Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

AIRLINE MARKETING MONTHLY January 2019 - Issue 74

Aer Lingus Brand Reveal The Mobile Traveller in association with Urban Airship

CONTENTS: Introduction

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Airline campaigns

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News from SimpliFlying

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Air Astana Snow Leopard

44

The new Aer Lingus brand

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British Airways Magic 100

45

Cargolux Kids (Cargolux)

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China Southern Dreamliner

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First plastic free flight (HiFly)

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Cathay Pacific Sleep Less in Seattle

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Family Updates on WhatsApp (KLM)

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China Southern Dreamliner

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Airlines and virtual reality

Delta - Help the unseen

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Cargo Passenger Class (flyadeal)

Hong Kong Airlines +852 Magazine

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United Polaris Cookbook (United)

A380 in the new Lufthansa design

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No Lo at 35,000 feet (Virgin Atlantic)

Scoot’s Epic Interview Vistara Fly Higher

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THE MOBILE TRAVELLER IN ASSOCIATION WITH URBAN AIRSHIP

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Norwegian and the NBA London Game Airport campaigns

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Introduction

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China Southern Dreamliner

The Mobile Internet and mobile traveller in 2019

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#1billion DXB

The state of mobile wallet marketing

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London Luton Airport Christmas light show

How airlines are using mobile to sell extra products and services

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How Airlines Can Grow Brand Loyalty & Revenue By Creating Hyperpersonalized Customer Experiences On Mobile

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How can airports reach passengers digitally on the digital day of travel?

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55 56 57

Melbourne Airport Moments

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Brands in this issue

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AIRLINE MARKETING MONTHLY Published by SimpliFlying, 152 Haig Road, #13-04, 438791, Singapore, www.simpliflying.com CEO: Shashank Nigam, shashank@simpliflying.com Editor: Dirk Singer, dirk@simpliflying.com To subscribe, please register here.

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the first 2019 issue of Airline Marketing Monthly, the only trade magazine worldwide devoted to aviation marketing campaigns.

Are you a marketer from a different industry, who has now moved into aviation?

Then you should be looking at the courses offered by the SimpliFlying Global Institute.

This month we’ve featured Aer Lingus on the cover, for its rebrand. The new look comes as the airline seeks to grab a bigger share of the North America to Europe market via Dublin, with Aer Lingus intending to increase its long-haul fleet from 17 to 30.

Having worked with over 85 aviation brands in the last ten years, we have experienced how things really work behind the scenes in different airlines from all around the world.

We’ve also for the first time, worked with another brand on a special section in the magazine. Urban Airship is sponsoring a section on the mobile traveller, which includes everything from a look at how mobile wallets are being used, to specific examples of how airlines are using their apps to increase ancillary revenues.

Other brands featured in the magazine include flyadeal for its recent “Cargo Class” stunt, United Airlines which produced an airline recipes cookbook, and Virgin Atlantic which is tapping into the “NoLo” trend to serve low and no alcohol cocktails on board flights.

Not only that. More than 100 airline marketing leaders have shared their best practices with us that we have collected here to show you how the theory works in real life. That knowledge is distilled into the first courses we are rolling out as part of the Institute. And if you sign up now, you can take advantage of a special early-bird rate!

Finally, do you have any campaigns from your airline or airport you want to share? Email me at editor@airlinemarketingmonthly.com Dirk Singer, Editor

NEWS FROM SIMPLIFLYING

Interview with WestJet CEO Ed Sims Since stepping into the hot seat, WestJet CEO Ed Sims has presided over unprecedented change. The Canadian airline has introduced new world-class cabins for its Boeing 787s, launched an ultra low cost airline in Swoop, signed a joint venture with Delta Air Lines, negotiated agreements with its pilot unions and attracted some serious international talent into the executive suite.

SimpliFlying CEO and founder Shashank Nigam interviewed Ed Sims on these, and more topics, as part of the SimpliFlying Live Show.

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Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

Celebrating 400 SimpliLive Shows Over two years ago, SimpliFlying CEO Shashank Nigam was asked by Bombardier to produce a short video series to coincide with the launch of its C-Series Aircraft (now the Airbus A220).

After doing this, Shashank wondered if it might not be possible to record and produce a daily live show on aviation issues (allowing for weekends and holidays), and he’s now hit episode number 400.

What lessons did he learn from this. In the video, Shashank explains that three key lessons are 1) You have to make the first move and start. 90% of good ideas never get implemented and sit on the drawing

board. As a result he simply decided to get this off the ground rather than to constantly think or talk about it.

2) Be OK with making mistakes and keep things simple. Shashank hadn’t done something like this before, and wasn’t a video editing expert. Instead, just stick with your project, learn and improve as you go along, and don’t over-complicate the task at first.

3) Keep up momentum. Once you start, you have to keep things moving. Make it a routine, as if you have a break or lose the momentum it is hard to start again.

To view past videos, take a look at our social media channels.

Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

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Grow your career through the SimpliFlying Global Institute How would you like insights from 100+ aviation leaders to help you grow in your career? The newly launched SimpliFlying Global Institute will equip you with what you need to know about aviation marketing, through the series of courses we are developing.

Having worked with over 85 aviation brands in the last ten years, we have experienced how things really work behind the scenes in different airlines from all around the world. Not only that. More than 100 airline marketing leaders have shared their best practices with us that we have collected here to show you how the theory works in real life.

Join the SimpliFlying Institute at a special early bird rate now and learn from the best in the industry.

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Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

THE NEW AER LINGUS BRAND On January 17th, Irish national airline Aer Lingus unveiled its new brand at a Dublin Airport event.

At the event, the words “leading value carrier across the North Atlantic” were said again and again by Aer Lingus representatives, setting the tone for the rebrand and the overall direction of the airline.

The new brand design, will see the body of the aircraft being largely white, at the expense of the existing green. The airline says that the idea is to introduce “a sleek, contemporary feel.”.

Passengers flying with Aer Lingus will see four shamrocks on the new Aer Lingus aircraft livery. The first is within the new logo, the second sits on the tailfin, a third welcomes guests at the door, while Aer Lingus says that the fourth and final Shamrock will be seen on the wingtip.

The airline hopes that passengers will take pictures and share this final wingtip Shamrock as it says that it is there in part with social media in mind.

At the same time, the design makes more use of the iconic Shamrock, including in the redesigned logo itself, where the Shamrock now has “a tilt to symbolise dynamism and speed, with heart-shaped leaves reflecting the warmth and hospitality.” picture credit Naoise Culhane

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picture credit Frank Grealish

Was the old design too Irish?

Finally, the overall colour scheme also incorporates (blue / green) teal, making Aer Lingus one of the almost one third of airlines worldwide which use some form of blue in their branding.

What was wrong with the design, other than being 20+ years old? It very clearly communicated Ireland, but perhaps too much given the direction Aer Lingus is trying to move in.

At the launch event, Aer Lingus representatives talked about the fact that in focus groups the finding was that the old brand gave people the impression that “it would get you to Ireland but wouldn’t get you to New York.”

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So, a cleaner look seen to still incorporate distinctive Irishness (via the Shamrock), but also to appear modern and international, was adopted.

And getting you to New York (and other destinations in North America), and more to the point getting North Americans to Europe is what Aer Lingus has in mind.

As part this strategy, Aer Lingus is planning to increase its North Atlantic fleet from 17 to 30 aircraft by 2023. That includes growing its A330 fleet to 16 aircraft (from 13 in 2017) and invest in 14 new A321LRs to provide capacity for growth across the Atlantic and within Europe.

aircraft (from 13 in 2017) and invest in 14 new A321LRs to provide capacity for growth across the Atlantic and within Europe.

opposed to an LCC - with LCCs tending to use louder colour schemes (think of the easyJet orange, the WOW Air purple and the Air Asia red).

Ireland is a country on the European side of the Atlantic and so it is well positioned as a gateway to Europe. But so are Portugal and Iceland, and in both cases airlines are also making a play for a larger share of the North America to Europe market.

Then the addition of the A321LR aircraft opens up more destinations, including some that would have in previous years been considered secondary ones. For example at Dublin Airport, Aer Lingus is currently heavily promoting the fact that they are flying to and from Hartford, Connecticut.

WOW Air and Icelandair’s campaigns are of course well known, both lead on low prices (especially WOW Air, as an LCC), and both promote Iceland as a stopover destination between North America and Europe.

However, TAP Portugal is also trying to get a larger slice of the pie. Last Autumn, the airline ran a NYC focused ad campaign (which we covered in our November issue), which in turn follows TAP Portugal having doubled passenger traffic from the US since 2017.

So why should an American or Canadian traveller choose to fly via Dublin and not Lisbon or Keflavik? First of all, Aer Lingus talks about its four star Skytrax rating a lot - showing that it offers a quality product.

Indeed Aer Lingus specifically emphasised the fact that the new design positions the airline as a “value” carrier as

Finally, Dublin Airport is one of the few places where you can clear US customs & immigration before you get to the US, allowing you to skip US immigration queues when you land - a big bonus after a ten hour flight.

Rebrands (and not only in aviation) generally provoke mixed feelings, you will never find that everyone loves it, and this is no exception. However, on balance on social media most of the comments seem to be in favour of the new look.

And controversy / strong opinions aren’t necessarily a bad thing anyway. On that it’s worth looking back to our coverage of the far more controversial Lufthansa rebrand a year ago (which saw blue become the primary LH colour over yellow).

In our piece (see our Feb 2017 edition) Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

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picture credit Naoise Culhane

we mentioned an article in FastCoDesign which talked about “peak logo outrage.”

FastCoDesign pointed out that the main criteria of a logo’s success is whether it is ubiquitous and recognised. “Our collective revulsion over a small change or redesign flies in the face of that truth, and ignores the ultimate context of branding: scale.”

executives including CEO Sean Doyle gave presentations.

The event had a slight hint of an Apple launch about it, with the executives walking around on stage with ear pieces in front of a giant curtain, which was then finally pulled back to show an A330 (A330300 series aircraft, EI-EDY, St Munchin) in the new livery.

For the rebrand Aer Lingus used the agency Lippincott, which has worked for a That aircraft took to the skies the next number of other aviation brands including day, on 18 January, operating flight EI105, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Delta and United. where it was met by a reception in John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Aer Lingus says that it aims to complete the rebranding project by 2021, far quicker The new look was also heavily promoted than most projects of this nature. on social media, including a time-lapse film showing the A330 being painted in In the meantime, the brand has already the new colours. been introduced across the app, website, guest check in and boarding gates.

In addition to a new livery, Aer Lingus will be unveiling new uniforms in 2019. The The ‘reveal’ took place in at an event in current uniform was designed 20 years Aer Lingus’ Hangar 6 at Dublin Airport. ago by Louise Kennedy, who is also behind Around 200 guests - media and VIPs were the new uniform design. in attendance while a group of Aer Lingus

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CARGOLUX KIDS (CARGOLUX) In previous issues, we commended Lufthansa Cargo for the way it embraces marketing tactics that are very b2c like, despite cargo of course being by and large b2b.

For example, this past Christmas, Lufthansa Cargo showcased a fun “Cargo Christmas Challenge”, where the airline pitted itself against Santa Claus asking questions such as - who carries the most cargo, Santa or Lufthansa Cargo (needless to say, LH Cargo reckons it does).

In its campaigns, Lufthansa Cargo embraces two truths. The first is that cargo is interesting. Just like every passenger

journey, every cargo story tells a story and often a very visual one.

The second point, which many b2b brands forget, is that ultimately everyone is a consumer. Even someone sitting behind a desk with spreadsheets and purchase orders has the ability to (and more to the point, wants to) be enthused and inspired.

Another cargo operator which seems to be taking the same general approach is Cargolux. In December, the cargo airline launched a “Cargolux Kids” website, explaining that the aim was to “bring the world of Cargolux and airfreight closer to children.

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At the moment the website is in German and so appears to be aimed at the local Luxembourg market (German is the main language of education until secondary school), though Cargolux told us that in response to requests and enquiries, they are looking to add an English version.

It also for now includes basic facts and information only, although Cargolux says it will be adding to this over time.

In December, the airline also released the latest edition of “Charlie Victor”, the official Cargolux magazine. This includes a feature celebrating, and encouraging plane spotters who take pictures of Cargolux aircraft around the world.

This seems like a smart approach. Plane spotter pictures on Instagram / social media are by and large of a very high quality. And it’s free

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content, that often can be reposted on your own channels.

On the subject of Instagram and aviation photography, it’s worth mentioning that “Captain Joe”, one of the biggest pilots on YouTube and Instagram, flies with Cargolux (having previously been with Air Berlin until the airline’s collapse at the end of 2017).

We asked Cargolux whether the airline would be leveraging Captain Joe’s celebrity status, and they told us that they are discussing a number of ideas with him.

Cargolux Beluga Separately, Cargolux has partnered with the Sea Life Trust to repatriate two Beluga Whales from Shanghai, back to a wildlife sanctuary in Iceland. Special whale themed’ decals have been put on the 747 transporting the whales on their 6000 km journey.

Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

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FIRST PLASTIC FREE FLIGHT (HIFLY)

With plastic waste being a hot environmental topic, a number of airlines have made commitments to reduce plastic consumption. For example, in October Air New Zealand said it would reduce its plastic footprint by 260,000 plastic toothbrushes, 3,000 straws, 7.1 million stirrers and 260,000 eye mask wrappers over the next twelve months.

At the same time, Delta announced plans to eliminate 12 million plastic stirrers and 170 million plastic straws.

Meanwhile, Europe’s second largest airline, Ryanair, said it would be completely plastic free on flights by 2023.

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Another airline however has a more ambitious target. Portuguese wet lease carrier HiFly has given itself the goal of becoming the world’s first plastic free airline by the end of 2019.

In December, the Mirpuri Foundation, a charity founded by HiFly President, Paulo Mirpuri, announced that four of the airline’s A340s would be conducting a ‘plastics free trial.’ The trial commenced with a 26 December flight from Lisbon to Natal in Brazil, which the foundation claims was the first single-use plastic free flight in the world.

The airline produced a short video showcasing the plastic-free flight, as well as releasing a selection of images on its social media channels and website.

This isn’t the first time we have covered HiFly, the airline actually made the cover of our August issue when we ran a feature on special aircraft liveries. This coincided with the airline unveiling a special ‘save the Coral Reef’ livery on its new (or rather ex Singapore Airlines) A380, which it showed off at the 2018 Farnborough Air Show.

HiFly is an interesting aviation marketing case study.

It has a strong and distinctive brand, despite not being a carrier that passengers can directly book flights on - its whole business model depends on airlines ranging from Air Austral to Norwegian using HiFly aircraft and crew on its routes to plug temporary gaps. As a result, you could argue that in a sense brand doesn’t matter, and it could leave its aircraft all white if it wanted - what matters is its aircraft availability and track record.

However, the very fact that HiFly doesn’t sell tickets directly to the travelling public also arguably gives it more leeway and flexibility. With the company’s President having a direct interest in marine conservation, HiFly’s aircraft can be turned into eye catching (and news worthy) ads for the cause.

This in turn, puts HiFly in the news, to a far greater extent than other wet lease carriers. For example, you’d be hard pressed to name something that the UK’s Titan Airways, another company in this space, has done.

Does it matter? We think it does. It comes back to a point we made in the previous piece on Cargolux - everyone is a consumer and wants to be enthused and inspired. It’s also not always an easy sell for an airline to suddenly tell passengers that the flight that they have booked will be operated by someone else.

As a result, it helps if that someone else is a carrier with a reasonable amount of awareness, a good reputation, and with a colourful, impactful brand. An environmentally responsible message won’t go amiss either.

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FAMILY UPDATES ON WHATSAPP (KLM) Do you want your friends / family or maybe work colleagues to automatically know about your flight, say if its landed or if it is delayed?

In an airline ‘first’, KLM has introduced an automated Family Updates service (which is in practice applicable for more than just family) on WhatsApp. To take advantage of the service, you have to receive your boarding pass via WhatsApp. After having done so you will get an invite to use the KLM WhatsApp service, free of charge.

KLM will then send a message to the friends and family of participating passengers as soon as the flight has departed. Immediately after landing – even before the passenger has Wi-Fi or data roaming – the home front will receive another notification.

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If a flight is delayed, the group members will be informed as well. In addition to these proactive automated messages, group members can also ask KLM about the flight’s progress. For now, the service is only available in English.

KLM has been communicating through WhatsApp since September of 2017.

Customers can ask KLM questions through a verified WhatsApp business account. On request, the airline also sends passengers their booking confirmation, check-in notification, boarding passes, and other flight information.

KLM says that it sends more than 10,000 boarding passes each day in this fashion. Meanwhile out of the 35,000 service requests received through social channels every week, more than half come through WhatsApp.

KLM has released a series of short videos promoting the service. For example “hairdresser” shows a woman sitting in a hairdresser’s chair. She receives a WhatsApp message saying her daughter has landed in London, after which she shares the news with her neighbour in the next chair.

Though KLM was the first airline to have a verified WhatsApp account, more now offer services via the Facebook owned messaging network. This includes Etihad, Caribbean Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Saudia, Sun Express and El Al. El Al for example, announced its new WhatsApp service in December, saying that this was an extension of the existing EL AL’s Chatbot, which combines artificial intelligence capabilities with a human representative.

The service enables automatic response to the company’s customers on various topics via SMS, Facebook Messenger and now also on WhatsApp.

Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

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AIRLINES AND VIRTUAL REALITY British Airways has teamed up with airline virtual reality specialists SkyLights to showcase BA’s Club World cabins. Using the SkyLights’ “AlloSky” VR headset, passengers can tour the cabin and get a view of everything from the lie flat seats, to the White Company bedding on offer.

The idea is to run these trials at the airline’s main London Heathrow Terminal Five base, with a view to getting passengers to upgrade.

Although in this case, the AlloSky headsets are being used to provide virtual premium cabin tours, SkyLight’s overall mission is in fact to use VR to transform in-flight entertainment.

For example, in September the company announced trials with Alaska Airlines to provide content to first class passengers, via the headsets. The company has also partnered with both Emirates and Etihad to run trials in the airlines’ lounges.

Other airlines and virtual reality British Airways is of course not the first company to experiment with VR headsets. For example, in the Autumn of 2017, KLM ran a stunt in the US encouraging passengers on low fare carriers to trade up (Fast Company was not a fan calling it “a VR marketing ploy to make budget flyers feel bad.”).

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Meanwhile Lufthansa has made virtual reality a core component of its marketing strategy. An article by VR Studio Meraki outlines some of the different initiatives, ranging from headsets encouraging last minute upgrades to premium economy, to virtual tours of destinations such as Hong Kong, Miami and Tokyo.

In addition to SkyLight, another vendor looking to provide entertainment and content via virtual reality headsets is Inflight VR. In October, the company announced that it would be partnering with Star Alliance to offering virtual reality entertainment powered by Inflight VR, initially in its business lounges at Paris Charles de Gaulle and at Rome – Fiumicino airport.

Inflight VR has also worked with Iberia and the now defunct Small Planet Airlines.

For now, VR headsets as in-flight entertainment are at a very early stage, with most airlines only running limited tests.

However an Economist article from October, sets out some of the reasons why VR headsets could prove to be attractive for airlines in the future.

They are lighter than seat back entertainment systems, and there’s scope for selling products on top of VR content.

The example given is a passenger who watches a short clip of a Broadway musical on a flight to New York, after which s/he is given the opportunity to buy tickets for the show.

World’s first ‘virtual airline’ lets you fly to Paris, New York or Rome Meanwhile you can now use virtual reality to simulate the whole experience of an airline flight, without leaving the ground. Last year the media reported that ‘First Airlines’ was starting up as the world’s first so-called virtual airline.

Based in Tokyo, you can take your seat in a First Airlines “A340” or “A380”, take off and then fly to one of Paris, New York, Rome or Hawaii.

Time Out Tokyo tried out the experience on a virtual flight to Paris and was “pleasantly surprised.” The ‘airline’ offers the whole range of experiences from boarding announcements, to safety

demonstrations to in-flight meals.

Time Out said that the effect of all this is that: “Bizarrely enough, the entire thing gives you some very real travel buzz.”

Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

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FLYADEAL CARGO PASSENGER CLASS (flydeal) If you are an LCC, how far will you go to demonstrate that you offer rock bottom fares? If you are Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, you start talking about charging people to use the WC, or having standing room only (“vertical seating”) places.

In the introductory video, the airline’s head of marketing & digital, Piotr Lysak, is shown earnestly explaining that as almost half the cargo capacity is not utilised, they came up with this new idea, complete with graphics showing how airline seats can fit in between the cargo containers.

Or you could come up with a different, but similarly eye-catching idea. For example, how about putting passengers in The video then has vox-pops with Saudi the cargo hold? passengers saying what a great idea the concept is, before some of the practiIn December, Saudi LCC flyadeal sugcalities are explained - for example, the gested exactly that when it started post- need for special fans to provide ventilaing graphics and short videos on social tion, and the fact that only passengers media announcing a new innovation, of only a certain size can claim these coinciding with the end of its first year seats. of flying - “cargo passenger class.”

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A micro-site gave further details on the new offer, with explanations such as, “if you’re willing to give up window seats, reading lights and the carpet, you deserve to save on your fare.”

The whole idea was of course a joke, and the airline announced that this was indeed the case.

As the micro-site now explains, “Cargo Passenger Class was just a prank and you don’t have to go this length for a good deal!”

The reveal that the whole thing was a prank was then followed up with a number of other humorous videos.

In one, a man is loaded onto the baggage conveyor belt, in another a passenger looks down from his cargo passenger class seat and notices a man making tea on the floor, while in another a passenger has to get a fellow passenger to hold a flashlight, so he can read in the dark. The final message in these short films is that you don’t need to go to these ridiculous lengths to get a great fare when you fly with flyadeal.

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In addition, the first 100 people who subsequently registered via the microsite were given a surprise thank you of a Voucher worth SAR 300 to use on their next flight with flyadeal.

The stunt got Flyadeal a lot of exposure in the region. This included coverage in the National, Gulf News and Step Feed (“Saudi budget airline brilliantly pranks people.”)

Needless to say, engagements and comments on flyadeal’s social channels were high, with plenty of debate between people who loved and hated it.

We very much fall into the former camp - this was an inspired idea. It’s the kind of concept where you are 95% sure it is a joke, but a small part of you wonders if there might be something behind it.

After all, the concept of using cargo space for passengers is not so outlandish, last year Qantas CEO Alan Joyce suggested exactly that (albeit his thought was to use 22

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the area to improve passenger comfort on ultra long haul flights, not to sell cheap seats).

It in no way damages the brand, as some commentators on LinkedIn suggested.

Just the opposite actually, it shows flyadeal to be fun, and accessible. And whether people liked or hated the idea, it got them talking about saving money - the number one thing an LCC wants to get across.

Also, while the idea was good, so was the follow-up, with the funny short videos making fun of the whole concept. One of the benchmarks for us on whether a stunt is successful is this - is it a “one hit wonder”?

Does the stunt happen, and then it’s gone and people have forgotten about it, or does it have some kind of longer shelf life? flyadeal managed to keep campaign momentum going, even after it came clean that the whole idea was just a prank.

UNITED AIRLINES COOKBOOK (UNITED) Looking for some cooking inspiration in 2019? For something very different, why not recreate the airline dining experience at home!

That’s now possible thanks to a new cookbook released by United Airlines. For $29.99 you can get your hands on the The United Polaris Cookbook, which aims to promote the onboard dining experience of United’s Polaris business class.

The book has 40 recipes ‘inspired’ by the airline’s business class menu. In addition to being created by United Airlines executive chefs, recipes have also been created by the Trotter Project, “a nonprofit organization committed to mentoring and inspiring a new generation of culinary minds” - i.e training the chefs of tomorrow, through internships, scholarships and mentoring schemes .

United hasn’t actually issued a press release about the cookbook, instead news seems to have simply filtered out (we’re not sure if that was a cunning tactic to generate word of mouth coverage, or if they genuinely didn’t see the news value)

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.Suffice the sheer novelty value of the idea has resulted in the cookbook generating a tonne of press coverage for the airline. This includes USA Today, MSN, Lonely Planet, and the LA Times.

Needless to say some of the coverage does include the inevitable jokes about airline food. For example, One Mile at a Time started its headline with “LOL”, describing the book as “the perfect Christmas gift for someone you don’t really like.”

Why the idea works However, we like it. It’s a really smart idea, that ticks a few boxes. First of all, it’s different - no airline has done something like this - meaning it is getting news coverage and exposure - it is genuinely something new.

Within that news coverage, you will find mentions of the airline’s Polaris business class, mentions of some of the recipes and finally the tie-up with the Trotter Project. As a result, key messages are getting through -

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even in pieces which take more of a light hearted look at, or even make fun of United’s cookbook.

Finally, it’s a tactic that exudes confidence. No, airline food hasn’t had the best reputation over the years (especially among those of us who normally travel in the back of the plane).

Hence this is quite a bold move. It makes a statement - ‘we are so proud of the meals we serve in business, that we’re going to sell the recipes so you can make them at home.’

Rhapsody in blue remastered When is an ad not an ad, and when does something that is promoted as an ad-free service actually contain hidden commercial content?

These are some of the questions asked by Music Business worldwide, in an interesting piece around ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, a song used by United as brand and ad music for 30 years.

In the article, the writer Cherie Hu, says that she was served up the United Airlines’ ‘remastered’ version of Rhapsody in Blue, performed by Charlotte dos Santos, in her Spotify release radar.

The Charlotte dos Santos version of Rhapsody in Blue, was one of four commissioned by the airline in a social media campaign.

The other versions of the song were created by Brooklyn-based Ambessa Orchestra, French electronic artist “Clovis XIV”, and Filipino-American vocalist and producer, Low Leaf.

Despite not including a call to action to book flights, Cherie Hu argued that these tracks are effectively a form of native advertising. They include the United brand and logo and the colour scheme (blue and white) in the track art.

Hu says, ”my encounter with United’s ‘Rhapsody Remastered’ project on Spotify was arguably a form of algorithmically curated product placement, with concrete and immediate financial benefit for its sponsoring advertiser.”

Other airlines that have released content on Spotify include KLM, which following its recent marketing campaign to convince German consumers that it was not a bank, restaurant or radio station, created a track called “We are an airline”, and made it available on the music streaming service.

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NOLO AT 35,000 FEET (VIRGIN ATLANTIC) Virgin Atlantic has joined the “no and low alcohol cocktail movement” by announcing what it says is the world’s first ‘No Lo’ inflight cocktail menu - “N o l o ® at 35,000 feet” with partners Seedlip and Regal Rogue.

According to the airline’s food and beverage manager Mark Murphy. “There’s a big focus across the airline industry on reduc-

ing the amount of alcohol consumed in flight, and we’re delighted to be leading the way by offering our customers across all cabins a selection of zero and low alcohol alternatives.”

Seedlip says it is the world’s distilled non-alcoholic spirits, while Regal Rogue, calls itself the “world’s quaffing vermouth.”

While most airline food and drink launches tend to be for the benefit of premium cabin passengers, Virgin Atlantic says that these no and low alcohol cocktails will be available in economy and premium economy, as well as in upper class.

Given several high profile incidents of alcohol-fuelled air rage on UK airlines over the past year, there’s clearly a behavioural benefit in encouraging passengers to switch to low or no alcohol alternatives.

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However, Virgin introducing its new ‘Nolo’ cocktail menu is also part of a wider trend. According to the Drum, in 2016 the UK’s Office for National Statistics revealed a drop in alcohol consumption for the first time in a century, while Supermarket Tesco announced that it would be creating a low and no alcohol section in its stores.

Meanwhile an article in the Financial Times from March talked about the fact that there is “money in moderation - the rise of alcohol free drinks.”

Then there is the wider issue of airline passengers wanting healthier and different alternatives, in turn mirroring on the ground food consumption habits.

A piece in CNBC from November talked about airlines stepping up gluten free and vegetarian / vegan alternatives.

Quoted in the piece, David Rodriguez, who manages Alaska Airlines food and

beverage says that though “food and beverage make up a very small piece of the customer decision to purchase,” having food options on board does drive an “emotional connection” to the airline.

We suspect it’s the same with Virgin Atlantic and its ‘Nolo’ cocktail menu.

The proportion of passengers choosing drinks from the menu will probably be very small, but much of the value to Virgin Atlantic is by being able to make a statement about the kind of airline it is, simply by having it on board.

The same applies to Air New Zealand stocking the “Impossible Burger” (see our July issue) on select routes.

Few people will in practice order it, but it positions Air New Zealand as a forward thinking, innovative airline which is up on the latest food and drink trends, and which also caters to people wanting a wider selection of meat-free alternatives.

£1 Golden Tickets At the end of the year, Virgin Atlantic hid ten £1 “Golden Tickets” in its booking system. These were Premium Economy tickets to random destinations that could be bagged for just a pound (plus taxes).

For a chance to win, you simply had to carry out a flight / fare search via Virgin Atlantic’s website in the normal way.

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THE MOBILE TRAVELLER

In association with Urban Airship

INTRODUCTION

The ‘silent traveller’ of today An airline passenger today can go through every stage of the travel process from booking flights to getting on board an aircraft with minimal to no human contact.

In a presentation at the ACI Customer Excellence Summit, in Halifax last September, SimpliFlying CEO and founder Shashank Nigam called this the rise of the Silent Traveller (click here for the full presentation).

How does the Silent Traveller manifest him or herself? Consider the following (almost) human free path, from when you leave home, to when you take your seat on the plane.

• You book and then check in via your airline’s mobile app. You receive the boarding pass direct on your phone

if you decide to drive yourself. In many cities, all three options can be done via a smartphone

• You book your public transport ticket to the airport via another mobile app.

Or call a taxi. Or pre-book your parking

• Assuming you have no luggage, you scan the boarding pass on your phone at the security gate

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• Depending on the airport, you can scan your passport without dealing with an immigration officer, one example is Munich’s Easy Pass system, now open to EU and select non-EU nationalities on departure as well as arrival • You pass through security (where you do have to deal with staff) • You collect a pre-ordered meal at the airport, having ordered it beforehand via your phone (one example - a number of UK and US airports have partnered with the app Grab) • Got a complaint or a question? Chances are you’ll fire it off the via social media, rather than try and look around for a member of staff

• You head for the gate, where you will again deal with a human being who will scan your mobile boarding pass and check your passport. However the chances are that this person will be working for a handling agent such as Swissport, and not the airline direct • Then finally you see the cabin crew attendant at the aircraft door. Not only is it one of the few human interactions you may now have, the chances are it will be the first airline employee you encounter • And of course, once on board the mobile journey continues. Perhaps the airline offers in-flight entertainment via an app. Or maybe you have had the option of pre-booking your meals before you left home

What’s the common denominator throughout most of the above process? The traveller’s smartphone of course. The phone is now increasingly the main way in which many (if not most) passengers interact with your brand as an airline, as well as plan out and manage their whole travel path.

This loss of the human dimension brings challenges. But it also brings opportunities in terms of improving the passenger experience, customer service, convenience and finally in opportunities to upsell products and services through personalised messaging.

In this special guide, sponsored by Urban Airship, on the mobile traveller of today we’ll be looking at some of these issues.

About Urban Airship Urban Airship® is trusted by thousands of businesses to drive growth with digital customer engagement. Every day, marketers and developers depend on Urban Airship to deliver billions of personalized, interactive notifications that inspire interest and drive action across all digital channels.

Urban Airship is used by many of the world’s most admired companies, including Adidas, Alaska Airlines, The Home Depot, NBCUniversal, Sky Plc and Zillow.

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The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

THE MOBILE INTERNET AND MOBILE TRAVELLER IN 2019 There are hundreds of statistics and facts out there about the growth of the mobile Internet. We’ve pulled out some of the most relevant ones for aviation marketers: • Your passengers are on mobile. You know this already, but it’s worth looking at the scale. In 2017, over three billion people worldwide were connected to mobile Internet services. This is projected to increase to five billion by 2025.

• This year, according to Zenith Media, we’ll for the first time spend more time on the Internet than watching TV. Most of that Internet use will be via mobile devices.

• Looking at the US in particular, the % of visits from mobile devices grew to 63% in 2017. More significantly perhaps, the mobile bounce rate is decreasing - to 47% from 52% - showing an increased appetite to consume mobile content, without clicking away.

• Apps however convert much better than mobile websites. Research by Critero shows that the conversion rate is 5x higher on the app than through

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• a mobile browser. As a result, investing in and communicating with your audience via an app pays off. Critero’s research also shows that traveller who book through an app tend to be higher value as well.

• According to the SITA’s Passenger IT Trends Study (2017), the opportunity is there to broaden the services you offer to passengers via those apps. Along with more obvious findings, such as that 74% are willing to receive mobile flight updates and 64% want to use mobile to track their bags, the research also shows that 59% are open to using mobile “digital travel concierge” services.

• And when talking about elements such as digital travel concierge services, personalisation, through providing relevant and timely communication is important. According to Google’s future of travel study, 57% of U.S. travelers feel that brands should tailor their information based on personal preferences or past behaviors.

• In 2015, 9% of airline check-ins were via a mobile app. By 2021, this figure is projected to increase to 29%, overtaking the % of passengers who physically

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check in at the airport.

• Similarly, by 2021 a quarter of airports (25%) globally intend to offer flight status notifications via mobile devices.

• When passing through airports themselves, Nielsen and outdoor specialists Clear Channel found that 80% of frequent travellers remain connected to WiFi throughout their airport journey.

These passengers, the most valuable when it comes to spending power, can therefore be engaged via personalised and location based messaging and advertising.

• For airlines, airports and travel providers, the mobile wallet built into smartphones is obviously key. According to Merchant Marine, mobile wallet use is on the increase. This includes 47% of Chinese mobile users (see our separate China article), 42% of Norwegians and 24% of UK smartphone owners.

• We mentioned app conversion rates, but when it comes to engaging passengers via a mobile wallet, the statistics are even more impressive, with Urban Airship’s digital wallet passes showing a 98% retention rate (see data sheet for more information)

The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

THE STATE OF MOBILE WALLET MARKETING With the mobile wallet becoming part of traveller’s daily lives, Urban Airship conducted independent research among 1000 US and 1000 UK consumers, looking at their attitudes to, and receptiveness to, mobile wallet marketing. Here are some key findings from the study: CONSUMERS ARE ALREADY USING MOBILE WALLET — AND WANT MORE • More than half of those surveyed (54%) have already used a mobile wallet pass in one form or another. Especially among the younger set and those with above median household incomes ($60k+), usage is more common.

• More than half of all survey respondents want to use mobile wallet for loyalty cards, coupons, order delivery updates, mobile payment, boarding passes, ID cards, event tickets and reminders (expirations, balances, etc.).

MOBILE WALLET LOYALTY CARDS BOOST PROGRAM PARTICIPATION • Overall, 69% of respondents said they’re more likely to use the loyalty

card if it’s on their phone, especially true for Millennials (82%) and households with higher incomes (78%).

• The biggest problems with loyalty program participation — forget they’re members (40%) and forget the card (43%) — can be solved by using mobile wallet for loyalty membership.

MOBILE WALLET IS ONE OF THE TOP WAYS CONSUMERS WANT TO HEAR ABOUT SALES AND OFFERS • Regardless of generation, mobile wallet (44% overall) is in the top four ways consumers want to be kept informed about sales.

• More than 57% of Millennials want information about sales, offers and coupons delivered via mobile wallet compared to email (most requested) at 63%.

INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS OF MOBILE WALLET PASSES WOULD BOOST COUPON REDEMPTION • Expiration reminders, which can be sent directly to lockscreens from the wallet pass, would make 64% of consumers more likely to use the coupon.

• For Millennials overall, that number rises to 77%, increasing to 81% for U.S. Millennials.

To download the full report, as well as other analyst papers and benchmark reports from Urban Airship, click here.

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HOW AIRLINES ARE USING MOBILE TO SELL EXTRA PRODUCTS AND SERVICES For many airlines, the mobile app is increasingly an important way to upsell and cross-sell. Here are a number of examples of airlines doing that: Taiwan’s China Airlines has an app that it describes as “the mobile secretary that understands you.” As well as the usual services of flight information, check in and seat selection, the app offers the ability to purchase in-flight Wi-Fi, high speed rail tickets in Taiwan, to increase your luggage allowance as well as to receive recommendations on duty free purchases.

LCC easyJet having to introduced a number of mobile innovations, such as being one of the first airlines to give you the ability to scan your passport details via your smartphone camera rather than to have to type them in. easyJet was also the first airline in the world to partner with Flightradar 24, meaning you can see where the flight you intend to leave on is at any one time.

Though not sales features as such, innovations like this build loyalty and retention, as the easyJet app does of course give you the ability to do everything from book hotels and cars to paying for extra luggage or sports equipment.

Meanwhile another European LLC, Wizz Air, said in its latest annual report that 64% of its digital interactions originated from mobile devices. The airline says that it remains among the top 10 most visited airline websites in the world with the highest share of mobile visitors,

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with a mobile app base of 7.4 million.

We talked earlier about the importance of personalisation and Wizz Air’s high download rates are helped by the fact that the app is available in eleven languages - from Bulgarian to Ukrainian.

The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

The app itself allows you to buy priority boarding, travel insurance, add baggage, and change a reserved seat. It also offers hotel bookings via booking.com, the ability to book 32,000 tours and attraction tickets in destinations and discounts on airport parking.

Wizz Air’s mobile strategy was key to it bringing in an average of €26.74 per

passenger in ancillary revenues. Well ahead of Ryanair, the European airline usually cited as experts in the field, who brought in an average of €14.83 per passenger.

The airline says that it will be introducing new digital initiatives in 2019, to improve its interaction with “an ever growing audience on the move.”

United Airlines has according to Inc, the most extensive list of airport maps (100) within its app, giving frequent travellers a reason to use it. As well as giving you the ability to play Sudoku (a quirky feature that will increase use and engagement), the app integrates with Uber allowing you to book transport to and from the airport.

Singapore based Scoot, however has taken a different approach and is actually shedding the amount of services it offers via its app, to avoid it becoming ‘bloatware.’

It slimmed down the new version of the app it released at the end of 2018 and as well as flight information and mobile boarding passes, the app offers only a few extras such the ability to pay for luggage. The airline says that it wanted to focus on “clarity, simplicity of use, and responsiveness” and narrow down pain points.

Passengers wanting to buy additional products and services are directed to WeChat or the mobile website.

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HOW AIRLINES CAN GROW BRAND LOYALTY & REVENUE BY CREATING HYPERPERSONALIZED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES ON MOBILE

In the introduction, we looked at the smartphone-led path many passengers have today. In this article, Emily Buckman, Global Strategic Consultant at Urban Airship, looks at how airlines can take advantage of this trend.

Emily Buckman Global Strategic Consultant at Urban Airship As the mobile engagement partner for leading airlines around the world, including Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Jet Airways, we’ve learned a thing or two about what matters to passengers and airlines when it comes to providing reliable, real-time, personalized mobile messaging at scale. In this post, see what it looks like to deliver a stellar experience on mobile before, during and after your customers’ day of travel.

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Who wouldn’t want a personalized concierge/butler/BFF right by our side during a long and stressful day of travel?

We work with many leading airlines that are creating this kind of hyper-personalized customer experience on mobile.

Combining the user-level customer intelligence (like flight times, layover location/duration and loyalty/frequent flyer information) airlines have in their systems with other data sources (like airport information systems, weather APIs, etc.) opens up the opportunity to use mobile to be there for customers at exactly the time and place they need you the most.

Creating better connections with customers on mobile also pays dividends in improved brand affinity, customer loyalty, and NPS score/referrals, while helping reduce costly customer service calls, and contributing to increased ancillary revenue through upsells and add-ons.

Read on to see how airline industry trends around mobile engagement are evolving — and how you can keep up with ever-growing customer expectations around mobile messaging before, during and after their day of travel.

Urban Airship powers mobile engagement for top travel and leisure brands around the world — from Virgin America to Starwood Hotels and Results to

the Sydney Airport. See more of our Travel & Leisure customers.

Be There For Customers Before, During and After Their Travel As marketers and customer experience managers at airlines know, it’s important not to overwhelm customers with too many mobile messages on a day of travel. However, it’s also important not to miss opportunities to upsell or deliver “nice-to-know” messages that can really improve customer experience. Mixing up your mobile messaging channels — and matching messages to the right mobile messaging tools — is key.

Here are some examples of the compelling ways airlines can leverage multiple data sources and mobile messaging channels to make every customer feel like a VIP.

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BEFORE THE FLIGHT Check-In: Check-in reminders can come via notifications across any or all digital channels 24-hours before check-in time: “Good [morning/afternoon/evening] - it’s time to check in for your flight!”

passes: Proactively alert passengers to changes to updates by sending a push notification directly from the mobile wallet boarding pass.

Time Savers: Whether it’s directing customers to the shortest security lines or alerting them to gate changes, airline apps that send push notifications to help customers save time are always appreciated.

Push notifications are the ideal channel to use for “need-to-know” messages — like reminders to check-in, gate changes, alerts about delays, etc. Airline apps should use them wisely to avoid notification fatigue for passengers.

Mobile Boarding Pass Delivery: Once a passenger is checking in online or on mobile, they’re also ready to get their boarding pass. Mobile wallet is the perfect channel for mobile boarding passes. Why? • Better customer experience: Don’t make customers dig through mobile email to find their pass: mobile wallet boarding passes can stay visible on a lockscreen until the customer gets on the flight so it’s always at the ready.

• Wallet passes update dynamically: A mobile boarding pass that lives in a mobile wallet isn’t static — it can be automatically updated (no user action required) with changes to flight times or gates.

• Send notifications directly from wallet 38

Alaska Airlines uses our mobile wallet solution, Reach to power their mobile wallet boarding passes.

Those reasons and more are why Alaska Airlines (ranked number one for the 10th consecutive year in the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey) uses our mobile wallet solution, Reach for mobile wallet boarding passes.

(New to mobile wallet and mobile wallet passes? Learn more about them in this FAQ for marketers.)

BETWEEN FLIGHTS: THE LAYOVER As customers land and turn off airplane mode, airlines can be there to assist.

Wayfinding: As they’re waiting for their next flight, a push notification can help passengers get where they need to go next:

The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

“Here’s where to go for your next flight…” with a link that takes us to a map, including walking times between terminals.

Enhance Customer Experience During Layover: For a longer layover, sending a message to a customer’s in-app message center creates an opportunity to provide a concierge-style experience (maybe even a chance to offer a partner promotion) that might say: • “Need something to eat? Here’s a map of top spots nearby” and link to an in-app airport map with restaurant listings and ratings, or • “Make the most of your layover!” and link to information about the airport in the terminal the passenger is in — or the one they need to go to for their second flight.

AFTER THE FLIGHT Your passenger has landed at their final destination and they’re ready to roll! Help them get them smoothly on our way: Luggage: A push notification can let customers know where to go to get their bags: “Got luggage? Head to [Carousel #] - it will be there within 15 minutes or we’ll refund your checked bag fee!”

Transportation: Ground transportation options can help too: “Need a ride? Here’s a list of options out of [Name of Airport]” Explore & Get Deals: It’s also a great time to send an in-app message to share offers from partners: “Enjoy your time in [destination city]!

Here’s a list of deals and things to do from our partners…”

App Feature Discovery: As passengers are more likely to be active in your app during a trip, now might be a great time to promote app feature discovery with an in-app message.

With in-app messaging, airlines can deliver contextual in-app messages (like modal pop-ups inside your app) that encourage feature discovery and adoption, as well as app updates as needed.

An app inbox (message center) is a fantastic addition to any airline app. Share information about in-flight perks and amenities, partner offers, FYIs on new destinations — similar to content you use in

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your email marketing. Use a badge (that little red dot next to an app icon) to alert users that there’s new content in the app for them to see.

Loyalty Updates: For loyalty members, an in-app or message center message can remind them of the miles they earned or rewards they could cash in — and their mobile wallet loyalty card can update as well.

“You just earned [number] points on your mileage plan! Just [number] more to go for gold status.”

“You’ve now got [number] points to spend! Click here to browse options” Share Feedback: Collect their thoughts: send a message center message or a rich, interactive push notification with a button pair: “How would you rate your flight experience? [Great/Not So Great].” From there, you can choose where to send the customer for the best next step — gathering more information, connecting them with a representative, or asking if they want to rate your app.

PLANNING THE NEXT ADVENTURE As passengers plan their next trip, they’re open to airlines sharing inspiring ideas.

In fact, more than 50% of travelers don’t have a set destination in mind when planning a trip — and 60% will search their next trip from a mobile device.

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Inspire: Consider sending an in-app message or rich notification when flights to cities a passenger has visited before go on sale — including rich text images of the destination, or partner offers/packages.

“Thinking of everything you missed on your last trip to [XX]? See our low fares…”

Provide Perks: Offer a frequent flyer mobile wallet pass so your customers’ upto-the-minute point status is always just a tap away. Send notifications from the loyalty pass about new offers or point-earning opportunities.

“Earn double miles next month - learn how!” or “Use your status to fly standby for free.”

Make Magical Mobile Moments During Day of Travel & Beyond Customer experience is everything. The more ways airlines can create in-themoment mobile experiences that meet travelers’ needs, build better and deeper customer relationships — and grow goodwill, loyalty and value for their business.

Our experts have helped some of the world’s leading airlines craft a customer experience on mobile that’s an extension of their brand, and that helps earn and keep customer loyalty. Let’s work together to identify the moments that matter most to your customers, and bring together the data and technology you need to deliver a stellar experience on mobile. Contact us and let’s get started.

The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

HOW CAN AIRPORTS REACH PASSENGERS DIGITALLY ON THE DIGITAL DAY OF TRAVEL? In the previous article, Urban Airship’s Alyssa Meritt looked at how airlines can use personalised mobile messaging to enhance the customer experience.

The same is of course also true of airports. Earlier we mentioned that by 2021 a quarter of airports (25%) globally intend to offer flight status notifications via mobile devices. But a flight notification is just one of the ways airports can interact with passengers - and more to the point it’s not a feature unique to airports, airlines increasingly do it.

tually removed its iOS and Android apps, citing “a change in usage” (The Australian Business Traveller) from when the iOS app was first launched in 2011. In other words, people have been downloading and using it less.

Instead, Sydney Airport said that it would focus on both its mobile optimised website, and by working through airline apps.

Meanwhile notifications can be received via Twitter by tweeting your flight number to @flySYD.

In this piece, we’ve looked at some of the opportunities for airport operators to reach passengers on the digital day of travel, in particular with a view to increasing sales.

To app or not?

The first question of course is what channels should you use to target passengers.

Passengers have a direct incentive to download an airline app, as it’s a way to check in and then receive your boarding pass to your mobile wallet. But what about airports? Should you have one, or should you use other mobile-friendly channels.

Sydney Airport faced exactly this question and over the Summer of 2018, it ac-

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“Pools of revenue waiting to be unlocked” Whether you have a dedicated app or not, communicating with passengers before their flight could unlock “pools of revenue.”

This is according to Sydney Airport’s CEO Geoff Culbert, speaking at the most recent CAPA Australia Pacific Summit.

Culbert’s idea was to collaborate with airlines on an app which estimates journey times to the airport on the day of departure. The thinking behind that is clear - not only will it help passengers not miss their flight in case of major road works or public transport disruption - it’s also a way to get people to your airport in good time, with the result that they potentially spend more in your shops and restaurants.

Then once they get there, the option exists to personalise retail offers depending on the time of day, and the flight the passenger is taking. For example, someone going to a ski destination is unlikely to be very interested in beach wear and vice versa.

One airport that does exactly that is Glasgow Airport in Scotland. Travellers are targeted with offers via their IATA Code, which they use when giving their details via the Glasgow Airport website.

This means that (e.g.) different breakfast promotions for early morning flights can be sent to business passengers vs leisure travellers.

can expand the idea of personalised offers even further. Outdoor advertising company Primesight gives a hypothetical example of a “smart airport” in an article on its website.

It talks about a passenger who is checked in to a beach destination, getting an offer on a bikini, then taking a dip in the airport pool, after which she’s given a discount on a glass of champagne, and some Disney vouchers for gifts for her kids.

While Sydney Airport has ditched its app for other mobile channels, one airport which invests heavily in its mobile app, is Dubai International Airport. The makers of the app claim it is used around 4000x a day.

One key selling point is the “indoor wayfinding” feature, with a 3D-map which enables point-to-point navigation. By selecting a start and end point, users can find their way through the airport.

The airport also makes use of geo-fencing.

If a passenger has elected to share his or her location, s/he gets a welcome message when arriving at the airport. A dedicated ‘Before you fly’ section provides information on things such as visas and baggage regulations, while a ‘Why you are here’ section offers recommendations on how to pass time while waiting in the terminal.

Depending on the facilities on offer, you 42

The Mobile Traveller, in association with Urban Airship

Potential of airline / airport cooperation Earlier we mentioned Sydney Airport’s CEO Geoff Culbert’s idea of collaborating with airlines on flight information and retail offers.

One successful airport / airline partnership is that between Frankfurt Airport owner Fraport and Lufthansa.

Lufthansa passengers on board longhaul flights to Frankfurt can buy products from airport stores while in the air and collect their goods at the arrival gate directly after landing. There is also a “Taste & Travel” gourmet service, where food and drinks can be ordered via iPad and delivered direct to the gate.

But this service could in theory go one step further. Why not prompt passengers sitting at the gate that they can order food and drink if they want and have it delivered directly there - either to eat at the gate or take with them on the flight?

Or, if they are short on time and rushing through the airport, why not send them

a message and it’s waiting for them at the gate.

One enthusiastic advocate of this idea is Jarkko Konttinen, former Vice President Marketing, CX and Ancillary Business at Finnair. Writing in Future Travel Experience, Konttinen comments that : “The value proposition for customers is clear, as you can order onboard whatever you can carry with you, with instant delivery at the airport, either in shops or delivered to your next flight. Shopping is not only limited to onboard arriving and connecting flights; it can also be done at home, boosted by airlines’ pre-departure messaging.”

Indeed, Konttinen even suggests that you could expand this by involving retailers not physically at the airport itself, and have retailers within a few hours of the airport couriering products for passengers to collect - thereby increasing the airport shopping offer beyond what’s available within the terminals.

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AIRLINE CAMPAIGNS

Air Astana Snow Leopard In early December, Kazakhstan’s Air Astana took delivery of its first Embraer E190-E2, which the airline painted in a special “Snow Leopard” livery.

The airline says that the livery was chosen to “draw global attention to the threat of extinction faced by this large wild cat, which is a native of the of the

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mountain ranges in southern Kazakhstan.”

Air Astana is planning on taking delivery of five E190-E2 jets from Embraer, to replace its older E190 aircraft.

In August we ran a special edition on airline liveries, click here to download it.

British Airways Magic 100 2019 is the British Airways centenary (as well as that of KLM), and as part of that the airline will be staging a “Magic 100” programme, involving 100 random acts of kindness.

The first of those was a Christmas “Kevin” themed trip (paying homage to the film ‘Home Alone’ and the main character Kevin) to New York for four deserving kids, along with their parents. The kids in question included Belal, who lost friends in London’s Grenfell Tower Fire tragedy in 2017, Mayana and Sophie, two cancer sufferers and Bradley who lost his sister in a car crash.

During the three-day trip, British Airways unveiled a variety of movie-esque experiences including a stay at the iconic Plaza

Hotel, ice skating in Central Park, a visit to the Rockettes show at the Radio City Music Hall, toy shopping in the newly re-opened FAO Schwarz and an ice cream feast in the Plaza Hotel’s most exclusive and prestigious guest room, The Presidential Suite - including a meeting with a Donald Trump lookalike.

A number of British celebrities came on board to make the trip memorable for the kids. The campaign was developed by W Communications in partnership with Starstruck Media and DMB. We’ll be covering more of the BA Centenary and Magic 100 programme in later issues throughout the year.

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Brussels Airlines - A Family Portrait Brussels Airlines currently has five A320 aircraft in its fleet painted in a special ‘Belgian icons livery.’

There is “Aerosmurf” (painted in smurf colours), “Amare” (an ode to Tomorrowland), “Trident” (celebrating the Belgian national football / soccer team), “Magritte” (after the famous Belgian artist) and “Rackham” (a Tintin themed livery).

On January 14th, Brussels Airlines lined all five aircraft up at Brussels Airport for a special “family portrait.”

Fans and AV Geeks were invited to come and see all five portrait up close, for a chance

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to do so they needed to post a photo of one of the five aircraft and post it to social media.

Brussels Airlines then chose the ten best photos and invited the ten winning photographers to attend on the day.

It’s a great photo story and piece of visual content, but we did wonder about the competition mechanic.

Entries were submitted by posting the photo directly as a Facebook comment below the original Brussels Airlines post. Why not run it on Instagram as well, which has a huge community of AV Geeks and 57k photos tagged #BrusselsAirport?

Cathay Pacif ic Sleep Less in Seattle To mark the fact that Cathay Pacific now offers non-stop flights between Hong Kong and Seattle, the airline has released a mini video series called ‘Sleep Less in Seattle’, with a nod to the 1993 Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan film.

The online videos follow a business executive called Brian, who ends up flying to Seattle direct, rather than via LA as he did in the past, where his ex lives.

On the flight over he sits beside a young woman called Annie, who he then sees

again in a Seattle coffee shop. Annie agrees to show him around, after he says he’s never seen the city, as he only ever goes there for work.

The videos are in Cantonese (with English subtitles) and so are obviously aimed at the domestic Hong Kong market. The overall treatment and background love story in fact reminds us very much of the ‘Love at first flight’ mini series Singapore Changi Airport released in August, which followed a couple on their careers after starting out as interns (see our September issue)

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China Southern Dreamliner Some of the best fares from Europe to Australia / New Zealand are often available on Chinese carriers, who don’t have the same brand recognition as the likes of Emirates or Qatar Airways.

That means consumers often won’t have heard of airlines like China Southern or China Eastern, and once they do may well wonder about the levels of service they’ll get, especially given the price.

As a result, China Southern Airways tasked creative agency Crowd, with coming up with an ad campaign that

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both promoted the fares to Australasia and SE Asia, as well as the airline itself.

The campaign tagline was “Dream Flight, Dream Price”, leading on China Southern’s fleet of Dreamliners. The creative shows a variety of passengers on a China Southern Fleet, dreaming of their destination, with destination images as well as a China Southern 787 overhead.

The campaign appeared on sports grounds and on London’s public transport network.

Delta - Help the unseen To mark Human Trafficking Awareness Day on Jan. 11, Delta released a powerful online video. In it, a young boy on a flight turns around and explains that the man dozing in the seat beside him is not really his “Uncle” after which he starts to tell a human trafficking story.

With seventy-one percent of labor trafficking victims report being trafficked into the United States on an airplane, the airline is raising awareness of the issue among travelers in airports and, for the first time, via in-flight entertainment screens.

Delta’s campaign was developed with anti-human trafficking experts Polaris. It calls customers to #GetOnBoard and shines a light on the estimated 25 million people enslaved today.

It includes enhanced signage in airports and an inflight video that puts a face and story to modern slavery,

depicting an unsuspected trafficking dynamic and highlighting indicators through the eyes of the young boy – the trafficking victim - in the online video.

Delta says that 56,000 employees are now trained to identify and report human trafficking at home, onboard or where ever their travels take them around the globe. The airline also offers volunteer opportunities in 13 cities to support survivors in their recovery.

Additionally, the airline offers apprenticeships for survivors at its Atlanta headquarters to provide career development and opportunities to learn professional skills.

Well done Delta, not only is the airline making an effort to tackle awareness of modern day slavery, it is also putting staff resources behind combating the problem and assisting survivors.

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Hong Kong Airlines +852 Magazine Hong Kong Airlines has released a new inflight magazine, called +852 after the international dialling code for Hong Kong.

Produced in association with contract publishers Ink, the magazine has the look and feel of a lifestyle magazine, which the airline says was “inspired

by HongKong’s strong art and design culture.”

The magazine also has a website, which is impressive for the way it acts as a standalone content hub in its own right, as opposed to just being

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Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

a simple downloadable magazine.

At the same time, the airline is introducing local dishes in economy class meals, as part of its commitment to deliver more “Truly Hong Kong” elements in its products and services.

A range of signature Hong Kong dishes will be rolled out, including stir-f ried instant noodles with Hong Kong-style curry fish balls and stir-fried beef, tomato and scrambled egg and with steamed vegetable rice.

A380 in new Lufthansa design While both British Airways and KLM celebrate their centenary in 2019, 2018 was the 100th anniversary of the development of Lufthansa’s iconic ‘crane’.

The crane was originally developed by graphic artist and architect Otto Firle for the “Deutsche Luft-Reederei”, a predecessor of “Luft Hansa” (which was the pre WW2 ‘Lufthansa’).

In February, Lufthansa carried out a rebrand with a new design to mark the centenary (see our February and March issues), which among other things saw blue become the primary colour used in

the LH livery, at the expense of yellow.

To mark the end of the centenary year, Lufthansa unveiled the first A380 painted in the new design, which landed in Munich before leaving on a commercial flight for Miami.

Lufthansa says that by the end of 2019, over 50 percent of the work on the Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich will have been completed and over a quarter of the fleet will be flying in the new design. Digital media is already appearing in the new design. The last aircraft repainting is scheduled for 2025.

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Scoot’s Epic Interview Over the Autumn, Singapore LLC Scoot adopted a different approach for its cabin crew recruitment programme.

According to Marketing Interactive, six candidates were taken to Greece and Germany for an “Epic Interview”, with their experiences being turned into a social media video to promote the airline’s drive to recruit 1000

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“Scootees” (cabin crew).

Once there, the recruits participated in a series of “Amazing Race” style challenges. The selection of Greece and Germany are of course not accidental, Berlin and Athens are both relatively new destinations in the airline’s network, as well as being the furthest cities Scoot flies to from Singapore.

Vistara Fly Higher Since commencing operations in 2015 as a joint venture between Tata Sons & Singapore Airlines, India’s Vistara has been positioning itself as a carrier that offers better levels of service than the competition in country’s growing aviation market.

In October, we covered the Vistara Retrojet, where the airline harked back to a golden age of flying by painting an A320 in retro colours to match the original 1932 DC3 f rom Tata Airlines, created by J.R.D Tata.

Now the airline has released a new ad campaign called “Fly Higher.”

The insight, according to a press release is that - “successful Indians of all ages today live a life of a certain standard.”

The company says that they dine at fine

restaurants, patronise luxury brands and stay at offbeat holiday destinations.

Why then should they settle for second best when it comes to flying?

Two ad executions, one featuring a man, another a woman both have the same basic narrative. It shows them in their fancy offices with their successful careers, driving luxury cars...only to be let down when it comes to their choice of airline (e.g. she gets jostled in a crowded check in queue, and he gets handed a cheese sandwich on board).

According to chief strategy and commercial officer, Sanjiv Kapoor: “Good enough is not good enough for the corporate high flyers and successful millennials of today. Why not choose an airline that thinks like you do, that understands you and respects your needs?”

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Norwegian and the NBA London Game On 17 January, the US professional basketball league, the NBA, held a regular season game at London’s O2 Arena. The match, between the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks was held for the benefit of the UK’s growing community of basketball fans.

The “presenting partner” of the match was Norwegian, which operates an extensive route network out of London’s Gatwick Airport. In exchange for its sponsorship, the airline received brand exposure including event logo inclusion, oncourt and in-arena signage, along with promotions leading up to and during the game.

This included a competition for fans to

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win tickets to the NBA London Game 2019, as well as a competition to travel with Norwegian to experience an NBA game in the United States.

Outside of the US, the airline most commonly associated with professional basketball has been Turkish Airlines, which sponsors the Euroleague of European professional clubs.

In addition to sponsoring the league, Turkish Airlines has occasionally also rolled out basketball themed marketing tactics.

For example, see the video produced by basketball trick shot experts “How Ridiculous”, filmed in and around famous Istanbul landmarks.

AIRPORT CAMPAIGNS

Athens Airport becomes “China Ready” Who are the world’s best airport shoppers? According to Swiss research consultancy ‘m1nd set’, the answer is the Chinese, who account for 13% of all duty free sales (ahead of South Koreans with 5% and Brits with 4%).

As a result, airport campaigns that specifically target Chinese travellers make good commercial sense. In November 2017 we featured Finavia’s ‘Life in Hel’ campaign where a Chinese TV celebrity spent a month living in Helsinki Airport.

Another airport which is trying to make itself “China ready” is Athens,

which created the first app in Greece specifically aimed for Chinese travellers. The app, developed by Toorbee, works via the WeChat messaging system.

Through the app, Chinese passengers scan a QR code in various airport areas to access both airport and city information.

With more than 1 billion active users per month, WeChat is the China’s biggest mobile social network, while the WeChat Miniapp -where AIA’s app is available- has more than 400 million monthly active users.

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#1billion DXB It took 51 years, from 1960 to 2011 for Dubai International Airport to reach 500 million passengers. However in a sign of how quickly DXB has been growing, it took just seven years for the airport to add the second 500 million and to reach the one billion passenger mark.

In fact, according to Dubai International Airport, the one billionth passenger was nine-year-old Arjun and his family who arrived on December 20th from Orlando, Florida on Emirates flight EK220.

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DXB says that to choose the one billionth passenger, it “used its passenger traffic forecast to narrow down the selection to a specific flight and approached Emirates to make a random selection.�

Arjun and his family were greeted by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports in a ceremony and were treated to a series of Dubai experiences over the next few days, in what was their first visit to the city.

London Luton Airport Christmas Light-show on a plane London Luton Airport (LLA), used mainly by LCCs Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair, has not had the best reputation over the years, coming near the bottom of UK airport satisfaction surveys. However in December it unveiled the result of its £160 million makeover with new shops, a new boarding pier and more gates.

To celebrate the makeover, easyJet arranged for a “Christmas Light-Show on a plane” stunt. Over 850,000 choreographed light sequences and 1.5 miles of LED micro bulbs were used to create the installation on one of

the airline’s A320 aircraft.

Local children f rom local primary schools were invited to the big unveil, as 9-year-old Maddy Simonite kicked off the festive display by switching on the lights for the f irst time.

The airport says that the £160 million regeneration project will add £1 billion to the UK economy and an extra 10,000 jobs by 2030. The Christmas light show was also part of the airport’s 80th anniversary year celebrations.

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Melbourne Airport Moments In November, our cover story was the SAS ‘arrivals’ campaign, which celebrated the emotions and experiences associated with arriving at your destination and seeing f riends and family waiting for you.

Similar thinking was behind a January Melbourne Airport campaign, Melbourne Airport moments. The airport asked passengers to “create a reunion to remember”, photograph it, tag it #MelbAirportMoment and post it to Instagram.

The prize was an AUD $1,500 travel 58

Airline Marketing Monthly - January 2019

voucher.

The idea behind the campaign is sound, but the mechanic of getting people to take and upload photos only got (f rom what we could see) about a dozen entries f rom members of the public.

That’s probably because the level of effort required was quite high, you had to actively create a sign and capture the moment. Then not everyone feels comfortable with uploading personal photos showing you with your f riends / family.

BRANDS IN THIS ISSUE Aer Lingus Alaska Airlines Athens Airport British Airways Brussels Airlines Cargolux Cathay Pacific China Southern Airlines Delta Dubai International Aiport easyJet El Al First Airlines flyadeal HiFly Hong Kong Airlines Inflight VR KLM London Luton Airport Melbourne Airport Lufthansa Norwegian Scoot SkyLights Sydney Airport United Urban Airship Vistara Virgin Atlantic WestJet Wizz Air

AIRLINE MARKETING MONTHLY January 2019