TRANSPORT SPECIAL
TRANSPORT SPECIAL FEATURE 37 Moving Your Way Adaptability And Customer Insight At The Heart of Europcar’s Revival Roland Keppler, CEO of the Europcar group tells ITB Berlin News about the brand’s repositioning and what is next for hire car operator… Korean Air Announces Expanded Routes and New Aircraft Roland Keppler Europcar group CEO Educated as an engineer, Roland Keppler, 47, began his career in 1992 as controller at Preussag AG, before joining airline Hapag Lloyd in 2002, where he was appointed Finance Director of its low cost branch, Hapag Lloyd Express. He was appointed CEO in 2005. Following the merger of Hapag Lloyd and HLX to form TUIfly, and having developed the company’s digital subsidiary (TUI Interactive) and organizing the integration of TUIfly in Central Europe, Roland Keppler was named CEO of TUIfly in 2007. In 2009, he was appointed CEO of Europcar’s German subsidiary, and in February 2012 he was named group CEO. We unveiled our new brand positioning “Moving Your Way” at the end of 2012 in order to demonstrate that Europcar is evolving its services, processes and communication to adapt to customers’ ever changing mobility needs. “Moving Your Way” conveys Europcar’s total commitment to the client. As part of that positioning, a new logo has been designed to symbolise mobility and act as quality stamp on all Europcar subbrands and offers. We have also developed a brand new europcar.com website which offers a more efficient booking process and many great design features. The key will be to define the right mobility offer allowing real flexibility, easy access, value for money, plus environmental friendliness and a seamless experience The car rental scene is becoming increasingly competitive, and we are seeing numerous mergers and take-overs. How do you see the next couple of years in the industry? There is increased competitive pressure on services and flexibility, as well as on prices and profit margins, plus there is market consolidation and more segmentation. The key will be to define the right mobility offer allowing real flexibility, easy access, value for money, plus environmental friendliness and a seamless experience. We have seen “Car2go” taking off in some cities in Europe as part of a joint venture with Europcar. How is this partnership evolving, and what is the future of Car2go.com? The partnership has been evolving steadily, and both companies complement each other perfectly: car2go benefits from Europcar’s know-how in the field of fleet management and logistics, as well as from the large station network, whereas Europcar benefits from Daimler’s innovative technology. After Hamburg, several car2go launches followed in Vienna (2011), as well as in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Cologne, London, and Stuttgart (2012). Up till now, more than 6,000 vehicles were rented more than 5 million times by 250,000 customers and we plan to launch the concept in about 40 to 50 European cities over the next few years. How are new technologies helping make Europcar more efficient? The development of digital services is a key component of our strategy and will help us to extend our position as a leading and innovative mobility player. We launched two new mobile applications for iPhone and Android that make booking a car easier than ever. Hall 9 Stand 123 With already more than 400 flights per day to 124 cities in 43 countries, Korean Air is set to expand its global network with the addition of nine next-generation aircraft to its fleet. The company will be receiving two A380’s, one A330-200, two B777’s-300ERs, two B737-900ERs, one B747- 8F and one B7774. The arrival of the additional two A380s will bring the number of Korean Air’s A380s to seven. With just 407 seats in total, the lowest configuration of any A380 operator so far, the carrier is the first to devote an entire deck to ‘Prestige’ business class and also features an onboard Celestial Bar and Duty Free Showcase. In 2012, Korean Air launched direct services to Danang; Nairobi, Kenya; and Yangon, Myanmar and resumed services to Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a 35-year hiatus. In 2013, Korean Air plans to provide a direct service to Colombo, Sri Lanka and Male, Maldives in March. The airline also plans to deploy A380 aircraft on the Incheon- Atlanta route starting in August. On the Incheon- Frankfurt route it started in the beginning of February 2013. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 6 th March 2013
