32 SPECIAL FEATURE
32 SPECIAL FEATURE TRANSPORT ADVERTORIAL Ryanair and the Future of European Tourism THAILAND AIRPORT EXPANSION REFLECTS GROWING PASSENGER NUMBERS Managing Thailand’s six international airports - Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang-Chiang Rai, Phuket and Hat Yai – the Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT) continues to push improvements to the Kingdom’s air transport infrastructure. Acknowledging how important the tourism industry is to Thailand’s economy, AOT’s latest initiatives concentrate on facilitating the movement of air travellers through its airports which, in 2016 accommodated 132 scheduled airline numbers covering more than 150 international and 30 domestic destinations. Translating to over 790,000 aircraft movements and 122 million passengers, that represented a significant increase year-on-year, with the top arrivals from Asia and Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Predicting continued growth, and with an emphasis on Thailand’s ongoing development, the Suvarnabhumi Airport Development Project has been launched to increase the airport’s capacity from 45 million to 60 million passengers per year. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2019, which means there will be some disruption in the short term – including current partial closures of runways – but the long term benefits will be substantial. Likewise, the ongoing Phuket International Airport Development Project – which aimed to double Phuket’s passenger capacity – saw a new international terminal open in September 2016. One of AOT’s roles is to ensure these projects operate in parallel with social care for local communities, and within strict guidelines for environmental conservation Hall 26.b / Stand 219 Kenny Jacobs Chief Marketing Officer, Ryanair After Ryanair fundamentally changed the European air transport market, the company has now entered the package tour market with Ryanair Holidays. How far will Ryanair expand the products and services it offers, when will it exploit other European markets, and what are the industry’s future prospects? At an ITB Berlin Convention Keynote, Kenny Jacobs, Chief Marketing Officer, Ryanair will answer these and other leading questions. ITB Berlin News asked Mr Jacobs to explain this paradigm shift as a “foretaste” to his presentation… Ryanair’s low fares transformed air travel in Europe and now we’re going to transform the package holiday market with the launch of “Ryanair Holidays”, offering our customers the unbeatable combination of Ryanair’s low fares, a wide range of accommodation options and transfers – all on the Ryanair.com website and all at the lowest prices. Consumers have been paying too much for package holidays for years and more and more want to put their own packages together themselves. Ryanair customers already enjoy the biggest route network in Europe and with “Ryanair Holidays” can choose from a fantastic range of 3, 4 and 5 star hotels throughout the Mediterranean and Europe’s capital cities, ideal for last minute getaways, summer family holidays, winter sun or city breaks. Following the launch of Ryanair Car Hire and Ryanair Rooms, even more customers are coming to Ryanair for services and products other than flights, and this is another significant step on our journey to becoming the Amazon of air travel. “Ryanair Holidays” offers full consumer protection, is fully ATOL bonded and insured, and won’t be beaten on price. What other trump cards do you have up your sleeve? We will be unveiling our next AGB improvements soon, while we continue to evolve from a digital point of view. What news should we be writing about Ryanair in five years’ time? By 2022, Ryanair will be carrying 175m customers a year and will have become the Amazon of the travel industry – and still offer the lowest fares! ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 8 th March 2017 www.itb-berlin-news.com
SPECIAL FEATURE TRANSPORT 33 A330neo Airspace Business-class Not All Are Equal Above the Clouds Airbus is present for the first time at ITB Berlin, with Bob Lange, Senior Vice President, Head of Market and Product Strategy, Airbus, speaking at the ITB Berlin Convention on “Innovative Aircraft Types: Basis for Gaining New Customers”. We asked Bob to tell us a little more… We will be referring to the Airspace cabin of course, and the core of the presentation is about the way passengers will be making their choices in the future, the degree of information they have about those choices, and how both the airline and the air framer can work together to ensure the passengers have better quality information. To this end, we are showcasing our Iflya380.com initiative, which helps passengers who want to fly on A380s book on A380s. This innovative booking assistant allows travellers to browse all A380 flights, destinations and airlines. Passengers simply click on the desired flight and are taken to the airline website for final booking. What’s the thinking behind your presence at the show? The fact that we are present at ITB Berlin is recognition of the fact that as air travel is maturing in the marketplace, passengers are becoming much better informed about the choices they are making before they put their credit card number into a booking system. As one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, we have a tremendous insight into the passenger experience in our aircraft. That’s the reason for being at the show. We are primarily demonstrating our new cabin design, which is called “Airspace by Airbus”, the attributes of which have been recognised to the extent that it won a Red Dot design award last year. This is why we decided to use it as a model and roll Bob Lange Senior Vice President, Head of Market and Product Strategy, Airbus those attributes out over time into all our aircraft, the next one being our A330neo wide body aircraft, which enters service in 2018. Here at ITB Berlin, we have a fullscale mock-up of the Airspace Cabin. What are the key differentiators of the new cabin? The design is highly differentiated when it comes to the passenger experience, including the ambiance, the lighting, the air quality, the temperature control, and what is probably the most important factor - the width of the economy seats, which is superior to the competitors Hall 25 / Stand 155 © AIRBUS S.A.S. - Photo by e*m company / P. Masclet ADVERTORIAL WIRECARD AND AIR BOTSWANA STRENGTHEN LINKS Wirecard is one of the world’s leading companies in the provision and support of electronic payment processes, with 25,000 customers transacting in over 100 currencies. Since 2009 a collaboration between Wirecard and Air Botswana has proved successful, enabling payments with standard credit cards such as Visa and Mastercard for Air Botswana customers booking the flights via www.airbotswana.co.bw. To provide the card holder with an additional level of protection, Air Botswana has joined Mastercard’s Secure Code and Visa’s Verified by Visa 3D security initiatives. Wirecard’s multi-channel payment gateway allows Air Botswana to use the International Air Transport Association (IATA) interface for billing together with settlement plan (BSP), making the processing of ticket sales faster, easier and more secure for customers from the following countries booking their flights via local travel agencies: US, Canada, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and Latvia. While Wirecard manages a comprehensive range of payment services for a number of different airlines, the collaboration between Wirecard and Air Botswana demonstrates a strong commitment to the African market and the growing support to African airlines. It also strengthens Air Botswana’s reputation as an innovative airline and an early-adopter of technology to optimize their processes, costs and profits Hall 5.1 / Stand 40 Media Briefing & Announcement on Thursday 9 th March at 15.00 in Room R3 in the City Cube; Airbus “iflyA380.com” stand at Hall 25 (stand number 115) for a full immersion into the features of the iconic A380 aircraft; Airspace by Airbus cabin mock-up at the TAP stand in Hall 1.1; Presentation by Bob Lange, Airbus Head of Market and Product Strategy, at the ITB Congress on Friday 10 th March at 15.45 in the “Auditorium London” (Convention Hall 7.1b). ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 8 th March 2017
