10 NEWS (L-R): Neil
10 NEWS (L-R): Neil Glenn, General Manager Europe, Cathay Pacific; Bob Lange, Head of Market and Product Strategy, Airbus; Robert Albert, CEO, Routehappy; and Xavier Lagardère, Head of Distribution, Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines After any flight, was is the first question anyone asks? “How was your flight?” They don’t ask how much it cost or how long it was. Strangely though, in an age when consumers have more information than ever before to make the smartest purchasing decisions, airline passengers still have little visibility into their inflight experience before booking a flight. Leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus has teamed up with Routehappy, the merchandising content platform for flight shopping, to accelerate the transformation of flight shopping from commoditised to differentiated. The Airbus Routehappy alliance helps airlines create compelling, targeted merchandising content showcasing unique Airbus offerings such as seat width, personal space, inflight entertainment, connectivity, and jetlag-friendly ambient lighting when searching for flights on all sales channels. Joining the Airbus Routehappy alliance are four of the world’s leading carriers: Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Lufthansa Group and Singapore Airlines. Speaking at the ITB Berlin, Airbus’ Head of Market and Product Strategy Bob Lange said: “Study after study shows the ever-growing importance of the inflight experience for the more than 3.5 billion people who travel by air every year. In a 2016 survey Atmosphere Research Group found that 53% of leisure passengers and 61% of business passengers pay attention to the type of aircraft they will fly on. And yet passengers have little information to go on when booking their flights. Finally, this is changing.” Airlines participating in the Airbus Routehappy alliance will receive support in their use of Routehappy Hub, a powerful content management platform that creates and distributes targeted airline merchandising content across sales channels. UPA (Universal Product Attribute) is a standardised content type in Routehappy Hub that differentiates airline product offerings with rich descriptive and visual content. “As airlines differentiate, so does flight shopping. Flyers need better information to navigate ever changing options, and the industry needs a platform that helps them showcase the products they offer,” said Robert Albert, CEO at Routehappy. “Our alliance with Airbus provides airlines an added incentive to create and distribute rich content that is becoming a key feature in how we shop for flights.” The key requirement for airlines participating in the alliance is the inclusion of “branded UPAs” highlighting Airbus A380 and A350 XWB product features among the airline’s selling points. Joining the alliance Xavier Lagardère, Head of Distribution Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines, said: “Empowering customers to choose the right offering is core to our distribution strategy. An initiative like Airbus and Routehappy’s supports the much-needed transformation of air travel retailing from commodity to feature-based shopping, by providing passengers with additional rich content. Over the past few years, we have taken our inflight experience and service to completely new levels, and are excited about presenting them to travellers from around the world.” Cathay Pacific General Manager, Sales and Distribution, Toby Smith, said: “We continually strive to enhance our passengers’ experience at every stage of their journey with us – and that starts from the moment they plan their travel arrangements. This initiative will help enable us to deliver our brand promise of a Life Well Travelled by showcasing our superior inflight product offerings, including those featured in the cabins of our new Airbus A350 aircraft.” With today’s announcement Airbus branded UPAs are being integrated into leading sales channels for launch soon. In the meantime, a demonstration of Airbus branded UPAs may be viewed at routehappy.com. The Airbus and Routehappy program is expected to expand to additional airlines How Was Your Flight? Airbus and Routehappy announce a new partnership to enrich the flight booking experience and Airbus aircraft later this year. Atmosphere Research Group President and travel industry analyst Henry Harteveldt said “The majority of passengers are interested in details about their flights and would find this information helpful when booking their flights. Airlines that make this available stand to benefit by showcasing their differentiated products.” *Survey conducted by Atmosphere Research Group in Q1 2016 of 4,457 US airline passenger. ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 24 th March 2017 www.itb-berlin-news.com
NEWS 11 Anex Tour’s two storey booth at ITB 2017 Airborne at ITB Berlin – Anex Tour Presents Itself for the First Time to the Tourism World The new German Tour Operator Anex Tour introduced itself last week with great success to the market with his doublefloor booth at ITB 2017. Industry professionals and the public alike gave very good feedback on products, destinations and services from the new player from Düsseldorf. Anex Tour will start the operation of its own airline - AZUR Air - as of May. Travellers will also be able to take off from Munich and Berlin-Schönefeld and fly non-stop for the best weeks of the year. Mallorca, the Canary Islands, Crete, Bulgaria, Turkey and the Dominican Republic will be offered as destinations. In the winter season 2017/2018, the portfolio will be expanded by additional long-haul destinations such as Thailand, Cuba and Egypt. The tour operator has already been operating in the international tourism industry with the Anex Tourism Group for more than 20 years, and almost 2 million holidaymakers yearly rely on its excellent value for money proposition. To support the market launch, the new sister company Azur Air GmbH with three Boeing 767-300ER aircrafts has been founded in parallel. The German licensed and registered airline has its home base for maintenance and training in Düsseldorf too. “Our guests will get all services from one single source – starting with our own hotel contracting, our own airline and in most destinations our own agencies” says Hakan Bakar, Managing Director of Anex Tour. “We are 100 % in favour of travel agency sales because we strongly believe in advice and service on top level”. In addition, Anex Tour has quite a few powerful sales arguments vis-à-vis its guests. In the event that travel plans change at short notice - no matter what the reason is - Anex Tour guarantees rebooking free of charge up to 14 days prior to departure for all bookings that are made by April 30 th Hakan Bakar Managing Director, Anex Tour LUFTHANSA GROUP: IT’S ALL ABOUT INDIVIDUALITY AND DIGITISATION Germany’s national carrier is heavily investing to help its customers fulfilling their travel wishes and shaping their trips according to their needs. The big IT revolution is on, as highlighted during the group’s traditional ITB press conference. People make choices and take decisions in every step of their life. And they want to have the same discretionary power of decision when travelling on an airline: and Lufthansa is following suit, as highlighted during ITB Berlin, by Harry Hohmeister, Member of the Lufthansa Group Executive Board and Heike Birlenbach, Senior Vice President Sales Lufthansa Hub Airlines. Between now and 2020, the German air transport group will invest €500m in the development and improvement of personalised digital offers alone. Whether above the clouds or on the ground – the Lufthansa Group is reacting to customer preferences with tailor-made digital offers. “We offer our clients state of the art technology to respond to their requests and provide them with the best possible support for their journeys. This is what I call ‘Premium’ not only because of the offered comfort but also because of individualisation” said Hohmeister. For distribution partners, Lufthansa will further simplify the booking platform to integrate also all fares and special offers. “We for example offer from now combined fares- full fare or discounted ones- as we propose now this option for all countries in Europe”, said Birlenbach. An exclusive information during the ITB was the announcement of a brand-new business class with the delivery of the first Boeing B777X from 2020. Another revolutionary product will mean passengers will be able to control their seats wirelessly using their own smartphones or tablets. The position of the seat as well as the inflight entertainment will then be the hands of their users… No longer science fiction, but soon-to-be reality! ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 24 th March 2017
