Airlines Talk Shop at Skift Global Forum
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The airline industry was well represented at Skift Global Forum with top executives from American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue, along with Fred Reid, founding CEO of Virgin America and seat design specialist Ben Orson of JPA Design Studio. Each brought unique insights to the stage, and discussion moderator, Henry Harteveldt, tactfully lead post-presentation conversation.
Keep it Simple
If we took away one thing from the talks lead by airline executives, keeping it simple, in all aspects of your business model, was a resounding theme. In his talk “Creating a Radically Guest-Centric Airline” Fred Reid, founding CEO of Virgin America, could’t stress the point enough. “Ask yourself: Does it have a cartoon-like simplicity?” said Reid in reference to customer-facing. According to Reid, airlines need to “make buying simple” eliminate duty-free and “take paper catalogue off the plane. Buy it all online and have it ready when you step off the plane.”
When it comes to airline branding, Southwest chief marketing officer, Kevin Krone had similar advice during his talk on “The Future of Airline Branding.” Southwest Airlines, having just undergone a major rebranding, tested 60 plus branding items and suggested that, at the end of the day, “simplify any chance you get.”
Listening to Customers
For Southwest Airlines, customer and employee input was imperative to the re-branding process. In total, Southwest surveyed 6000 people on their new design, and shared 450 slides with industry leaders. Now that the new look has officially been launched, the airline continues to seek customer opinion and may already be making a few changes based on preliminary feedback.
When it comes to customer feedback, nowhere else is the data more abundant than on social media. Jonathan Pierce, director of social at American Airlines, knows the difference social media can make and the airline has invested in a dedicated social team of 21 staff members and counting. “Our social customer service team goes through a six week training program, no exceptions,” explains Pierce. Currently, the airline manages approximately 240 tweets/hour and aims to respond to each tweet within a 15-minute window. Now that’s a dedication to customer service excellence!
The Bright Future of Economy
As much as we hear about the “grim state of economy”, airline industry experts at Skift Forum had some optimistic things to say about the future of Economy Class. Ben Orson, Managing Director at JPA Design, works with clients such as Singapore Airlines to create intelligently designed aircraft seating options and revealed that “airlines and passengers have more choice, with 12-15 tiers of seat designs now available.” Included in the new designs are fixed seat-back options, which allow the passenger to recline without disturbing.
And for airlines such as JetBlue, the focus has always been on Economy. “JetBlue was designed to be the best economy experience among all airlines,” states Marty St. George, senior VP of commercial strategy at JetBlue Airways. In St. George’s talk, he explained that JetBlue wouldn’t exist without the “mid-product customer,” answering yes to the discussion question: “Is there room for a new airline business model?”
And great value can come with great services. JetBlue was the first to put screens in the back of seats and the speed of their on-board Wi-Fi could put some legacy airlines to shame. “I get better broadband on our new wifi than I do at my house,” says St. George.