In marketing, we often talk about the value of brand associations, of being at the top of the mind of consumers and having the brand instantly connect with a feeling, memory etc. However, putting all this into practice is probably one of the hardest things in the industry. According to researchers, there can only be 3 brands in of a consumer per category… don’t believe me?

A short brand-recognition exercise

Let’s do a little exercise: name 3 brands of Cola.

Now let me guess: The first one that you thought of was: Coca Cola? And maybe the color red? The second one was: Pepsi, perhaps? And the third one?  Maybe you struggled a bit with this one, but probably it was the top selling “white label” brand from your local supermarket

Let’s do one more:

Think of good times (or more specifically, the recent holiday season) and name a brand of soft drinks.

I guess that you probably thought of something similar to the image below:

One last test:

Can you think of the holiday season and an airline/airport in the same breath?

Having troubles? Well it’s understandable since no airline brand has managed to “own” this idea yet, at least not in the minds of the general public. However some have managed to execute some “wow” campaigns aimed at associating their brands with positive emotions such as the ones associated with the holidays and Christmas seasons. As a result, they have ended up delighting customers, driving brand engagement and building loyalty.

In the spirit of the holiday season just gone by, with this Top 10, we have shown how some airlines and airports have spread smiles and goodwill amongst their customers.

• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• Toronto Pearson Airport sings you a Christmas carol if someone tweets you’re flying out – and they sang one for me
• Five airlines (and an airport) that surprised passengers this Christmas with Wow campaigns
• Oman Air’s re-branding effort – worth it?
• Vueling Business Class drives awareness creatively: The cloud that fell from the sky

If you still need proof of whether social media matters or not, you only have to look at the turnout for this year’s votes for the 2nd SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence. By the time voting closed after 2 weeks of stiff competition, more than 30,000 votes had been submitted from over 4500 cities. And this was after having shortlisted the Top Nominees from close to 60 nominations. The finalists for each category have been announced and they’ll face off in Amsterdam on October 10.

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!)

With about a day still to go for voting (and trust us, a lot of votes come in on the last day), the total number of votes has already crossed 30,000. Moreover, votes have come in from 4500+ cities across the world. How incredibly awesome is that?

1. Freshness and innovativeness are the keywords you need to keep in mind if you wish to drive a really successful social media campaign.
2. If you’re able to engage the interest of the customer, it’s possible to overcome certain price-point barriers. e.g. KLM’s new Economy Comfort option was a hit due to the viral video of a levitating magician.
3. People are looking for instant engagement online – if you’re looking to provide customer service online, don’t do it half-heartedly. Throw everything you’ve got into it and your customers will appreciate you for it. eg. AirAsia’s AskAirAsia.
4. To a certain extent, building emotional bonds with customers will drive long-term loyalty and revenue. eg. KLM Surprises and JetBlue’s glass half-full video.
5. Being “controversial” or disruptive is also a great way of driving buzz, receiving eyeballs and getting new customers as long as it is done right. eg. Air New Zealand have been brilliant in their “provocative” social media endeavours such as “Nothing to hide” etc.
6. Leverage the latest technology as and when it becomes available to engage more customers and to appear to be at the cutting-edge of innovativeness. eg. the Chrome web app by Virgin America, Groupon route-launches etc.

With that said, here’s the case-pack. We hope you enjoy going through it!

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

The buzz is palpable! After a heady round of nominations (69 nominees in 10 days) we’re down to the fun bit – the real voting to shortlist the Top 3 who’ll be invited to Amsterdam on October 10th for the 2nd Annual SimpliFlying Awards for Excellence in Social Media. Amazingly, we received more than 5000 votes in the first 36 hours from more than 1400 cities across the world. Huge, huge numbers! And they’re growing astronomically each day!

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

One of the bigger marketing challenges airlines face is to fill up the seats as quickly as possible, when launching a new destination. Typically, it takes over six months to reach a level where a flight is profitable. And this is after receiving marketing help from tourism agencies and also from airports – press releases to billboards in the terminals.

But as as we have long suspected, the traditional press release is rather dead and buried. Granted, it’s not dead in the truest sense of the word; however, it is undeniable that social technologies have morphed press-releases beyond recognition. Gone are the boring, wordy releases that used to accompany every major announcement in the industry. Welcome to the new age of social engagement!

Social media for route launches

Airlines these days have begun smartly leveraging the power of social media while making new product and route announcements. Forget the one-page release announcing the nature and benefits of the new route. These days, there are dedicated campaigns being run by airlines (as well as airports) to draw attention to their new routes and planes.

Witness the wide-ranging strategies adopted – as illustrated in this new case-pack – there are examples of special discounts to Twitter followers, elaborate “guess the route” contests on Facebook, contests that challenge the artistic abilities of fans and followers, even “name the plane” contests. All these attractive engagement campaigns are managed wholly online. Some airlines have gone as far as spending nothing on traditional advertising for new route launches. The benefits of social engagement campaigns are for all to see:

1. Immediate access to a very specific group of target audience that is responsive to incentives.
2. Online engagement offers the benefit of two-way conversations that enable easy sentiment-tracking and real-time feedback analysis, rather than one-way broadcasts.
3. The ability to attract and engage the audience where they are most likely to be at (eg. Facebook) makes it more easy to make them willing listeners and customers.
4. The ability for engagement programs to become money-spinners (ie, revenue drivers) is plain to see because of the viral nature that such campaigns can don. Your fans will talk to their friends who will talk to their friends and so on.
5. The ability to fill up the seats sooner for a new route – through all of the above.

With these points in mind, we present to you our new case-pack on the Top 10 Route Launches by Airlines & Airports via social media. Special thanks to Mark Scourse from 3Sixty for his inputs on how airports do it. You can hear both Shashank and Mark speak at the World Routes Forum in Berlin in Oct, 2011.

Let us know what you think of the case-pack. Thought we missed someone? Thought we nailed it? Tell us in the comments or tweet us @simpliflying.

• Branding 2.0: Top 10 Facebook Contests by Airlines
• Best Airports in Social Media: Top 5 Airports nominated for the SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence 2011
• The Best Airlines in Social Media: the Top 7 nominees 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
• The Top 10 Viral Videos by Airlines (plus bonus videos)

SimpliFlying Heroes is now just over one year old, in which time we have honored the nine of the world’s best individuals engaging airline customers. And on completing this first anniversary, we asked for some feedback from the industry folks and while they said they were very inspired by the stories shared, the asked if there could be public voting for Heroes, instead of just nomination. And we thought that’s a great idea!

Hence, from July 2011 onwards, you will be able to vote for the SimpliFlying Hero each month, from three nominees we put together (or you suggest). Additionally, we have decided that all SimpliFlying Heroes deserve a six month free membership to SimpliFlying Tribes, as opposed to the current one month. And that’s in addition to all the fame and the coveted certificate.

So without much further ado, please allow me to reveal the SimpliFlying Heroes nominees for July 2011 (…drumroll…): Jill Fletcher from Virgin America, Alison Russo from Lufthansa USA and Ali Bullock from Cathay Pacific.

Here’s a brief description of each of the nominee’s work at their respective airlines.

Jill Fletcher, Virgin America

Virgin America has been on the cutting edge of experimenting with social media and customer engagement this year. For example, passengers who are flying on Virgin America between the airline’s home airport in San Francisco and either Boston, Chicago O’Hare or Dallas airports between July 1 and September 30 will be able to check out a Google Chrome book at their gates. During their flights, they can test it using a free in-air WiFi pass.

Prior to that, the airline used Squabbler to create a viral video competition for their ads, they named a plane with a Twitter hashtag, partnered with Foursquare for an in-flight game, and ran several promotions that trade check-ins on location-based services for rewards like plane tickets and frequent flyer points. The best part is that the customer service they provide through social media, with a limited staff has given them a 96% positive sentiment online!

And Jill Fletcher has been part of the core team of two, leading the day-to-day engagement from the front.

Alison Russo, Lufthansa USA

While Lufthansa globally has been doing a great job engaging customers, the team in the US has been more adventurous and achieved great results too. They did a brilliant job with the A380 launch flights to JFK recently. And the real claim to fame are the two key projects launched by the team – MySkyStatus last year and Cloudstream, earlier this year.

The daily engagement on social media is handled by Alison, who does a great job for managing social media at a legacy airline, which can often be a challenge given the organizational structures.

Ali Bullock, Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways has been the leading legacy airline in Asia engaging customers proactively, and effectively too. They’ve left other worthy competitors like Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas light years behind in their efforts on social media. And one of the key players leading the charge from Day 1 is Ali Bullock.

Ali was instrumental in creating “Meet the Team” campaign where you can interact online with Cathay Pacific’s crew and learn more about them. He and his team also created the “Art of the Dessert” contest, which crowd-sourced the best recipes online. And in the last Airlines on Twitter report, Cathay Pacific was rated as having the best food reviews on Twitter!

Among other efforts like the Rugby Seven’s competition, the most impressive had been the launch of the new Business Class, where almost 3000 bloggers from around the world were flown in the Hong Kong to witness the unveiling and try out the product!

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

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 nominate someone by emailing us at heroes [at] simpliflying [dot] come. You can bring them a step closer to being recognized by SimpliFlying for their efforts.

• For bringing us MySkyStatus and Cloudstream, the SimpliFlying Hero for July 2011 is Lufthansa’s Alison Russo
• A revamped SimpliFlying Heroes initiative – Vote for the Jan 2012 Hero now!
• For leading KLM into social media, Lonneke Verbiezen is the SimpliFlying Hero for Feb 2011
• Karlis Smiltens – the man behind airBaltic’s rise in social media is the SimpliFlying Hero for August 2010
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero of February 2011 – Finnair vs Delta Air Lines vs Malaysia Airlines

***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying**

In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world.

Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I stand corrected – innovation is indeed taking place in the US too. And in addition to just flying their own airlines regularly, I’d highly encourage every senior airline executive in the world to come give Virgin America a shot on their next trip to the US. And here’s why.

Red, White and Purple – ah..so..Virgin

Virgin America probably has the best in-flight product on a narrowbody aircraft (trust me…I’ve flown a lot of them). And the brand personality truly stands out!

The ambience: The number of innovations inside the cabin are astounding. The first thing that strikes you is the cabin ambience – purple lights and swanky music. This may be common on some interrnational airlines like Emirates, but is a rarity in the US domestically.

The IFE: The advanced IFE allows you to order food on-demand, watch movies on demand and chat with other passengers on the flight – and for things you need to pay for, you just swipe your credit card right in the IFE screen! It’s all very user friendly.

The seat: When I relaxed into my seat, it felt very comfortable. After checking Seatguru.com, I realized that they have one of the widest seat in a narrowbody aircraft… in the world… both in First Class and Main Cabin (Economy), and the seat pitch is generous too.

The Service: On the flight, I was served by Aladdin, his brother Mazen and Cheryl (see photos below). One has been flying for almost 20 years, another is a former lawyer! Mazen actually made the effort to pronounce my name right – which was impressive. Again – the personal touches made an impression.

At the airport: Even on the ground, there is a diffence. Only two airlines use the International Terminal for domestic flights from San Francisco – Virgin America, and JetBlue. Is it a surprise that they’re two of America’s favorite airlines? The good thing is that you can choose to relax in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse (another world beater), which is at the same terminal.

In-flight connectivity = future of IFE

The biggest revelation has been the in-flight wifi made available thanks to Gogo in-flight. Now, I know that there are a number of airlines trying it out, but only Virgin America and AirTran have implemented it fleet-wide. And that I feel is a competitive advantage, until the others catch up.

I have shared my views in the past that the future of in-flight entertainment, especially for budget airlines, might mean providing a power outlet and a wifi connection. These are both enablers. They empower passengers to use their own devices the way they want to.

And after flying Virgin America today, I feel the future of IFE is indeed in-flight connectivity. For the first time, I did not feel “jailed” in a tube. I even Skyped my mom and showed her the view from my window!

Delivering on the brand eXpectations…

Now,  you’ve probably already heard a number of the things I’ve shared here about Virgin America. After all, it’s been over two years since the airline launched all of what I’ve just experiencedfor the first time today. But that also meant I had sky-high expectations of the airline.

The good news is that they not only met the brand eXpectations (remember, the whitepaper?), but exceeded them at times too. And that in itself is an achievement.

The Verdict

If you’re in the airline industry – you need to fly Virgin America (and soon) to get a glimse of what the future looks like. If you are living outside the US, make sure you fly Virgin America on a domestic route if possible – it will be a totally different experience.

And if you are living in the US, then come fly probably the best airline flying domestically in the US.

P.S: Special thanks to Bowen Payson from Virgin America for meeting me for coffee early in the morning at the airport!

• Richard Branson’s interview about Virgin America goes viral. But why?
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Virgin America’s online community – bull’s eye, or a flop?
• Top five branding insights from Virgin America

Update: airBaltic has kindly agreed to fly in the winners of this contest to London for FREE, from anywhere on their network! All you have to do is fulfill the conditions below, and follow airBaltic on Twitter.

Social media is increasingly becoming a tool of strategic competitive advantage for airlines. Delta Airlines now sells tickets on Facebook. Virgin America uses Twitter to launch new routes and save on marketing. And airBaltic [Disclosure: SimpliFlying Client] probably has a bigger presence online than in the real world. So how can other airlines learn from the likes of these successful airlines to build their own social media strategies? We have the answer.

Airline Business and Flight Global, in association with SimpliFlying, are delighted to be launching the first social media conference dedicated to aviation and all things airline related. The conference will take place on 1st October 2010 in Central London and you can now Register here. The conference will also be featuring the 1st ever SimpliFlying-Airline Business Awards for Excellence in Social Media – and you can start by nominating your airline for the SimpliFlying Heroes award, to be considered.

The distinguished speakers list includes Raúl Rodríguez, general manager for Europe, Pluna and CEO, Freespirit; renowned social media expert Paula Berg (of Southwest Airlines fame), SAS eCommerce manager ancillary services Christian Kamhaug, airBaltic Chief Commercial Officer Tero Taskila, Google UK industry manager, Travel, Nathan Bucholz, and many more. Moreover, the industry-favorite, Mary Kirby of the Runway Girl fame will be the Chairperson for the conference.

Once again, I’d like to personally invite you to join us in what will be an exceptional day of sharing and learning in London. You can register for the conference here.

How to win a two tickets to the conference?

As always, we have a treat for our loyal readers. We’re giving away two tickets to the conference and here’s how you can win them:

1. Follow us on Twitter (@simpliflying) or subscribe to our RSS feed.
2. Tell us on Twitter or in comments below, what’s the one question you’d like answered at the conference. Do make sure to use the hashtag #SMairlines, or mention @simpliflying, so that we can keep a track of the entries
3. The winner will be selected by a lucky draw on September 10, 2010
4. The more questions you post/tweet, the more chances you have to win!

Good luck with the contest. Winners will fly in free to London from any of airBaltic’s destinations. And I look forward to meeting some of you in London on 1st October.

• SimpliFlying Awards for Social Media Excellence for Airlines – Winners, photos and finalist presentations
• Join me in Istanbul, for IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium (two passes up for grabs!)
• Social Media for Airlines Conference – Live coverage from London #SMairlines
• SimpliFlying hosts roundtable discussion for airlines in social media, at Inbound Marketing Summit 2009
• Thirty questions airline brands and airports must answer to build a strong social media strategy

Virgin America created a splash today, by launching its first international destination, Toronto, on Twitter! They did not spend a cent on traditional advertising for this launch, and I personally think this is one of the smarter uses of social media I’ve seen by an airline in recent times.

The sweetener is that the first 500 people to book tickets using their Twitter ID would be able to redeem a 50% discount (still valid as of 2pm EDT, 20 Feb). If they’re not “following” the airline on Twitter, they will auto-follow. Even the official press release re-directed recipients to the Twitter URL.

“The first 500 Twitter followers who receive the airline’s expansion Tweet can score a 50 percent discount on flights to Toronto for travel June 23-November 17, 2010.*  Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, and its inventive use of technology, social media and design has made it a favorite among tech-forward flyers.  For more: www.twitter.com/virginamerica”.

The press release was followed by a single Tweet. And that’s it. That’s a very simple route-launch for you.

What so smart about Virgin America’s use of social media?

I’ve highlighted previously that Virgin America very cleverly uses social media by embedding sharing elements in their email newsletters. Now, they’ve taken the use of the medium to another level. Here’s why.

1. There is completely no support from traditional advertising: I bet the airline has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more, by not buying media space in Toronto. I remember when Emirates launched Toronto flights – they had tall buildings in Dundas Square draped in red (see below).
2. Huge boost for social media team: I met with Bowen Payson last month, who leads the social media execution at Virgin America and sensed a lot of passion in him for what he and his team are trying to accomplish. Having no traditional advertising also represents a huge confidence in Bowen’s team by the senior management. It also speaks volumes about how visionary the senior executive team is, being led by Porter Gale and Dimitrios Papadogonas.
3. Fighting the battle on their own turf: Before redeeming voucher, you need to be a followed of Virgin America on Twitter. And not only do they request you, but they automatically verify and get you to follow if you’re not already doing so. They can do this because you’ve entered your Twitter id and password on their website! Now, imagine all the tracking Virgin America can do with this tool as well – identifying which Twitter user logged in, but didn’t buy, and even mapping Twitter-Ids to frequent flier numbers. This is also something I’ve not seen airlines do, but surely reflects the future of social CRM.

All in all, a terrific job by Virgin America. What do you think about their efforts? Do you have examples to share where airlines have done similar things, well? Let’s hear it in the comments, and over on Twitter (@simpliflying)

P.S: Thanks to Dan from Things in the Sky blog for this tip-off.

P.P.S: Here’s how Emirates launched their Toronto flights.

• Top 10 Route Launches: How Airlines and Airports engage customers in new destinations through social media
• Interview with Emirates VP Nigel Page on the A380 flights to JFK, SFO and LAX
• What makes Virgin America an outstanding airline brand? The delivery.
• The day airlines’ Twitter accounts were hacked, and three steps to reverse the brand damage
• Vote for the SimpliFlying Hero for July 2011 – Virgin America vs Lufthansa USA vs Cathay Pacific

A picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll share with you the screen shot of an email by Virgin America that was posted by a blogger last week. Three words to describe this marketing effort – appropriate, effective and spreadable.

Don’t you think?

• Reality check: Why social media can be the solution for airlines’ grey skies
• Virgin America takes in-flight experience to a new level
• Smart Social Media Branding: Virgin America launches Toronto on Twitter, at 50% discount [couponcode, still valid]
• Virgin America’s online community – bull’s eye, or a flop?
• Why every visionary airline executive needs to fly Virgin America this year – to get a glimpse of the future