malaysia Airlines

After Delta got the buzz going with their Facebook booking engine, Malaysia went one step further and kick of the social seating game. Their MHBuddy Facebook app, launched last year, allows passengers to select seats alongside their Facebook friends if they’re flying the same flight. Hisham has also been leading a number of eCommerce-led social media initiatives at Malaysia Airlines that have almost always driven revenues for the airline. (It’s worth noting that KLM launched the first “pure” social-seating initiative, Meet and Seat, last week in Amsterdam.)

So, what’re you waiting for? Vote for your favourite now!

• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of March 2012: KLM vs Estonian Air vs SAS
• A revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative – Vote for the Jan 2012 Hero now!
• For energising Malaysia Airlines’ social media efforts with MHBuddy, Mohd Hisham Saleh is the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2012
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of April 2012: bmibaby vs JetBlue vs Virgin Atlantic
• Airlines on Twitter in May 2011: AirAsia and TAM Brazil hot on the heels of Delta Airlines

10. Social seating: Have you read about the Malaysian Airline initiative that led the airline to create a much talked about Facebook booking engine that allowed people to sit with their friends on the airline’s flights?

9. Airports in social media: In the ninth place we have a Top 10 case-pack, an initiative helmed by our Senior Innovation Officer Shubhodeep Pal, on how airports have driven engagement trough social media.

8. Blockbuster social initiative: Next, in 8^th place we find one, if not the, most successful social media campaigns of 2011, the AA Advantage “mystery miles” campaign that hit the headlines in February by achieving an 84 fold growth of its Facebook fans in 54 hours.

7. Airline Twitter initiatives: In the seventh place we find another Top 10, this time focusing on the use airlines made of Twitter, one of the fastest growing social networks of the year.

6. Social media ROI: The second half of our roundup us opened by keynote presentation made by our CEO Shashank Nigam at the Social Media Travel Summit earlier this year. The keynote focuses on a much talked about and little understood topic, the ROI of social media.

5. In fifth place is one of our most popular infographics, focusing on the resources that airlines dedicate to social media.

4. Airline Facebook initiatives: Our Top 10 case-packs have been one of the most viewed resources on our website and in the fourth place of this roundup we find another one illustrating the best examples of Facebook contests run by airlines.

3. 6X Model of Airline Branding: In third place we present a long standing favorite of our readers, the Airline Branding Whitepaper. This much praised paper was written by our CEO Shashank Nigam back in 2008. Yes, light years away in social media time, and was also selected and re-published by Brandchannel.com in the summer of the same year. Three years later it is still extremely relevant and, as this roundup shows, one of the most visited pages of our website.

2. Future of loyalty programs is social: In the second place comes one of our best infographic to date, highlighting the social future of loyalty programs and the new tendencies of the connected frequent flyers.

1. A380s and sales problems: In the first position, we have an article that was the most read in 2011, even though it was actually written in August 2009. We are talking, of course, of our famous piece on the Singapore Airlines’ A380 Suites and the sales problems that followed their introduction.

That said, if you have read this far you clearly have an interest in us. Similarly, we too are interested in our readers. We’d love you to use the comment box below to tell us what you would like to see (or not see) on SimpliFlying in 2012.

Thanks for reading SimpliFlying! Have a great New Year and here’s wishing you a fantastic 2012!

• The Top 10 SimpliPresentations – Celebrating 200,000+ views on SimpliFlying’s SlideShare channel
• Top 50 case-studies of airlines and airports excelling in social media
• KLM reaffirms its social media leadership with its innovative Stewardess Yourself app
• A revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative – Vote for the Jan 2012 Hero now!
• [Infographic] How travel marketers calculate ROI on social media and why the future is mobile

The innovations begin

When airlines initially began their adventure on the socialscape, it was all about about feeling their way about on the social platforms of their choice. The primary focus at the outset was first, discovering how to drive traffic and building a fan-base, followed by the more important aim of utilizing the platform for customer engagement and provide them a real-time medium of information-dissemination and customer service. Slowly, however, they realized that social platforms could also aid them in driving revenue. Flash sales, deals and contests became popular to attract more customers. However, the real innovations were still some time away.

A changing landscape

That time, it seems, has finally come. Airlines, more than ever before have realised that the social web can be utilized to change and influence the booking behaviour of patrons by incorporating their preferences, habits and social circles into the booking cycle. Slowly, we’re beginning to see the true emergence of the New Traveler Life Cycle which can be split into 5 parts: dreaming, validating, booking, travelling and sharing. Airlines have begun to recognize that the booking portion of the cycle alone might not be sufficient to draw customers to themselves. Hence, they’ve begun to incorporate the other portions, in various combinations, to their travel cycle. Our latest case-pack illustrates how airlines are effectively doing this.

Some key points about Travel Distribution emerging from this case-pack are:

1. Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are slowly losing ground as airlines increasingly attract customers to book through their own portals. eg. Delta’s Facebook booking engine is a neat “push strategy” to get customers to book without moving away from their favourite social network.
2. Immersive apps that aid in the dreaming, planning and booking process will not only be addictive travel planning tools but also great brand-builders by wowing patrons. eg. Virgin America’s chrome app.
3. Mobile (and tablet) apps are set to go huge. Whether it is managing bookings or redeeming frequent flyer miles or even checking in without a paper boarding pass, mobile apps will rule the next wave of social airline strategies. eg. British Airways’ cool iPhone app and Lufthansa’s iPad app.
4. Incorporating customers’ social graphs into the booking cycle could pay rich dividends by unleashing a “social multiplier effect”. Knowing which friends are in cities you could fly to (Alaska Air) and choosing seats alongside friends (Malaysia Airlines) are just some of the ways in which booking behaviour of customers can be influenced.
5. Flyers will always be deal hunters looking for the best (in other words, cheapest) fares. LAN Airlines’ Fall Sale, JetBlue Cheeps and Melbourne Airport’s cheap Twitter fares are prime examples. Also, even though the jury is still out on this one, Groupon type sales will continue to be effective in the short-term at least (ie, until they can be sustained).

Without further ado, here’s our case-pack on the Top 10 Travel Distribution Initiatives by Airlines. Enjoy!

You can find more of our Top 10 case-packs here.

• Mobile 2.0 – The Top 10 Mobile Apps by Airlines
• Socializing the airline booking process – Germanwings follows Alaska Airlines’ lead
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• [Presentation] How airports can track passengers, throughout the Evolving Traveler Life Cycle
• Top 50 case-studies of airlines and airports excelling in social media

To acquaint you better with the nominees in each category of the awards, we’ll be posting case-packs on our SlideShare channel for each of the 5 categories of awards detailing what makes each nominee so special and why they’re in the final list of nominees (the initial list had over 60 candidates!). The campaigns that clinched each airline its position of prestige will be illustrated in detail. We hope you enjoy going through them and revelling in the reflected brilliance of their innovativeness, cleverness and sheer chutzpah.

The first case-pack has 5 case-studies, each illumninating the campaigns of Top 5 nominees in the category “Best use of Social Media to drive Revenue”. As you’ll see, some, like Virgin America jumped onto the latest trends and technologies to make a killing, while others such as Estonian Air were just plain clever in employing social media to drive revenue. Similar flattering things can be said of the other nominees: Air Asia, airBaltic and Malaysian Airlines. But it would be best if you experienced them yourselves. Enjoy!

You can see the current poll results below. Hurry! Voting closes on 15th September.

• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Nominations now open for airlines, airports and hotels
• SimpliFlying-Airline Business Awards for Social Media Excellence for Airlines – Vote now!
• The Best Airlines Driving Customer Service & Crisis Management Through Social Media: Top 5 SimpliFlying Awards nominees
• 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards in Social Media Excellence – Vote NOW for best airlines, airports, hotels

The application, called MHBuddy, is disruptive not in the fact that it allows booking or check-in on Facebook, but because it ties in the users’ social graph at each step too. For example, during booking, a box at the bottom shows which other friends of yours will be at your destination at the time you’re there. That’s truly value adding to the customer.

Moreover, if your friends used the same application to book the same flight, you can see where they are seated and either sit next to them – or even change your flight if you’d like to avoid them! Now, there’s one good upsell opportunity for the folks at Malaysia Airlines!

While very advanced intelligent seating systems like Satisfly have been around for a couple of years, the real value of MHBuddy is that it’s integrated with Facebook.

Here are some screenshots of what the application looks like. Give it a go next time you’re flying Malaysia Airlines too and send us your feedback, here or on Twitter (@simpliflying). I’ve also included below a Prezi that explains how the system works, courtesy Hisham from MH.

• Socializing the airline booking process – Germanwings follows Alaska Airlines’ lead
• 5 Ways to Incorporate Social Media Into the Flying Experience, and leverage on your “followers”
• KLM Meet and Seat – social seating for airlines: Live and Exclusive from Amsterdam #meetseat
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2011 – Finnair vs Delta Air Lines vs Malaysia Airlines
• Are you the world’s most sociable airline? Planely wants to help find out!

These presentations were made at the SimpliFlying-Airline Business ‘Social media for the aviation industry‘ conference held in London on Oct 1, 2010. You can view all the Live activity from the conference here.

Categories and winners

• Best Social Media Campaign - Lufthansa’s “innovative” MySkyStatus
• Best Use of Social Media for Crisis Management - SAS Scandinavian Airlines - for communication during the #ashcloud chaos
• Best Use of Social Media to drive Revenue - Malaysia Airlines’ 72 Hours Merdeka promotion
• Simplyflying Hero of the Year - Aurelie Valtat, Eurocontrol’s online communications manager for her social media management of the ashcloud chaos to the aviation industry

View more presentations from Shashank Nigam

Moments from the conference

Congratulations once again to all the winners, and thanks to the attendees and organizers for their participation. If you weren’t able to join us this year, there’s surely the next time!

Special thanks to John Norris for contributing some of the photos above

• Exclusive Interview: How Eurocontrol battled the ashcloud crisis through social media
• Simpliflying Hero, May 2010: Aurelie Valtat from Eurocontrol
• Presentation on airlines and social media from FTMA & Freddies 2009, now available
• Crises Management for airlines and airports in the age of social media- Presentation from ACI Europe
• SimpliFlying and Airline Business launch social media conference for airlines and airports [Plus: how you can win two passes]

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 from Dubai, Melbourne and other airports are doing, head over to SimpliFlying Airports.

Now you see why I’m excited about the future?

Below, I have highlighted key points from a number of speaker’s presentations, to give you a sneak peek into what was discussed at the conference. Enjoy!

Dr Temel Kotil – Turkish Airlines

Every time I’ve met Dr Kotil, the CEO of Turkish Airlines (TK), I’ve felt a sense of calm and humble attitude that probably earns him a lot of fans. He delivered a keynote and shared the roundtable with other airline CEOs at the conference, and here are highlights form his speech.

• Two types of crises – global/industry-wide, and company-wide – the last one was global and Turkish Airlines (TK) came out stronger
• TK 24 new routes in four months (!!)
• 2008 was the best year in terms of profit, in 77 years of history!
• How to get staff aligned to industry realities? TK is still a small company in terms of employees – and it’s all about communication. Communicating to them what’s right for the company and what they need to do.
• TK’s focus: Good network, frequencies, products, brand and a low cost structure needs to be taken care of and passengers will come
• The balance between five-star service and low price – that’s the key

Airlines vs Airports debate

• Convergence of LCCs and legacies causes a problem for airports
• Airports have been built with the network carrier in mind
• The sudden explosive growth from LCCs result in airports trying to morph. By then LCCs change again – that’s the dilemma

A tsunami of statistics from Frost & Sullivan’s Amartya De

The panel discussions were followed by a presentation by Amartya De of Frost & Sullivan, who provided his typical tsunami of insightful and statistically based observations and predictions.

• By the end of 2010, 1bn travelers, 1.6bn by 2020. Of this, 75% will be short haul, 25% will be long haul (from 18% currently)
• Travel has become a commodity –> Service component at the point of sale that is the tipping point
• South Asia has grown to 50mn pax per year. North Asia – personal travel has increased
• LCCs have transformed not just the travel industry, but the entertainment industry – now, people
• Asians travel when they have a discretionary spending, as opposed to planning only 1 or two vacations per year
• 50% increase in fuel prices in 2009, and now it’s dipped by a lot – both changes are dis-proprtionate
• US – LCCs % has remained constant. It has grown in EU and Asia Pacfic
• Both LCCs and legacies are focusing mostly one the same segment – but yield management can be drastically different
• Legacy – -0.8% in EU, decreasing everywhere
• LCCs are growing by 45%
• 10-12 different fare buckets in LCCs – first bucket accumulates the losses (hence they need to be reduced?)
• How about rewarding passengers for booking late, like adding perks? Because
• New classes of travelers – The Busy Class – between Econ and Biz
• Upper movement from LCC to hybrid airlines, and downward from Legacies
• LCCs may switch to GDS – so traveler can mix and match – KL-SIN on Tiger, SIN-Auckland on SIA
• There can be class upgrades
• Social media as a distribution tool
• Airlines of the future will give value for money – unified model

CEO Court

One of the more interesting sessions of the day was CEO Court, where 5 airlines CEOs were asked a variety of candid questions.

• Turkish Airlines – 3 types of Mkt – domestic, intl P2P, intl transit
• Malaysia Airlines – more point-to-point (P2P) or origin-destination, like Malaysia-UK. enough demand for 1 daily 747. But 2 flights a day – that means at least 50% connecting. P2P is most profitable in the 3 hour flying distance.
• Oman Air
  • Focus on P2P traffic – the biggest strength. Especially to India and Pakistan. There’s also the Ramadhan period when yields are very high
  • After GulfAir pull out, Oman Air is now into mid/long-haul market. 3rd/4th freedom market
  • Won’t look at a market if in some time it can’t develop into a daily service
  • Won’t be like EK and EY, but will be a niche player in the market
• Alliances
• How has Star Alliance helped Turkish Airlines?
  • Alliance has helped TK like never before, much more than Interline
  • The biggest help has been in terms of spreading the brand – can reach many new markets. You can have the best product in the world, but can’t sell any seats if the brand awareness is not there
• Malaysia Airlines: Alliances are good for the customer, it offers choices. Want to get in, but with a position of strength
• Oman Air
  • Heavy investment in product – joining an alliance will dilute the product distinction
  • First widebody broadband wifi in the world, LiveTV – all with OnAir
  • Leverage the partnerships with suppliers – when times are tough, you get very good prices
  • Competition from regional A380s: “We’re still the best way to get to Oman – tight focus on P2P markets”
  • “We do not need alliances” when you’re a small, niche carrier focusing on P2P
  • We’re not big on transit market
  • Putting your code on someone else’s product is a BIG risk in terms of brand dilution
  • “I will build my penetration in the markets I want to target”
  • Domestic growth will also be key – 2 to 6 destinations in the next couple of years – much like public service
• How will MH win the battle with LCCs?
  • The Odd Couple – Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia/other LCCs
  • Live together in one market, supposedly for different markets
  • Implementing OpenSkies is ideal, but difficult to implement
  • MH needs to focus on types of aircraft, and P2P – high yielding
  • There are lots of opportunities following a Blue Ocean strategy
  • Go for different markets and not go for bloodbath – different markets, increase the pie for both
• Business opportunities for growth
  • TK: Focus on transit, in addition to P2P: TK – Timing is key, when it comes to finalizing strategies – 10Mn P2P,
  • TK: Last 3 years, 3X the pax, 4X the cargo (!!!), a lot of it thanks to the alliance and increased brand awareness
  • MH: Focus on codesharing – eg with OmanAir for domestic M’sia, MH+TK for eastern EU/Germany – hence pick and choose your partners
  • OmanAir – when you think of p’ships, think about 10-15 yrs, not 2-3 years. Plans must be in-sync
  • If EK flies 3X daily to KL, 60% of pax connect on to other cities on MH – so that helps too

Feel Air rises in Scandinavia – following in the footsteps of AirAsia X

Another reason to think that things are getting better is when airlines start popping up around you. A new airline will soon be taking flight in Norway – FEEL Air, duplicating the low-cost, long-haul model AirAsia X is starting to prove works. Kai Holmberg, the CEO, introduced his airline to the audience.

• Market opportunity – Scandinavia is one of the most underserved, given how much they travel -
• Every Scandinavian travels 4X/yr, EU = 1.5X/yr, Global average = 0.4X/yr
• Low cost long haul is sustainable
• Top 10 LCC carriers made a collective $1bn profit last year, while the industry overall lost $9bn
• LCC model is embraced in Scandinavia, hence driving awareness won’t be a problem
• First routes: Norway-NYC, Norway-Miami, Norway-Bangkok
• Launching in Feb 2011

AirAsia X going strong, and independent

Azran from AirAsia X shared the stage with Kai and shared some of his statistics, which startled the audience.

• Low Cost Long Haul = creating new markets. It’s not about sharing traffic, but stimulating demand
• Cost structure = 2.8cents vs 7.3cents operating cost per ASK. 2.5 liters per seat per 100km flown, vs 5.0 in legacy like Cathay Pacific. Over 50% cost difference
• Malaysia was one of only 1 of 6 countries that recorded +ve growth. , and average spend per tourist also grew!
• AirAsia X’s primary customers – families with little kids and retirees, not just backpackers
• 1/3 of the average business class fare, for the flat-bed seats (which I will be flying from London-Melbourne)
• KL-LON = 90 tons of fuel for AirAsia X vs 160 tons of fuel for 747 of Malaysia Airlines
• AirAsia X no longer part of AirAsia group, and gearing for IPO in 2011.

Hope you now see why I have a positive feeling about the industry. What are your thoughts? Let’s discuss in comments, and over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• Turkish Airlines – The atypical Middle Eastern airline brand. CEO Dr Temel Kotil outlines global dreams in interview
• Five Reasons for low cost airlines to take loyalty seriously
• AirAsia X: a brand with a huge potential, but remember, “you’re only buying the flying”
• How AirAsia is rocking it in India, and how airlines in India can leverage their entry
• Why Air Asia’s “budget alliance” with Qantas and Jetstar is a stroke of genius – Live on CNBC Asia with Martin Soong