SimpliFlying

Recently, there has been a surge in online betting on an interesting issue - which would be the next airline to go bust? Below is a screenshot of one of those sites. From the odds, we can tell that FlyGlobespan and SkyEurope are the most likely to go bust very soon, and British Airways and Lufthansa are the commercial airlines least likely to go bust.

So, does that mean that airlines with stronger brands less likely to go bankrupt? It’s a lot about consumer perception and brand equity. Let’s discuss, and hopefully, we’ll reach a conclusion that derives a relationship between betting odds and brand equity!

This blog’s predictions that all-business class airlines would go extinct have come true, with British Airways making an offer of $107.3 million for the last remaining major all-business class airline - France’s L’Avion. With one less competitor operating between Paris and New York, BA’s new OpenSkies airline will be able to dominate the route. In fact, since L’Avion was also operating Boeing 757s, they may now be combined to form a fleet of three Boeing 757s for OpenSkies. According to Reuters, L’Avion started in January 2007 and has transported 65,000 passengers. But the going was certainly getting tough as the price of oil crossed $140 per barrel, evidence of which are the recent spate of bankruptcies in the airline industry.

Big bird BA picks up the last fish in the river (Image Credit: Esox Lucius)

How does this impact the British Airways and OpenSkies brands?

The effect of this acquisition on the parent airline’s brand should be generally positive, due to two key factors. Firstly, the lack of competition would surely help the OpenSkies brand since there is no direct comparison for their services. Moreover, lack of competition results in lower price pressure - which means that OpenSkies can charge realistic higher fares and be profitable sooner than later. Secondly, the acquisition is of an all-business class airline, which adds greater value to BA/OpenSkies, since L’Avion had planes that offered more luxury to the customer. So instead of sprucing them up, BA just needs to remove some seats to include Economy class, if they choose to do so.

In the end, this means the end of cross-Atlantic all-business airlines, and bodes well for British Airways as well. A win-win situation for both the airlines. A questionable one from the customers’ perspective though.

What do you think? Will this help the customer? Please feel free to leave your comments below.

The recent spate of airline mergers - or merger talks - begs the question: Is it better for the industry if two airlines merge or one of them goes bankrupt. Verdict: It’s better if an airline goes bankrupt.

Here’re three reasons why bankruptcies are good for the industry overall.

Oil prices reached $135 per barrel last week and have just claimed the latest victim: SilverJet. The all-business airline stopped operations today (Friday, May 30) since it failed to secure a $5 million loan to carry on operations. This now makes it three-in-three for all-business airlines operating between New York and London. MaxJet and EOS have shut down operations in the last year as well. Interestingly, SilverJet helped carry EOS’ passengers when the latter ceased operations. I wonder who will come to rescue SilverJet’s stranded passengers. (Update @ 30 May, 11.49pm: Virgin Atlantic is offering special fares to stranded SilverJet passengers)

(Image courtesy http://www.airflights.to)

The irony is that even as full-business class carriers go out of business, legacy airlines have been starting up all-business class routes recently. Singapore Airlines’ route between the city-state and Newark seems to be off to a good start. British Airways’ OpenSkies looks all set for launching operations too, and L’Avion still flies between Paris and New York. May be the difference is the deep pockets of the parent airlines, who sustain an unprofitable route much longer than greenhorns like SilverJet and Maxjet could.

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Airlines are dropping from the skies like dead flies these days, especially in the US. And the bankruptcies have not been limited to just one category of airlines - everyone from budget carriers to luxury airlines seem to be going bust. The latest to fold up is Eos, the all-business class airline that operated between New York and London. Oasis HongKong folded in the long-haul budget airline category, and of course there were the multiple US airlines like Aloha, Skybus and ATA that have gone out of business within weeks of each other.

Ironically, a number of them seemed to have great brands! Aloha was rated as being the best airline in the US for service. Eos was right up there in the all-business airlines category and we wrote about them in a previous post. Oasis HongKong was a well known brand in the region as well. Reasons for failure are everywhere. But what are some lessons that can be learnt from the experiences of the airlines that were? Here are five of them.

1.For Oasis HongKong, budget and business, together, were a confusing branding value proposition from the beginning. They tried to provide punctual, top-notch service and in-flight entertainment at discount prices. In the middle of it all, they forgot about recovery of money. Great expectations, good experience, sad ending.

2.For other budget carriers, the lesson of Oasis’s demise is that they have to fill more seats and more passengers into their aircraft. Basically, increase the money made per flight, without compromising on the promises made to the customer.

3.A number of airlines (esp. in the US) make this mistake. They tend to set the wrong brand expectations, and then leave the customer disgruntled when the experience falters. Things like suddenly charging more for a second bag. This is a sure way to drive down customer loyalty. One of the keys to long term success is to keep the brand experience consistent with expectations, even in turbulent times like this.

4.Efforts should be targeted towards providing specific services that truly add value to the brand experience, rather than invoking in the knee-jerk reaction of cutting many services and charging as much as possible for the rest. I’m surely not paying $5 for a bag of pretzels!

5.Some airlines are still succeeding at optimizing their brand in these turbulent times, by keeping their primary customer base happy, yet cultivating more sources of revenue. Southwest is attracting business travelers, for a higher fare. Air Canada is giving each passenger Ala Carte choices of value added services in each seat, for an additional cost. Pay for only what you want. Singapore Airlines has begun all-business class route to New York. British Airways’ Open Skies will soon fly all-business from Paris to New York. ANA and Lufthansa have started all-business flights to India.

The key to success is to increase number of passengers per departure, and revenue per passenger, without deteriorating, and possibly enhancing the experience. Having a loyalty program in place will keep them coming back for more too.

Ponder that!

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