The 6X+S Airline Brand Model

THE 6X+S AIRLINE BRAND MODEL

A FRAMEWORK FOR AIRLINES TO BUILD LASTING BRANDS IN THE AGE OF SUSTAINABILITY

MARCH 2023

By the end of 2022, I had flown on 105 airlines – some of them many times on many different routes. While most of my flights have been a blur, a few have been remarkable. It doesn’t even have to be anything extraordinary, just memorable enough to make a difference to someone’s life. For example, on AirAsia flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, while the flight attendant walked down the aisle to do her in-flight safety checks, she noticed that I was reading a book, and took the time to turn on my overhead reading light. Or when the Singapore Girl addressed me by name at the door, despite my being the last Economy Class passenger to board the flight. Or when Finnair displayed the customdesigned Northern Lights aboard its Airbus A350 upon take off from New York. What do these airlines have in common? How do they become remarkable? Each has developed a unique formula that enables its brand to leave a lasting, positive impression on its customers and inspires employees.

During my 4,000 hours in the air—and many more on the ground at airports and lounges—I’ve studied the branding successes and failures of the airlines I’ve flown with and many more I’ve worked with. This led me to develop a model to analyse the six major elements that make or break any airline brand. I called it the 6X Airline Brand Model.

My consulting firm, SimpliFlying, began its journey in 2008 when I realised that marketing an airline differs vastly from marketing any other product or service. Consider this: our brand engagement with a can of Coke is about ten minutes. With a cup of Starbucks coffee, perhaps an hour. But with an airline, it can last anywhere from two to 24 hours. Add in the online booking process and other preand post-boarding phases, and we realise that aviation brands have many times the number of touch points of brands in other sectors.

Moreover, if there is a snowstorm and we are in Starbucks, the coffee tastes just as good. But if we are at an airport and our flight is cancelled due to the storm, we are mad at the airline. At that moment, the airline brand cannot brush off the responsibility and say that they are not the cause of the inconvenience. While this may be technically true, an airline that can rise to the occasion will win the loyalty and goodwill of its customers.

The airline industry is truly like no other. It is cyclical, incurs high fixed costs, faces uncertainties due to heavy dependency on fluctuating factors like weather and oil prices, and has a length of engagement with the customer that is rare in other industries. Despite these unique features of airline brand engagement, most airline marketers apply the same generic marketing principles that are used for other consumer products.

Aviation marketing ought to be as distinct from other kinds of marketing as airlines are from other brands. How often have you seen an advertisement with a passenger extending on a flatbed, being served gourmet food? This is far from reality for most passengers who end up at the back of the cabin, packed like sardines and trying to get work done on a laptop with dinosaur hands. There is seldom a svelte flight attendant putting a duvet over them. Right there, the brand promise fails. Airlines very often over-promise and under-deliver. Hence, a distinctive approach is needed for

airline branding that considers all these factors unique to the industry.

An ideal branding model for the airlines would account for the realities of business and the unique nature of the industry. The 6X model helps guide an airline’s branding approach by focusing on six key levers:

Brand eXpectation: how accurately and successfully an airline lets customers know what it has to offer

Brand eXperience: what it feels like to interact with the airline during travel, across all touchpoints, at the airport and in-flight.

Brand eXpression: how well the airline communicates with customers and staff

Brand eXternalities: anything that affects customers that is not in the airline's control (weather, oil prices, strikes, etc.)

Brand eXecution: how well an airline delivers on its promises

Brand X-Factor: the special sauce possessed exclusively by an airline that is hard to duplicate for competition

Since 2008, while working with more than 100 airlines and airports around the world on brand strategy and digital innovation, SimpliFlying has seen that airlines that successfully apply these principles create remarkable brands.

The first three levers of the 6X model—eXpectation, eXperience, and eXpression—focus on engagement, internal and external, which is very much in the airline’s control. This is the process from brand awareness to preference and purchase, to post-purchase brand interactions.

The next three levers—eXternalities, eXecution, X-factor—deal with aspects unique to the airlines, which often have a deep impact on the brand. The 6X model specifically avoids a purely quantitative derivation of an airline’s brand value since the brand is an intangible asset. Qualitative factors play a major role in building this asset.

If an airline delivers what it promises, interacts with its customers consistently and responsibly fashion over time, and continues to innovate, people will vote for it with their wallets, respect, and affection.

Today more than ever, as global competition becomes increasingly fierce among commercial carriers, a model like 6X is critical to guide airline executives and help them build a distinctive and sustainable brand advantage.

However, in 2023, in a post-pandemic, very carbon-conscious world, there are new realities airline executives need to consider to build a lasting brand.

In a recent conversation on our Sustainability in the Air podcast, former Etihad boss Tony Douglas asserted that the commercial viability of airlines would soon depend on their sustainability efforts. Yet, very few airlines are taking the big steps and communicating them well among stakeholders in the right manner.

Post-pandemic, as travel bounces back, airline CEOs need to not just build their sustainability roadmap for the next few decades, but they also need to communicate these efforts effectively. Marketing and Communications teams must think differently about how they talk about an airline's sustainability efforts while applying the 6X model. They must communicate to multiple stakeholders like global media, employees, investors and activists, not just customers.

The old mantra “less is more” may not work when it comes to sustainability. CCOs and CMOs must think about long-form

podcasts and videos rather than six-word statements that communicate little. A strong focus on storytelling coupled with radical transparency should be the priority if airlines are to build trust in an era where sustainability is increasingly important for investors, customers and the media. An airline that does not get sustainability communication right may be accused of greenwashing, despite genuine efforts and investment in green initiatives.

This is why, 15 years after launching the 6X model, I am revising it in 2023 to include sustainability as a critical component of building a resilient brand. Airline brands require a bespoke approach to creating a bond with customers and inspiring employees. The 6X+S airline brand model provides a framework to help airline marketers do just that.

MAKING AN AUTHENTIC PROMISE

Making an authentic brand promise is the key to having satisfied customers. A strong brand promise emphasises the airline’s core identity, visual and otherwise, and reflects its clear differentiation and positioning in the marketplace. Sometimes, airlines get so consumed by day-to-day operations that they disregard this aspect of the business and set false or ambiguous expectations. In other cases, brands set extremely high expectations and fail to deliver.

An accurate projection of what an airline is about and the experience it will deliver to the customer is the essence of brand eXpectation.

Clarity and focus should drive a brand’s promise, with the aim of creating a lasting impression in the potential customer’s mind. Ideally, the positioning should hit logical and emotional chords and differentiate the airline from its competitors. Differentiation

could come in terms of key strengths like pricing, service, or even destinations. When it comes to price differentiation, budget airlines like WIZZ and Southwest are some of the best. Legacy carriers like Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand rule the skies in terms of setting expectations of exceptional service. The likes of Turkish Airlines often tout the number of destinations they fly to.

Setting the right brand expectations goes beyond traditional advertising mediums. Efforts should be focused on reaching potential customers where they are present. The aim should be to set the right tone for the engagement – to entice the customer for the first time and subsequently induce loyalty. However, the real test is when the customer experiences the product—by finally flying the airline.

Source: United Airlines

CASE STUDY

UNITED AIRLINES HIRES A NEW CTO

In early 2023, United Airlines hired a new CTO. His name is Oscar. You may be familiar with Oscar if you’ve watched Sesame Street growing up. Yes, it’s that much-loved character who loves trash. CTO here stands for Chief Trash Officer.

United Airlines is leveraging Oscar to publicise how the airline turns regular trash into sustainable aviation fuel. While it is a complex process in partnership with Fulcrum Energy, what stands out is the airline’s effort to focus on simple storytelling to get its message across to a wide audience.

Sustainable travel initiatives and technologies are inherently interesting. But they are too complex to weave stories around. Few airlines do a good job communicating sustainability initiatives that resonate with multiple stakeholders without attracting backlash from climate activists and authorities. United Airlines’ focus on storytelling shows us a way forward.

United is investing heavily in a future where planes can be fueled by sustainable aviation fuel. The airline has launched a commendable marketing effort to educate the public, media and other stakeholders in the simplest way possible. The airline has released multiple videos explaining its approach towards a more sustainable future in simple terms. The videos say nothing about carbon-neutral flying. Instead, they talk about turning trash into sustainable aviation fuel, which is a fact, not a claim. The videos go on to say the airline is “investing more in sustainable aviation fuel production than any other airline in the world.” These are all indisputable facts.

There is also a dedicated landing page explaining the multiple initiatives while introducing the mascot, Oscar. While in the past we have seen airlines use a mascot as a brand ambassador, like Rico at Air New Zealand, no other airline has engaged this method to promote sustainability like United Airlines.

Source: United Airlines

KEEPING THE WORD

Achieved by aligning all product, service, and corporate operations to deliver the promises made while setting brand expectations, eXperience is probably the most important aspect of an airline’s brand. The aim of providing a superlative brand experience should be to build customer loyalty. What can the airline do to make sure that customers fly with them again?

Brand eXperience is fostered across multiple touchpoints, from the booking hotline and website, to the check-in row and onboard the plane. This also provides multiple opportunities to emphasise the brand personality of the airline.

Something unique to airlines is the length of the customers’ experience with the brand. For the duration of the flight, as well as before and after, airlines owe it to themselves to leave an indelible impression on the customer that keeps them coming back for more.

Often, airlines spend a lot of attention on frequent fliers, but almost none on a

majority of the other customers. Though loyal customers need to be rewarded, the rest should not be ignored. It is the firsttime fliers who need to be cultivated to become die-hard fans.

So how can airlines make every customer feel that he or she is the centre of their universe?

Many make the mistake of assuming that delivering such an experience would require excessive expenditure. In reality, consistency across multiple touchpoints is the key to winning a customer’s heart. Indigo in India has a sets a simple brand eXpectation of getting the passengers to a destination on-time. While it may seem trivial to most, this used to be a big deal in India. When it comes to brand eXperience, Indigo delivers simple service that almost always exceeds expectations by flying on time and then delivering a professional yet fun service.

Source: The Design Air

CASE STUDY

RE-THINKING AMENITY KITS

Airlines are making the passenger experience more sustainable by re-thinking amenity kits. The new Air France amenity kits launched for long haul flights are eco-friendly, including the contents. From a toothbrush made from maize straw to earplugs wrapped in kraft paper to avoid using plastic.

The kits, which are made from 96% recycled materials in Business and 89% in Premium Economy, are said to be designed as genuine gifts, as they can be kept, collected and reused after the flight.

In all cabins, each kit’s plastic packaging has been replaced by an integrity seal. In addition, the systematic cleaning and disinfection of headphones have enabled Air France to do away with the single-use earphone covers that were previously offered, as well as their packaging.

Across the Atlantic, Delta Air Lines has launched “Delta One” kits in collaboration with Mexican artisan-brand, Someone Somewhere and skincare brand, Grown Alchemist.

These kits have reduced over 90,000 pounds of plastic annually by eliminating five singleuse plastic items like zippers and packaging and introducing recycled aluminium for its cosmetic packaging. Passengers can ‘meet the artisan’ who created their amenity kit and even send them a note, reflecting the hyper-transparency imbibed in the initiative. Though, the question remains about the contents of the amenity kit itself.

Perhaps premium passengers should be able to choose some amenity kit items in the lounge before boarding. Learning from airlines that serve dinner in the lounge so they can carry one less meal. Less weight means less fuel burned and a more sustainable flight. While amenity kits will not disappear overnight from airline cabins, it is encouraging to see the steps some airlines are taking toward a sustainable solution.

Source: Delta

ENGAGING THE CUSTOMER

Brand eXpression is the key to building familiarity with the brand through constant interaction to nurture loyal customers over time. However, it is often an overlooked aspect of branding.

The customers here belong to two main categories: external, which include passengers, analysts, governments, and even activists; and internal, which include pilots, staff, and crew.

For the external customer, the airline should formulate a strategy that ensures regular interaction with the customer, not just before they fly, but even after they land. Southwest has done this extremely well by following some of its vocal customers on Twitter and engaging with them from time to time. Such interactions encourage frank feedback, and the openness leads to insights executives would not have had otherwise. As the brand consultant Mary Neumeier puts it, “It’s not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is”.

Another aspect of brand eXpression relevant to the external customer is the ability to share the story. Companies often assume that word-of-mouth marketing or buzz is created automatically, but it is seldom the case. Customers must be empowered to share with the world stories

of their experience with the airline, not just to sell the brand, but also to appear distinct in their own community. Virgin Atlantic has salt and pepper shakers in its Upper Class that people love to carry home with them. Interestingly, at the bottom of the shakers, there is a little sticker that says, “Nicked from Virgin Atlantic!”

For the internal customer, brand eXpression helps develop an affinity with the staff that goes beyond rational facts and logical truths. In times of crises, it is the emotional attachment among the employees that keeps the company together. Hence, there should be constant efforts to build emotional bonds between colleagues, either through regular non-work related activities, garnering and incorporating feedback, and simply making the airline a fun environment to work in. Emotional truths are intangible elements of an organisation that inspire imagination, drive employee engagement, reduce churn and compel people to go beyond the call of duty. AirAsia and Southwest have done a terrific job at this by creating a family-like environment for their employees, and many of them have served these airlines for their entire careers.

Source: SAUDIA

CASE STUDY

SAUDIA'S IN-FLIGHT SUSTAINABILITY LAB

SAUDIA, the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, created the world’s first in-flight sustainability lab, which involved guests on a Jeddah to Madrid flight submitting ideas on how air travel could become greener.

Passengers onboard flight SV 227 were invited to submit ideas on greener air travel, covering the flight itself, time spent at the airport and arriving at the destination.

After the meal service, each passenger was given three post-it notes (printed on recycled paper), where they wrote down their suggestions, before handing the notes back to the cabin crew. The notes were then displayed on the bulkhead for all passengers to interact with. The in-flight lab was mirrored by a similar ‘ideas initiative’ that took place at SAUDIA’s headquarters in Jeddah, involving the airline’s employees. In total, 150 unique ideas were submitted by guests onboard flight SV 227 and SAUDIA team members.

Run in partnership with SimpliFlying, it was the first time an airline is partnering with its customers to make flying greener. An in-flight Lab elevated the conversation and helped re-build trust in travel as passengers had a say in creating a greener future for aviation. For this effort, SAUDIA won the award for best customer engagement award by Skyteam for its Sustainable Flight Challenge. Brand eXpression is about engagement. Saudia demonstrated how an airline can involve passengers and employees in a productive conversation about sustainable travel.

Source: SAUDIA

DEALING WITH INDUSTRY UNCERTAINTY

Airlines have to deal with many issues beyond their control, much more than companies in other industries – from pilot unions and government regulations to events like 9/11. Even the sudden appearance of new competition on a premium route, or a competitor going bust can often affect the airline’s performance. Something as mundane as flight delays due to weather is beyond the airlines’ control as well. The fact is that every airline faces the same hurdles; it’s how each one reacts that sets it apart from the competition.

Knee-jerk reactions are all too common in the airline industry. When the oil prices hit $140 per gallon in mid-2008, most U.S.based airlines started charging for checked bags to drive ancillary revenues. They kept these charges for the long term due to the additional revenue brought in, despite oil prices hitting record lows recently.

Interestingly, there was hardly a flutter from Southwest. The original low-cost carrier in the United States ironically is the only one not charging a checked-bag fee today. This is because dealing well with uncertainty

requires a clear vision of what the brand stands for and what the airline can and cannot do. The airline calls this “Bags fly free” and often runs brand campaigns around their policies.

A much-overlooked fact is that brand eXternalities are hidden opportunities to impress the customer beyond expectations, often by showing the human side of the company.

When an AirAsia plane crashed in December 2014, Tony Fernandes led from the front, interacting and engaging with the public, media, and employees in a very personal manner. Resilience and flexibility are the keys to surviving industry-wide shocks, and the better airlines are prepared to leverage on these to build their brand further.

By avoiding knee-jerk reactions to eXternalities, airlines also project trustworthiness. Reaction to sudden appearance of new competition or rises in fuel prices shouldn’t change the customer experience drastically. Brand trust takes a long time to build and should not be breached overnight.

CASE STUDY SCHIPHOL CEO’S RESPONSE TO GREENPEACE

Hundreds of environmental activists wearing white overalls stormed an area holding private jets at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in November 2022 and stopped aircraft from leaving for hours by sitting in front of their wheels.

"We want fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets," Greenpeace Netherlands campaign leader Dewi Zloch said. The environmental group says Schiphol is the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the Netherlands, emitting 12 billion kilograms annually.

While protests like these are common in different parts of Europe, few aviation CEOs address the protestors directly. That’s where Schiphol CEO Ruud Sondag’s response to Greenpeace offers a masterclass in dealing with brand eXternalities.

“I’ve been committed to a sustainable Netherlands for more than 25 years, and that won’t change, of course,” he started, sharing his own personal commitment to a greener future.

He then continued by stating the airport’s mission before acknowledging the protestors’ demands, rather than dismissing them. “Schiphol directly links the Netherlands to almost 300 destinations across the globe. That’s wonderful, but this has to be done differently. In a way that’s better for our employees and the environment, with fewer emissions and pollution. We want emissions-free airports by 2030 and net climate-neutral aviation by 2050.”

Finally, he asked the protestors to respect the airport’s employees: “Sustainability is also about treating employees sustainably. That’s also part of my agenda. I stand up for them as well. Demonstrating is a great good. With respect to our employees — who work hard day in and day out for the passengers at Schiphol.”

Sondag’s response shared his personal commitment to sustainability, stated the airport’s mission and embraced the protestors as a force for change, rather than ignoring them.

Climate activism against airlines and airports is only set to increase after the sharp rise in travel post-pandemic. When things outside an airline or airport’s control go out of hand, we can all learn from the Schiphol CEO’s response to Greenpeace.

Source: Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace Netherlands

CONSISTENCY IN DELIVERY

It is an art to deliver a great experience once, but delivering a consistently great experience over time is a science. This is because it requires meticulous planning and persistence to stay true to that plan in the face of external and internal pressures to change course.

Brand eXecution requires an airline to stay true to its core brand personality in good times or bad and deliver a consistent experience.

More than anything else, it is this consistency that builds trust among customers.

Good brand eXecution also requires consistency across different product

offerings and customer touch-points. The soft product on a regional flight in an Embraer jet and a transatlantic flight in a Boeing 777 should not differ greatly.

Similarly, if the airline staff is supposed to be chatty, they should be that way on the phone, at the check-in desk, and in flight. An airline should train its partners to interact with its customers in the same way as its staff, including over digital channels. Another aspect of good brand eXecution is the commitment to the brand ethos. The airline shouldn’t be changing what the brand stands for too dramatically very often. A slow evolution is fine, as long as it resonates with the customers well.

Source: Etihad

CASE STUDY

ETIHAD AIRWAYS GOES GREEN, TODAY!

While a number of airlines are taking steps to go green in the future, few are able to execute on these to limit their emissions today. Over the last few years, Etihad has taken the task of going green with sincerity, exploring new technologies and future paradigms of net-zero flying. Few airlines are doing as much to fly carbon-neutral today as the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.

For example, in October 2021, Etihad ran a test flight (EY20) from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi with 72% reduced carbon emissions compared to an equivalent 2019 flight. In 2022, the airline went even further. They operated a flight from Tokyo to Abu Dhabi using a 40% blend of SAF supplied by ITOCHU Corporation and NESTE. It became not only the first international airline to procure SAF in Japan but also represented the first delivery of 50,000 gallons of SAF, entirely produced in Japan, which will be used to fuel aircraft in the near future.

On 13 November, Etihad also flew their “first net zero carbon flight” from Washington to Sharm-El-Sheik for COP27, claiming 10,000 km of emission-free flight. Recently, the airline was also recognised as Environmental Airline of the Year for 2022 in the Airline Excellence Awards.

While it may seem like all of these are statistics for the corporate website, staff on an Etihad A350 in London could recently talk knowledgeably about sustainability issues, including the on-board features and the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.

The sustainability message has filtered down throughout the organisation, and it’s something that passengers increasingly care about.

As a result, it is good to see that staff at all levels of the airline recognise the importance of it, and this is something we expect to see from more and more airlines going forward. Etihad Airways nails Brand eXecution when it comes to its sustainability efforts.

Source: Etihad

Creating a brand X-factor is something that puts an airline in a league of its own and creates a halo around the brand. These are often the nuances that ensure that the airline stands apart from the competition and often lead to a cult status among its customers. Examples from other industries would be Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Apple products. Those who buy them swear by them. In the airline world, AirAsia, Singapore Airlines, and Southwest are outstanding examples of brands that have created an X-factor.

The common denominator in all of these examples is the creation of a brand icon, such as Tony Fernandes at AirAsia, the Singapore Girl at SIA, and safety videos at Air New Zealand. Such icons often defy logic and create a magical attraction toward the brand. Better still, these icons can be leveraged to project the brand in ways generally difficult to articulate through traditional means. An ever-smiling Tony Fernandes can be seen at all AirAsia events, SIA’s advertisements show more elegantly uniformed Singapore Girls than actual planes. Every airline doing a funny safety video is compared to Air New Zealand’s latest edition.

Something else that airlines do to create a warm feeling among their customers is to emphasise their net social impact by proactively managing their social and ethical stance. Great examples of this include AirAsia’s free service to carry relief aid to Myanmar immediately after the cyclone Nargis ravaged the country or the work being done by the AirAsia foundation. Finnair’s Helena Kaartinen put smiles on the faces of slum-dwelling children in Mumbai by teaching them a dance and taking them on a flight to Delhi. Both of these initiatives reflect the dexterity and ingeniousness on the airlines’ part to go beyond their everyday operations and make a positive impact on the society. It is efforts like these, which help gain the respect of current and future customers.

The X-factors add a personality to the brand. After all, personality inspires trust; and trust builds loyalty.

AIR NEW ZEALAND'S FLIGHT NZ0

Brand X-Factors put the airline brand in a leadership position, making it virtually impossible for other airlines to replicate the initiatives. Air New Zealand has launched a project to become a true-zero airline, not just net zero. First, the airline started off by setting 2030 interim science-based targets to reduce carbon intensity by 28.9% from a 2019 baseline. Now, Air New Zealand has aspirations to acquire novel propulsion and zero emissions aircraft with the fleet scaling to reach all domestic destinations from 2030.

In 2021, the airline released a Product Requirements Document – a guide for business and innovators to help build, launch, or market the provision of zero emissions or novel propulsion aircraft in New Zealand. It provided an overview of Air New Zealand requirements based on its network and fleet and was intended to kickstart discussion for ongoing collaboration.

The “Mission Next Gen Aircraft”, dubbed Flight NZ0 has two ambitious goals:

Fly the first commercial demonstrator flight from 2026

Begin replacing the Q300 domestic fleet with a more sustainable aircraft – likely green hydrogen or battery hybrid systems from 2030

In early 2022, the airline announced five shortlisted aircraft technologies from around the world to help it accomplish its mission. Additionally, Air New Zealand and Airbus launched a joint research initiative to understand the opportunities and challenges of flying hydrogen-powered aircraft

From a brand perspective, this is visionary storytelling. No other airline globally has taken so many initiatives to build a sustainable future at the same time. While some are investing in sustainable aviation fuel, others are are offsetting emissions. Some are piloting eVTOLs in a few years. Air New Zealand has a cohesive strategy that allows the airline to stand apart. At the same time, the results of the experiennts the Kiwi airline runs will benefit the entire industry. It’s one of the best examples of an airline building a Brand X-Factor while pursuing a sustainable future.

Source: Air New Zealand

While airlines only contribute to approximately 3% of global emissions today, research indicates that this number could rise as air travel grows. Because the aviation industry is highly visible and high profile, many see flying as a luxury that should be heavily taxed or significantly reduced.

After two years of dramatically reduced travel due to the pandemic, environmental campaigners are using two arguments - “Do you want to go through all that again?” And - “Was it so bad when you couldn’t fly as many times a year?”

In many ways, the pandemic froze many sustainability initiatives in the airline space - understandably, since many airlines stopped flying for months. But now, sustainability is back on the agenda, and it will be even more mainstream than before. This is why airlines must show

visible progress towards becoming more environmentally responsible. At the end of the day, deciding the most strategic branding approach for an airline is critical. Is increasing competition an issue? Is it perception, whereby the image of the airline investing in sustainability impacts its ability to entice customers and a strong workforce? Whatever the situation, aligning with a suitable brand and business solution is essential.

The 6X+S model serves as a guide for this process, taking into account a number of factors unique to the airline industry, within and beyond the airlines’ control. As portrayed by the airlines featured in my book SOAR, the aim shouldn’t be to excel at each of the 6X+S factors, but rather choose a couple to focus on and execute them better than anyone else. That would help airlines become remarkable.

Listen to more insights on our podcast

Our whitepaper on the 6X+S airline branding model features case studies from some of the leading aviation brands of the world including United Airlines, Air New Zealand, Etihad, Schiphol Airport and more.

Many of the brands highlighted have also featured in the Sustainability in the Air podcast, the world’s first podcast dedicated to sustainable aviation. It is hosted by Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying, the bestselling author of SOAR, who has worked with over 100+ airlines and airports since 2008 to build trust through marketing, branding and now sustainability.

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Listen and subscribe to the podcast here:

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Guests on previous seasons of the podcast have included Heart Aerospace CEO Anders Forslund, ZeroAvia CEO Val Miftakhov and Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein.

Over the past fifteen years, SimpliFlying has worked with over 100 airlines and airports worldwide to build trust in travel.

We now focus on helping the industry navigate the biggest challenge it has faced so far – the need to decarbonise and reach net zero by 2050.

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