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Archive Category: Airlines

How private charter flights become increasingly affordable during chaos

Online private jet booking network, PrivateFly.com, reported a 74 percent increase in European flight searches for 30 November, versus data for the previous Wednesday, as a result of the public sector strike action.

The company highlighted trends around private aviation as an alternative for travellers during the chaos. As the company saw during the volcanic ash cloud and snow chaos of last December, private charter flights become increasingly affordable when balanced with the significant time savings.

Some of the key points:

• Bookings are up 45 percent week to date.
• Searches with a London arrival airport show an increase of 82 percent, indicating that those facing arrival into London’s anticipated airport gridlock, are looking for a private aviation alternative.
• Last minute private flights start from Paris – London, from £500 per person, or Dublin – London from £600 per person.

Adam Twidell, CEO of PrivateFly.com, said, “We’re seeing a notable rise in pan-European online search and bookings for 30 November, and it’s interesting to note that many of these bookings are from new customers, both for business and personal flights. For those that cannot afford a 12-hour wait, they might be surprised that they can afford a private charter flight.”

Twidell further explained and said private jet passengers at larger airports go through a separate terminal (known as an FBO) to scheduled or charter flights, and private jets can take-off and land from 1000s of smaller airports worldwide. “Using London as an example, we’re seeing potential gridlock of Heathrow tomorrow morning, and yet there are 14 alternative airport gateways to the capital, that will ensure a much more seamless and stress-free arrival, both during the immigration strikes and also on a normal day,” he said.

He also mentioned that private jet charter passengers still clear immigration; although in most cases private jet passengers are pre-cleared before they fly. Before the flight their passport details are sent to the UK Border Agency staff for thorough clearance. Immediately after private jet passengers disembark their passports are checked by the FBO staff against the pre-clearance; and of course, the UK Border Agency can choose to spot-check private jet passenger passport details at any point, and at any UK airport, explained Twidell.

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AMR and American Airlines file for Chapter 11 Reorganisation

American Airlines has shared that its parent company, AMR Corporation, and certain United States-based subsidiaries have voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 reorganisation under United States law.

The company has filed voluntary petitions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

American took this action in order to achieve a cost and debt structure “that is competitive in the airline industry”. The Board decided that it was necessary to take this step now to restore the company’s profitability, operating flexibility, and financial strength, said Thomas W. Horton, chairman, chief executive officer and president of AMR and American Airlines.

The United States Chapter 11 reorganisation process enables a company to maintain normal business operations while it establishes a competitive cost and debt structure.

“AMR’s Board of Directors determined that a Chapter 11 reorganisation is in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders. Just as with the company’s major airline competitors in recent years, the Chapter 11 process enables American Airlines and American Eagle to continue conducting normal business operations while they restructure their debt, costs and other obligations,” stated the company.

This action has no direct legal impact on any American Airlines operations outside the US, stated the company.

American expects to continue normal business operations throughout the reorganisation process, and the business will continue to be operated by the company’s management.

The company has approximately $4.1 billion in unrestricted cash and short-term investments. This cash, as well as cash generated from operations, is anticipated to be more than sufficient to assure that its vendors, suppliers and other business partners will be paid timely and in full for goods and services provided during the Chapter 11 process in accordance with customary terms, according to the airline. Because of the company’s current cash position, the need for debtor-in-possession financing is neither considered necessary nor anticipated.

Horton said, “This was a difficult decision, but it is the necessary and right path for us to take - and take now - to become a more efficient, financially stronger, and competitive airline.”

He further explained, “In recent years, even as the airline industry faced unprecedented challenges, American strengthened our domestic and global network; fortified our alliances with the best partners around the world; launched a transformational fleet deal that will give American the youngest and most efficient fleet in the industry; and invested in our product, service and technology to build a world class customer experience.”

“But as we have made clear with increasing urgency in recent weeks, we must address our cost structure, including labour costs, to enable us to capitalise on these foundational strengths and secure our future. Our very substantial cost disadvantage compared to our larger competitors, all of which restructured their costs and debt through Chapter 11, has become increasingly untenable given the accelerating impact of global economic uncertainty and resulting revenue instability, volatile and rising fuel prices, and intensifying competitive challenges.”

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Thomas W. Horton named chairman and CEO of AMR Corporation and AA

The Board of Directors of AMR Corporation, the parent company of American Airlines (AA), has named Thomas W. Horton chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

Horton is to succeed Gerard Arpey, who this week informed the Board of his decision to retire. Horton will also succeed Arpey as chairman and chief executive officer of American. Horton will continue to serve as president of AMR and American.

Horton was named President of AMR and American in July 2010. Previously, Horton served as executive vice president – finance and planning and chief financial officer of AMR and American. He was named to that position in March 2006.

“The process launched today will no doubt require far-ranging and sometimes difficult change, but it represents an opportunity to rebuild American in a way that assures its ability to compete in a changed world,” Arpey said.

He added, “I appreciate the Board's confidence in me, but I also believe that executing on this plan requires a new leader for a new time. That is why I informed the Board of my decision to retire and, with my enthusiastic support, the Board decided to appoint Tom as CEO.”

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New flight search engine to let users maximise the value of their miles

Superfly, a new flight search engine that combines flight information with individual consumer data and preferences, has been launched.

Rather than focusing solely on presenting the cheapest flight, Superfly says it helps individual consumers identify the options with the greatest personal value. Travellers can use Superfly’s personal travel insights to better manage their rewards programmes and cash-in on the opportunities they present.

Superfly has been founded by Jonathan Meiri and Zviki Cohen with the sole purpose of personalising travel.

The company says Superfly’s engine is a unique online platform that personalises flight search by adding an individual’s data -- frequent flyer miles, elite statuses, rewards programmes and individual preferences -- into the decision-making process of choosing a flight.

For the first time, travellers can fully take advantage of their frequent flyer miles and rewards programmes when booking travel online, stated the company.

“Today’s mainstream flight search websites completely ignore the impact of consumer data,” said Jonathan Meiri, CEO of Superfly. “This is a defining issue for the future of online travel services. Superfly is a secure tool that not only has access to all the flights in the world, it also combines that information with personal travel preferences in order to help consumers figure out which flight is right for them.”

What’s the difference between Superfly and Kayak?

The company states: Both Superfly and Kayak provide a flight search service and are powered by the ITA/Google platform. While Kayak simply sorts by price, Superly’s default search takes your personal data and preferences into account before sorting by the best value for you. You are however also able to sort by price on Superfly.

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First airline co-brand card featuring EMV chip-with-signature technology unveiled

Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., and British Airways recently shared that EMV chip-with-signature technology is now available on the British Airways Visa Card. Cardmembers can now use the British Airways Card at any chip-enabled, point-of-sale device, such as train ticket kiosk, restaurant or gas station.

The addition of EMV chip-with-signature technology makes the British Airways Visa card the first airline cobranded credit card issued in the US that is chip-enabled, said Andrea Burchett of The Mileage Company, operators of British Airways’ Avios currency and rewards.

“The new EMV chip-with-signature provides our globally minded flyers with a safe and convenient way to make transactions when overseas,” said Burchett.

The British Airways Visa Card has EMV chip-with-signature technology that features a microchip as well as a traditional magnetic strip to accommodate merchants in the US.

The companies highlighted that the embedded microchip makes the card extremely difficult to copy, because the encrypted chip enables safer processing and storage of data.

The British Airways Visa Card does not charge foreign transaction fees, delivering up to three percent savings on international purchases. Cardmembers earn 2.5 Avios, the new British Airways Executive Club currency, for every $1 spent on British Airways purchases. All other purchases earn 1.25 Avios for every $1 spent. Cardmembers also have the option to redeem Avios for future travel on British Airways or any one of its 11 oneworld alliance partners.

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New mobile app to offer free airfare tracking and refund alerts

Yapta has shared that its core airfare price tracking and refund alert service is now available as a mobile application for iPhones.

The app, according to Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta, is a “powerful savings tool” that’s well-suited for today’s airfare pricing environment -- and for the busy traveller on the go.

The company says Yapta Mobile is the travel industry’s first free smartphone app that tracks airfare prices on specific flights from hundreds of airlines around the world and alerts travellers when the price on a particular flight drops -- or falls below a pre-designated price point.

The app delivers pricing alerts in real- time via push notifications that enable travellers to either book their flight from the airline website at a lower available price -- or, if the ticket is already booked, to claim a travel credit from the airline. The app also tracks the price of airline tickets that have already been booked -- and if the price drops below what was paid -- it alerts the user when they’re eligible for a travel credit from the airline.

Users can expect push notifications, email alerts, or tweets when prices drop.

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SkyTeam invites customers to share airport travel tips on Facebook

SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, is making the use of the holiday season to celebrate the success of its SkyTips campaign.

Every month a member airline provides a prize for the tip with the most votes on the SkyTeam Facebook page. December’s prize is being offered by China Southern. To enter the competition, customers need to like SkyTeam’s Facebook page and click on the SkyTips icon. There is no limit to how many tips customers can post; winners are decided by the number of votes each tip receives.

According to the Alliance, since the launch of SkyTips competition in June this year, the SkyTeam Facebook page has grown from 1,500 to almost 46,000 fans. More than 800 airport tips have been posted to date.

The campaign is a part of initiatives being taken to enhance customers’ airport experience, said
Fatima da Gloria de Sousa, SkyTeam’s director of brand and communications.

SkyTeam’s Facebook competition builds on the alliance’s celebrity SkyTips campaign, launched earlier this year as part of a refreshed SkyTeam.com. The campaign features five famous high-flyers from around the globe, who have teamed up with SkyTeam at some of the world’s largest airports.

Each celebrity has filmed a short, how-to video, packed with tips and advice to help passengers get the best out of their time at SkyTeam hubs.

These celebrities are: Marcel Wanders, designer – Amsterdam Schiphol; Ben Fogle, adventurer – Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson; Pam Ann, celebrity air hostess – London Heathrow; Antoine de Caunes, actor – Paris Charles de Gaulle; Richard Chai, fashion designer – Seoul Incheon.

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Developing mobile apps for time-poor and frequent travellers

IN-DEPTH: The very essence of travel is being on the move, so enthusiastic and high-frequency travellers are the perfect and receptive audience to sophisticated, and visually inspiring mobile communication, says online private jet hire platform PrivateFly.com’s sales and marketing director Carol Cork.

By Ritesh Gupta

The mobile market has carved a place for itself in the travel business this year, both as an information tool and service portal as well as a source of transactions, as travellers increasingly research, book and organise their trips with mobile devices.

Each generation of smartphone provides even more opportunities for travel companies to enhance the user experience. For its part, the travel industry continues to expand and refine its mobile portfolio. Travel intermediaries focusing on different product categories have different considerations and expectations from their mobile strategy. And these companies need to evolve with new opportunities.

For instance, PrivateFly, which is focused on streamlining the private jet charter booking process, became the first company to offer the world’s first iPhone application to provide immediate private jet charter pricing when it launched the same last year. A private jet charter price estimate appears on-screen in seconds, with a choice of aircraft. The estimated price is calculated by PrivateFly’s bespoke software, giving a highly accurate indicator of market pricing. Also, the flight can be in the air in a matter of hours. But working on this wasn’t easy.

“Initially, the key consideration was to be the first to market with instant search and pricing for any global private jet trip - no other private aviation brand was able to do that. This gave us a strong USP, and entry into the iPhone app market, which was then adapted for Android,” Carol Cork, sales and marketing director, PrivateFly told EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta in an interview.

Cork added, “Now our key focus is increasing the functionality and experience of our apps, using location-based GPS to search for closest airports and live data of closest available aircraft. Our customers are much more likely to use apps than the typical private aviation customer, and they have a particular interest in technology. Plus they are high frequency travellers, making and changing travel plans at short notice.”

With the Android platform becoming increasingly popular, the company launched the equivalent app for Android users a few months ago.

PrivateFly says it recognises that travellers at all levels are demanding greater choice and control in booking travel on the move. And private jets are certainly not immune to these overall consumer trends. Although of course, it’s critical that such technological developments sit side-by-side with the personalised VIP support that private jet customers demand and expect.

EyeforTravel spoke to PrivateFly’s Carol Cork about the company’s mobile portfolio. Excerpts:

Can you elaborate on the current trends pertaining to the development of mobile apps in the travel sector? How does the whole arena look like in terms of the purpose they are serving in the travel planning, buying and post-buying cycle?

Consumers are now very comfortable with using mobile apps for travel planning. As well as allowing the consumer to use 'empty' time while on the move, they are playing a key role in direct response - travel brands can plan campaigns to drive instant reactions to their marketing activity rather than relying on longer-term brand recall.

In terms of buying, our focus is not on transactions through apps but on developing a dialogue with app users. A private jet charter is clearly a significant purchasing decision, so most users still currently migrate to the website or use the phone when they get to a certain point in the buying cycle.

Post-buying for us is a very exciting area of app development, which we are currently developing - this will have huge potential for adding value to our customer retention and overall brand experience.

What do you think should be the focus when it comes to creating mobile apps? How should one mark budgets for the same and what are the do’s and don’ts while developing mobile apps?

Keep it simple. Make it a distillation of the broader offering, reflect the brand while adapting for the specific platform, and use customer insight to channel the development - not just a gimmick. In terms of budgets, it's important to allow for ongoing updates and development, rather than letting your app sit still and be overtaken.

Can you elaborate on the usefulness of your mobile apps especially considering your target audience? What were the major challenges while you working on apps?

Our target audience are particularly time-poor and frequent travellers. So, our apps allow customers to get instant price estimates on the move for any global itinerary, aircraft information and to find closest airports to their destination. For example if someone's airline flight is cancelled and they are stranded at the airport, they can find out instantly what it would cost to fly privately. We can have them from app to airborne in 90 minutes.

The challenges for us were ensuring that PrivateFly's cost calculator algorithm could be adapted to work within an app and for a mobile device and screen. We also considered the marketing challenge of reaching our customer base via app platforms. The launch of the app, as a first for the private aviation market, created strong media attention and coverage which has driven international customer acquisition via our apps.

It is pointed out that better user experience (UX) means better reviews, more downloads, more repeat use and, critically, more revenue. Can you elaborate on what is critical while shaping up and executing the plan for UX?

It's a matter of keeping the customer front of mind at all times, providing genuinely useful information that is relevant to the customer and to their time and place. A highly-personalised and very positive customer experience is absolutely critical in our business - a private jet customer's expectations are high and rightly so. We see no reason why we shouldn't apply the same standards across all platforms including our apps. We use an agency for our app development with a comprehensive UX team, and conduct ongoing user testing to help shape the future development for all of our platforms.

The expectations and demands of smartphone customers are significantly higher than website visitors. What sort of benchmark should travel companies set for themselves when it comes to measurement of mobile web and app-related initiatives vis-à-vis any other component of digital strategy?

For us it's about multi-channel marketing, generating customer acquisition and ongoing engagement with our members.

What do you make of the “Web Versus Application” debate in the mobile product strategy at this juncture? Would it be right to say that the pros and cons settled down now?

It's an interesting debate, with no rights or wrongs. Consumers are using both channels, so an integrated approach is the optimal solution. We are currently undertaking a website redesign and will be looking at using both responsive design to give an optimal experience on all sizes of platform, but also continuing to invest in developing apps.

How do you expect the whole arena of mobile apps to shape up in the travel sector?

As smartphone and tablet usage drive forward to mass adoption, and users become familiar and confident with mobile touchscreens and making transactions via mobile devices, any business in the travel sector that does not offer a mobile application will be left behind.

The very essence of travel is being on the move, so enthusiastic and high-frequency travellers (who, of course, are the ultimate travel target market) are the perfect and receptive audience to sophisticated, and visually inspiring mobile communication.

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Spanish screenscraper websites stop displaying Ryanair’s prices

Ryanair has stated that its new security feature has persuaded Edreams and Bravofly to stop displaying the airline’s prices and seats.

Referring to the improved Internet security provided by the reCAPTCHA feature on the Ryanair.com website, the airline stated that it has eliminated “unauthorised screenscraping” and has improved consumer access to, and the response times of, the Ryanair.com website for genuine consumers/passengers.

At the same time, Ryanair said it also welcomes the decision by Edreams and Bravofly not to display Ryanair’s fares and seats and hoped the companies will continue to desist from unauthorised screenscraping. These websites no longer display the lowest fares in Spain, shared the airline.

“Ryanair will continue to implement measures to get rid of unauthorised screenscrapers and travel agents from our website, so that we can maximise consumer access and continue to improve the response times for ordinary passengers who want to book Europe’s lowest air fares without doing it through unauthorised screenscrapers or middle men such as Edreams and Bravofly,” said Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara.

He added that passengers in Spain will now realise that the only website where they can be guaranteed the lowest air fares is the Ryanair.com website, “where they won’t pay any hidden handling fees or be misquoted higher air fares, as has been the case with many unauthorised screenscrapers to date”.

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Air NZ aims to turn its loyalty card into “ultimate travel companion”

Air New Zealand is taking an initiative to transform its loyalty card into a “travel companion”. The airline’s Airpoints membership card is now loaded with new features. More than 700,000 New Zealanders are set to receive it over the next few weeks.

MasterCard and Air New Zealand have collaborated to develop this smart card tailor made for New Zealanders, according to MasterCard’s New Zealand Country Manager, Albert Naffah.

The companies highlighted that OneSmart is also the only New Zealand prepaid debit card that rewards one with loyalty points.

“OneSmart is an ideal card for all Kiwis and not just travellers. This card now brings together your everyday prepaid debit card, travel card, Air New Zealand Airpoints membership and ePass tag in one convenient package,” said Naffah.

An Airpoints Card with a OneSmart Account can be used at 32.9 million locations, including more than 1.9 million ATMs worldwide, wherever MasterCard is accepted.

“OneSmart is more functionally capable than any other New Zealand banking or loyalty card. It’s so loaded with features we believe it’s destined to become every Kiwi’s everyday essential card – at home and overseas,” said Air New Zealand’s head of loyalty Simon Pomeroy.

Once activated, OneSmart can be loaded with funds and used for everyday purchases and to shop online. Built in PayPass contactless technology means small value purchases are as simple as a tap of the card. On one side it’s an Air New Zealand Airpoints card, enhanced with ePass technology which will enable every Airpoints member to fly through domestic check-in. The other side is an optional Prepaid Debit MasterCard and travel wallet in one.

Some of the main features:

• Use New Zealand dollars loaded onto OneSmart to top up your Airpoints account
• Store up to four foreign currencies (choose from eight)
• OneSmart doesn’t charge commission to load foreign currency
• Built in ePass to fly through domestic check-in
• Built in PayPass to fly through the checkout for purchases under NZ$80.00
• Transfer money to another OneSmart account using your mobile phone

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