JetBlue has established itself so firmly as a star in social media that it needs no introduction. Unsurprisingly, they were voted to the first position in the April round of SimpliFlying Heroes, receiving an overwhelming 82% of the votes. We reached out to Morgan Johnston, who heads JetBlue’s social efforts, and he most kindly obliged us with some tidbits about JetBlue’s social media efforts.

JetBlue’s first jump into social media was after the ice-storm of February 2007 when they needed to address their customers to talk to them about lessons learned from an operational failure. They made the decision to address customers directly through YouTube and learned very quickly that establishing a direct relationship with customers through these channels was appreciated – and also provided an invaluable resource to learn more.

 
On the road to greatness
When Twitter began to gain additional prominence in March, JetBlue recognised the opportunity of the real-time nature of the medium. Because users were posting their experiences as they happened, the airline could talk with them as they were travelling. This offered amazing customer …

“We live in an extremely dynamic environment… None of us on this [podcast] and potentially anyone listening knew what the hell Pinterest was a year ago”

With these words Vueling’s CEO, Alex Cruz, responded to a question on the Spanish airline’s future social marketing strategy during this month’s Simplifying Podcast that featured him as a guest.

 

In keeping with our usual format, the podcast is composed of a 10 min introductory section where we take a look at  the latest trends in aviation followed by a 25 min interview with our guest, Vueling’s CEO Alex Cruz.

In today’s introductory section we review the importance of response times in social media and the ongoing debate over in-flight Wi-Fi and its different business model. During the interview with Alex we analyzed the following subjects:

Critical factors behind Vueling’s success (11:30)
Spanish market : The collapse of Spanair, high speed railways and Iberia’s new low cost subsidiary (13:40)
Vueling’s Spanglish advertising and its cloud (22:00)
Strategy: Hybrid, but only if cost leader (24:42)
Vueling’s marketing channels (26:50)
Alex Cruz’s view on social media (28:40)
Social media ROI for Vueling (29:50)
Rapid fire round (35:00)

(After you fill out the short form below, …

While we’ve been releasing a great amount of research on how airlines have been driving results and engaging customer through social media, how airports do it has mostly been an enigma. The wait is over.

ACI Europe conducted a thorough study recently of all its member airports on the continent and found that 77% of all passengers travelled through a social media enabled airport and there has been 800% annual growth for Airports in Central Eastern Europe using these mediums. For more startling facts and stats, enjoy the infographic SimpliFlying has produced in partnership with ACI Europe.

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<br /> <a href=”http://simpliflying.com/wp-content/uploads/SimpliAirport_HD5.png” _mce_href=”http://simpliflying.com/wp-content/uploads/SimpliAirport_HD5.png”><img class=”size-full wp-image-7011 ” title=”Airports social media ” src=”http://simpliflying.com/wp-content/uploads/SimpliAirport_HD5.png” _mce_src=”http://simpliflying.com/wp-content/uploads/SimpliAirport_HD5.png” alt=”" width=”592″ height=”2659″ /></a><br /> Via <a href=”http://simpliflying.com” _mce_href=”http://simpliflying.com”>SimpliFlying</a>.<br />Grab your code <a href=”http://simpliflying.com/2012/infographic-airports-in-social-media-aci-europe-study/” _mce_href=”http://simpliflying.com/2012/infographic-airports-in-social-media-aci-europe-study/”>here.</a><br />

You can get more aviation infographics here.

While air travel is one of the safest mode of transportation, emergencies do occur sometimes and on April 15, 2012, a Royal Brunei Airlines flight had a hiccup. Here’s what was posted on the airline’s blog about the incident:
Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 777-200 flight number BI098, from Dubai to Bandar Seri Begawan, on 15 April 2012, made a precautionary landing in Mumbai, India following an aircraft system alert ‘AFT Cargo Fire’ that necessitated the flight to be diverted to the nearest airport at that time.  BI098 landed safely at Mumbai at 19:24 (GMT +5:30). Royal Brunei Airlines can confirm that no passengers were injured.

Flawless crises management, supported by social media
While such a statement and a press release is only to be expected after any incident, their blog, Facebook page and Twitter account was not just abuzz with regular updates, there was ample two-way interaction too.

First, generic updates were put out, then messages directed toward the stranded passengers were posted and then once relatives of passengers learnt that’s where they could get the latest information, the airline staff …

Since recently returning from the American Association of Airport Executive’s (Great Lakes Region) National Air Service Conference, my mind is buzzing about innovative ways that social media can be used to enhance an airport’s air service development efforts.

At the conference I moderated a panel that was focused on the importance of communicating to the generations and how social media has infiltrated into the air service spectrum of the industry. It is now more important than ever for airports to understand that the ways in which our passengers are communicating and understand that that has evolved to include social media. It is no longer enough to simply market a new route through traditional mediums;  social media needs to be at the forefront of the minds of airports as they are working to enhance air service.
Social Promotions and Route Launches
During the conference session, Justin Meyer, Manager of Air Service Development for the Kansas City International Airport shared how social media is not only changing the way the airport is communicating to passengers of all generations, but also about their recent efforts to launch new service on Alaska Airlines from MCI to Seattle, WA.  The airport had a pre-existing …

Last spring SimpliFlying published an article on the Top 10 ways airlines are using location-based tools followed by a listing of Top 10 airports on social media; now we are taking it a step further to share four (fun and effective) ways airports can drive engagement through Foursquare. Consider this your definitive guide if you’re an airport marketer!

 
1. Check-ins to drive non-aeronautical revenue
Think of a large airport, with thousands of passengers connecting through each day, many with nothing to do after clearing security. Now think of the airport’s non-aeronautical revenue options (retailers, concessions). This is a prime opportunity to influence purchase decisions through a bit of social engagement.

Here’s your Airport “Non-aeronautical Revenue” Challenge: Set up Foursquare check-in venues at participating airport retailers to create a challenge for passengers, aimed at driving non-aeronautical revenues for the airport. The value of the check-in is that each time someone does it, they announce to their friends on Facebook, Twitter or other connected networks that they are at that particular retailer – it’s announcing brand choice, which is better than even net promoter score!

Informative and Fun: Creation of a scavenger-hunt-like game, complete with signage throughout the terminal and at each participating retailer to encourage …

“Pinterest?  The name sounds familiar, I must have heard it somewhere, but how exactly is it going to help our airline? ”
“I’ve heard of it too but I’m not really sure of what it is and, please, don’t tell me that we need yet another social network!”
We’re pretty sure that something similar must have gone through the minds of many airline and airport marketers over the past few weeks. According to some sources, Pinterest, the newest kid on the social block, is driving more traffic to company pages than “big” social networks like Linkedin or Google+ and people are spending more time on this addictive social network than just about any other platform except Facebook and Twitter.
 

But, what does it all mean ?

It could have simply been just another social network, or just another link sharing site that happened to be good at generating traffic while being visually appealing.  But luckily for us, it isn’t just that!

From a technical point of view Pinterest is a social-bookmarking website or, in other words, a website that allows people to highlight and share …

The third episode of SimpliFlying Podcasts features KLM’s Vice President for e-commerce Martijn Van Der Zee who explains the secrets behind the airline’s constantly innovative social media strategy and their latest, potentially game-changing KLM meet and seat social-seating initiative.

The interview is preceded, as usual, by a free industry insights section where SimpliFlying’s CEO Shashank Nigam and Community Engagement Manager Marco Serusi discuss the latest industry news, focusing on the Singapore air show and the marked shift in power from Europe to Asia.

You can listen to the free version below (industry insights) or subscribe to it on our iTunes channel:

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The guys at KLM just don’t rest, do they? Over the past year or two, they’ve churned out some of the most excellent social media initiatives designed to delight and engage customers while ensuring that they’re firmly in sight of ultimate business objectives such as driving revenue and loyalty as well.

KLM is well known for its social media initiatives, but the speed and quality of their campaigns is really starting to become something unique. Just a few days ago we reported about their “Meet and Seat” social-seating initiative and now they’ve surprised us again by creating a fun, and very shareable, initiative that will surely help create new positive associations with their brand. Read on:
Ever dreamed of becoming a stewardess? Or of dressing up as one?
Well, personally I haven’t, but since it’s Carnival, I decided to accept a fun assignment by trying out KLM’s latest initiative: their “Stewardress Yourself“ Facebook app. Eventually, I ended up taking some rather embarrassing (but admittedly entertaining) pictures of me as a SimpliStewardess.

The initiative has been launched trough a dedicated tab in KLM’s facebook page that houses a unique Facebook app designed to bring customers even closer to the brand. This is how …

The private air charter industry is a peculiar place. If aviation was the Solar System it would probably be a beautiful but lonely planet out there on the outskirts, like Pluto (yes, possibly not even a recognized planet). I lived and worked on this lonely planet for almost two years before joining SimpliFlying and, having studied the feats of large airlines like Southwest Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, I must say that, as a marketer, my landing into this world wasn’t easy, in fact it was a lot like falling on a roller coaster!

Sparsely populated
It’s a world populated by an endless number of small companies and a handful of large ones. In fact according to Eurocontrol in one of its main areas – European business aviation – over 85% of firms have less than 5 aircraft, and an alarming 39% have only one aircraft.

With these numbers, it is easy to understand why a handful of intermediaries (known as brokers) are able to dominate the market and eclipse the brands of the operators. For the, mostly corporate customers, it is easier to have a handful of familiar …