This article was first published on the CNBC blog———-Qantas announced today a net profit after tax of A$58 million for the first half of the financial year, down from $210 million a year earlier, although the airline did recover from a loss in the second-half of last financial year. This 72% dip in profits resulted in the shares falling by up to 7.2% in early morning trades. However, Alan Joyce, the CEO, says the carrier has done better than most of its rivals. And it has, indeed, thanks to its agility.Agility through smart cost-cuttingAlthough revenues dipped by 13.4%, costs were slashed by 16.2%, which shows Qantas’ diligence and discipline in reducing expenditure in the past year. The cutting of frequencies to unpopular routes and grounding of older aircrafts was key to these cost savings.Load-factors have been the highest in five years – at 82.4%, on flights that carried a lesser number of total passengers as compared to the past year.This simply means that flights were more full than in the past, despite the recession. Of course, the downside was that this was achieved by …

I recently flew Singapore Airlines’ First Class for the first time. It was a trans-Pacific flight, so I got to enjoy it for the longest time possible (23hrs!). What an amazing experience it was. Aside from the product aspects, the service was unmatched. A level I had never experienced before, not on SIA’s economy class, and not on any other First Class. This got me thinking…the marginal cost providing an exceptional service nothing compared to that of providing a superior product in a plane. And if such a service could be offered to the masses (in Economy class) for a charge, then it might be a win-win! What a VIP service on Economy class could be like? Great service on-board SIA is something even other airlines talk about (Aeroflot sent their staff to be trained by SIA last year!). But not everything that’s offered on First Class can be duplicated on Economy. So, here’s a quick list of what can and cannot be done: Being addressed by name, all the …

Two small steps to the heart, one big leap to the wallet
A little girl’s hand was held by an elegant SpiceJet stewardess dressed in striking maroon. As the two ladies headed towards the galley, I saw tears rolling down the little one’s cheeks. Her ears were probably hurting as we started descending into Jaipur, India. The stewardesses in the galley started playing with her and then opened up one of the carts for her too! She was given a few packets of biscuits and a SpiceJet kids’ coloring kit. The little one was soon beaming from ear-to-ear and ran back towards her parents full of joy.

You must be wondering I’m telling you this story? Not just because the kid in me got excited and requested for one (see pics below), but because such instances of brand execution are an inherent part of every successful airline’s brand strategy.

Something else that happened on my SpiceJet flight was that an elderly lady who was seated in the bulkhead row was reluctant to put on the seat belt because she was hurting around the waist as the belt was too tight. Instead of shouting orders (which often happens on US-based airlines), the stewardess calmly …

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Note: This is a Guest Post by Kat. She enjoys everything about airlines and works for their worst enemy: an airport.

Great brands have emerged amidst doom and gloom of economic recessions. Is this time for Singapore Airlines (SIA) to reinvent itself?

True enough, all these years, a Singapore Girl and premium class travel image were the selling points of the brand. But this economic crisis appears to have shaken and changed the landscapes of air travel industry quite significantly. More businessmen are taking budget carriers these days, premium class load factors show no signs of stopping decline, SIA business-class-only services had to be cut.

Market experts have been pointing out that even with the economic recovery premium class travel might not recover. After all, these low-cost-carriers (LCCs) get you there for a fraction of a price. At busier airports, LCCs have been snatching up slots, vacated by full-service carriers, which the latter might have a hard time getting back.

SIA appears to have been burning the candle from both ends. During …

As a number of you who follow me on Twitter and tracked my travels on TripIt know, I’ve traveled from Singapore to London to New York to Atlanta in the past one week. My Singapore to London flight was on the brand new Singapore Airlines’ A380 (my 2nd time on this “whale” in one month!), I flew from London to New York on Virgin Atlantic B747 and the last leg was on a Delta B757. I was excited like a kid in a candy store! And took away some lessons from each airline in branding too!
Singapore Airlines – there’s a reason why they are the best

As I boarded the A380, the first words in my head were, “Recession? What recession?!” It was a full-load double-decker aircraft from Singapore to London I was getting on, with more than 450 passengers on-board. Yet, I was personally led to my seat by an Singapore Girl. My coat was neatly hung in the cabinet, and she helped me with my hand-luggage too. The in-flight service was impeccable as ever, and the quite, new aircraft was like an icing on the cake.

Just a day …

At the Aviation Outlook Summit in Sydney early this month, where I delivered a keynote on airlines + social media branding, the first day was mostly doom and gloom whereas the second day was much more up-beat. Not surprisingly, executives from legacy carriers like Qantas, Air New Zealand and the European Commission spoke on the first day, and up-beat executives from rising stars like AirAsia X, Oman Air and Gold Coast Airport spoke on the second day. That got me thinking…are legacy airlines dead? I now believe they are. Here’s why.
1. Legacy airline brands come with legacy baggage
Unions, legacy systems, government bureaucracy, old planes, old workforce, high costs, bankruptcy… these are all words that can be easily associated with Air India, Alitalia, Japan Airlines, Air Canada and many more legacy airlines. And these are all aspects that do not allow these airlines to function efficiently in the current climate.

The airline industry has evolved drastically in the past decade. With each new shock (9/11, SARS, H1N1…) we see new stars emerging, which have streamlined costs, efficient operations and specifically targeted markets they go after. And they beat the hell out of monolithic airlines that legacy carriers have become. Just read …

Recently, I had a very interesting email exchange with Anthony Prakasm, who lives and breathes aviation as much as I do, if not more. The conversation was about Singapore Airlines’ brand strategy for their new First Class Suites on board the A380 and whether that’s succeeded or not. Anthony had some very unique insights into the situation, and I asked him to share his views for SimpliFlying’s readers. I personally think he’s dead on target in his conclusion that SIA missed a trick or two in the execution of a seemingly great brand strategy. What do you think?
- Shashank
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Singapore Airlines Suites -  A Class Too Far Beyond First
Singapore Airlines launched the “Singapore Airlines Suites” product in October 2007, in conjunction with the new on-board product launch that came with the A380. Featuring an “unparalleled level of luxury” in the “widest seat in the sky”, and sleeping on a “standalone bed that was not converted from a seat”.  The airline promised the Singapore Airlines Suites to be “truly a class that is yours alone”.

Regular First Class travellers who wished to travel on the SIA Suites soon found that they had to pay in the vicinity of 50% to 60% more for …

It’s been a fascinating day, as an outside observer of the impasse between Singapore Airlines and Flight Center – one of Australia’s largest and most powerful travel agents (they’re actually much more than just an agent).
The Contradictions – SIA vs Flight Center
Late last night, SIA sent out an email to its Australian frequent fliers, which announced that the airline’s tickets will no longer be sold through Flight Center. That came as a shock, since it’s like saying your website won’t appear on Google.

But things got more interesting, when Flight Center put out a release countering what Singapore Airlines had said, claiming that they’re still selling SIA tickets, but it’s just not the preferred airline. What that means is if you want to fly from Sydney to London, Flight Center would recommend Emirates, Qantas or another airline, unless you insist on flying Singapore Airlines. And that can still mean a lot of business loss.

No lessons learnt from the Indian fiasco?
SIA flight attendants on flights to India used to be tired by the end of the …

Singapore Airlines has created probably the most well recognized airline brand in the world. The Singapore Girl has done great wonders for the airline and the nation over the years. Even ardent competitors like the CEO of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, openly claim to be learning from the airline.

But the recent tough times have hit the airline hard, just like other premium carriers like Cathay Pacific. Singapore Airlines has decided to cut over 200 flights and is experiencing low load-factors in its premium classes – where it makes most of its money. So the big looming question is what should the airline do now? Change strategy? Probably not. How about using social media to soften the impact, by engaging the customers and employees real-time? Why not?
You can run, but you can’t hide
In my conversations with folks over at Singapore Airlines (quite a few of them!), I’ve sensed educated-nonchalance when it comes to adopting social media to pursue its business goals in this downturn. Not only are they hardly present on social media outlets, the airline seems unconvinced about the importance of a two-way conversation. SIA doesn’t have a blog, Twitter account, Facebook page or even social-media-friendly press releases (I …

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Remember the story about food on Virgin Atlantic?

Earlier this year, I had published an article on how Virgin Atlantic had dealt with a passenger whose grievances about bad food had made it to The Telegraph, as the “world’s best complaint letter”. Sir Richard Branson had personally called him up and requested him to help choose the menu for future flights. Virgin Atlantic had successfully turned a critic into a fan.

Generally, this is an exception in the airline industry, as complaints often fall on deaf ears. But as I discovered, at Singapore Airlines, it is a practice to take special care of a disgruntled passenger, ensuring that he is a convert by the end of the brand engagement. The first time I heard this, I was wondering how this was possible. That’s when I was enlightened by an experienced SIA crew member.
The downside of an unhappy passenger
On every flight there are bound to be passengers who feel that they have been shortchanged, mishandled or …