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!

• A revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative – Vote for the Jan 2012 Hero now!
• Airlines on Twitter in May 2011: AirAsia and TAM Brazil hot on the heels of Delta Airlines
• [Infographic] Airlines on Twitter – April 2011 data reveals the need to focus on Customer Service
• Malaysia Airlines takes booking and check-in to Facebook. And now, you can sit next to your friend too!
• Eezeer and SimpliFlying launch airline monthly twitter report – Delta leads Twitter use, and customer service is in!

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!

• 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
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2011 – Finnair vs Delta Air Lines vs Malaysia Airlines
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• A Brand New SimpliFlying – from airline branding pioneers to leading customer engagement at airports and airlines

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
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• [Infographic] How mobile is re-shaping travel distribution (gasp!)

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
• How AirAsia is rocking it in India, and how airlines in India can leverage their entry
• AirAsia X: a brand with a huge potential, but remember, “you’re only buying the flying”
• Why Air Asia’s “budget alliance” with Qantas and Jetstar is a stroke of genius – Live on CNBC Asia with Martin Soong

I’ve got a bunch of emails, tweets and comments over the last couple of days asking me how this observation applies to airlines. Firstly, let me address why airlines need to have real-world interaction with their online “fans”.

Why is real-world interaction needed to complement social media engagement?

Online interaction is good, because it allows the airline to connect with a lot of people across geographies, and allows those people to connect among themselves too.

Where online engagement falls short is often the creation of a long-lasting emotional bond, which comes only through real-life meetings. Imagine a Facebook fan of an airline, who has never flown them before, but has always taken part in online contests or discussions. Wouldn’t the relationship be cemented only if he flies that airline at least once? Or if he gets to meet in person with some of the people behind the airline? Or be invited to an event organized by the airline? The chances of turning a loyal online fan into a loyal customer increase dramatically when real-world interaction complements online engagement.

So, how can airlines foster real-world interaction?

Here are 10 simple-to-execute ideas, that work

1. Organize a Tweet-up – It’s as simple as sending out a Tweet, or going to http://twitvite.com/ to create an event for your followers. If your airline doesn’t have a Twitter account, then create a Facebook event and invite your fans to hang out together. The value you’re offering is to connect them with one another in the real-world. The benefits of such events can be far beyond expected, as we experienced with the Bombardier Tweetup on-board a Q400 at the Singapore Airshow 2010.
2. Translate ideas sought online into real-world action – Full fledged ideation communities are popular with brands. Starbucks is famous for My Starbucks idea, Dell has Dell Ideastorm. Airlines need not do something as extensive – but anything that gives their customers and online fans a sense of ownership of the brand can do wonders. AirTran very successfully introduced wifi on all its flights after running a competition on Everyflight.com. More recently, airBaltic [Disclosure: SimpliFlying client] painted the flags of the EU nations on its planes after seeking suggestions on its Facebook page.
3. Invite your online fans to your facilities – AirAsia ran a competition on their blog last year, where the winners would get to come down to their training center in Kuala Lumpur. The event generated a lot of excitement among the fans, who got to check out what goes on behind the scenes – certainly fostering stronger bonds with the brands.
4. Have a gathering in each of your major cities – Alaska Airlines is very good at organizing such meetups, especially with their loyal fans and frequent fliers. I’ve been to one of them myself, in Seattle, and it was a revelation. These meetings really help!
5. Get senior executives to have candid conversations with fans, online and offline – Malaysia Airlines did a fascinating job when it got its CEO, Idris Jala, to meet with some of the selected Facebook fans from the airline’s Fanpage. And the event ended with Mr Jala playing a song on the guitar, himself. That connection was hard to achieve otherwise, and made the “CEO of an airline”, very human. It helps bridge the gap.
6. Complement new route-openings with online events tied with offline ones – Southwest Airlines opened up a cafe in New York’s Bryant Park, to commemorate opening its flights to LaGuardia! And for the launch, they invited again – their Facebook fans and Twitter followers. I was there as well, and it was the first time I interacted with so many Southwest “fans”. Feels good to be part of the family
7. Recognize your most loyal online fans – Just like FourSquare Mayors get free coffee at certain cafes. Boston Logan Airport sent me a black hat with the words “I’m a followers of @bostonlogan”. And what did I do? And I told everyone about it on Twitter and even posted up a photo. “Real love” always helps spread the brand further.



8. Drive awareness about your online efforts, in-flight – I’ve always believed that airlines have that unique advantage that few other brands have – they hold their customer captive for long periods of time. Brand engagement in an airline’s case is much longer – in-flight, and this can be leveraged upon, for interacting with the customers at a new level. How about giving your Facebook fans free on-board wifi-access? Or giving your Twitter followers priority boarding on their birthdays? Little gestures can go far. Very far.

So, what do you think? How crucial is real-world interaction in making airlines’ social media strategy a success? Do you have examples to share? Let’s here it in the comments and on Twitter (@simpliflying)

• Three ways the Cathay Pacific brand can come alive by infusing social media into the People site
• #FollowFriday realization: It’s about real-world relationships, stupid! That’s what the social “we”b is about
• The Point (or Secret) of Social Media for airlines
• Alaska Airlines’ brand strategy on Twitter, revealed by Elliot Pesut in exclusive interview
• Airlines on Second Life – 5 ways to dramatically increase brand value

I was intrigued in particular by Malaysia Airlines’ “Malaysian Hospitality” campaign – which is a play on the MH code of the airline. Soon enough, I got to experience the “world’s best in-flight service” myself, on Business Class from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles (see photos at the bottom of this article). And here’s what I feel is the essence of Malaysian Hospitality – it’s the “human-ness” of flying. Let me explain what I mean.

Malaysian Hospitality – a story of genuine care

It may sound strange, but a lot of airlines that have good service often lack “humanity” in their service. Sometimes, it even becomes robotic – I’m sure you’ve seen robotic smiles plastered on flight attendants. Malaysia Airlines’ service, in contrast, was genuine and very human – one that makes you feel good as a person. Let me share a story.

I opted to have my meal soon after take-off, while the gentleman next to me chose to have it later. I first received some traditional satay (a Malaysian specialty), and then more aromatic dishes. This obviously tempted the person seated next to me and he kept stealing glances at my food. Without him asking for anything, the leading stewardess asked him if he’d like some starters or dessert – he opted for the latter and happily munched on the tiramisu.

Not only was the service genuine, it was pro-active. I’m not saying no other airlines provide such service, just that it’s a rare feat. Moreover, we were all greeted by names, and complete eye-contact was made before we were spoken to – all the basics of providing a personal service.

The omnipresent Malaysian essence – on-board, and in the lounge

Not only was the food very Malaysian – like the satay and the teh tarik (pulled-tea), the products and service were too. The crew pointed not with their fingers, but with their thumb above their fist- a very Malaysian gesture. In the Business Class lounge, there were a variety of local foods available, and local massages too. So even if you’re in-transit, and not getting out of the airport, you can experience glimpses of Malaysian life.

Moreover, I was impressed with the lounge because not only did it have a dedicated Business Center and phone booths for private calls, but also a golf putting area and a children’s playground. I’m not sure how many children frequent the playground, but the other services were certainly desirable.

Room for improvement?

For one, the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft that Malaysia Airlines uses for this flight isn’t the newest. In fact, Singapore Airlines has retired all but two of this type from their fleet. Not only is this a competitive disadvantage, the wear and tear and the older business class product shows. In fact, the new flat-bed by AirAsia X may even prove to be a challenger, given the airline’s competitive fares.

I guess things will improve once the airline gets the new A380s over the next few years. The CEO recently mentioned that it will have a refurbished product, including a Premium Economy class.

Having said that, I think the excellent service and the genuine show of care more than makes up for the not-so-latest product. Overall, it was a pleasure experiencing Malaysian Hospitality, and I’d encourage you to give it a try.

• Is Premium Economy here to stay? A brand review of All Nippon Airlines
• I’d happily pay extra to an airline to treat me like a VIP. Would you?
• [Interview] Singapore Airlines brand strategy goes back to the basics: Singapore Girl in focus
• Is Qatar Airways really the five star experience in the sky? A brand analysis
• Malaysia Airlines’ blog may do wonders for the brand

What makes FireFly special?

FireFly is being positioned as a community airline, “connecting the ethnically-similar communities spread across South East Asia“, as Angelina explains. Targeted at the business traveler – due to quick turnarounds (they fly ATRs), and proximity to the city center in Kuala Lumpur, as they operate out of Subang Airport. The airline also intends to build on Malaysia Airlines’ schedule through flight timings that are complementary.

For the un-initiated, till recently, Singapore-Kuala Lumpur was one of the most heavily protected air routes in the world. Since liberalization, connectivity has increased multi-fold, with airlines like low-cost AirAsia, Tiger Airways, JetStar Asia and now FireFly sometimes offering prices even lower than the bus fares. Enjoy Angelina’s interview (just 3 mins) and then read on for my take on this new airline.

What should the FireFly brand do to survive in the long-haul?

Though it was inevitable that Malaysia Airlines was going to do something to grab a pie of the low-cost market that its competitors have tapped on so well, I personally feel calling FireFly a “community airline” is a bit confusing for the uninformed. Instead of making that as the mainstay of the brand, the airline should emphasize further other aspects that’re already part of its positioning.

• Play up the fact that they’re flying smaller aircraft (ATRs) and hence there’re no middle-seats. Also, due to smaller numbers, boarding and alighting should be faster – something businessmen would like.
• Play up Kuala Lumpur’s Subang Airport, since it cuts the travel time into the city by half, as compared to KLIA. And this would appeal to many business as well as leisure travelers.

Subang Airport – the double-edged parang (ok…sword)

The fact that FireFly flies to Subang and not KLIA is a double-edged sword. The downside is that it’s the only airline operating out of that airport, and hence it might lose out on passengers wanting to connect internationally and on to other airlines. That means it must drive a lot of o/d (origin-destination) point-to-point traffic to fill up its planes. For this, the airline must use innovative marketing techniques to create a groundswell and drive demand to its destinations.

For inspiration, it need not look too far. Just learn from its parent Malaysia Airlines, and close competitor AirAsia, both of whom have tapped on social media marketing to directly connect with their customers and get them to fly.

Running an airline is no easy feat, that too in a highly-competitive environment. FireFly must think innovatively and do things differently if it is to succeed in the long term. Having met most of the executives at the helm, I can say that the airline has got an intelligent management. Now, it’s a matter of applying their energies in the right direction and making this venture a success.

What do you think? Will FireFly survive in the long haul? Or will they fizzle? What can they learn from others? Let’s discuss in the comments below or take the discussion over to Twitter.

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