Defense and Space
Article | June 8, 2022
There’s been a lot of talk lately about airlines around the world beginning to favor smaller aircraft. Not just amid the pandemic but for the foreseeable future as well. The debate was given fuel when Lufthansa’s CEO made comments about potential down-gauging of its fleet ahead. But have we really entered the era of smaller airplanes for good?
Many have argued that even when demand for air travel does return there will be less of it overall because of a precipitous and permanent drop in business travel. And beyond that, even where demand does exist, it will be for convenient, point-to-point service, not on A380s via big hubs – as smaller planes emerge that are capable of flying farther and people shy away from big, crowded airports and the hassle of connecting. All of which calls for smaller planes. I’ve argued recently that this seems a little hasty. Nevertheless, the jury is out, and as they say – only time will tell.
Have smaller planes taken over flying?
One thing we can look at is whether the notion that smaller planes rule the day holds true at major airlines right now. And pulling some Flightradar24 data we can see that this has been happening – mostly. The headline takeaway seems to be that bigger planes do still have their place, but for obvious reasons smaller wide-bodies have proven more desirable on many global routes during the past year.
Lufthansa dropped its Very Large Aircraft quickly
If we look at Lufthansa’s data, the trend is very clear right from the beginning of the pandemic. The A380 and the 747s (both -400 and -8I) took a definitive hit beginning in March 2020. That was it for the A380 and the 747-400 for good, it seems. The small rebound in A380 flights recorded in recent months were storage-related. And since the pandemic started, it’s clear that the smaller A330 has been clearly favored, taking up nearly double the percentage of flying it had at Lufthansa pre-pandemic.
What’s most interesting here is that the 747-8I did come back, in some weeks to pre-pandemic levels. That’s quite a big plane. It is probably hard to fill these days. But it is Lufthansa’s flagship now – it has a First Class cabin and it can carry quite a bit of cargo. As a result it kept flying for a while on the bigger US routes like LAX. However recent dips in demand, and the winter season, saw the smaller and more fuel-efficient A350 come in to replace it on many routes. As I write this the Lufthansa 747-8I is in flight on just two routes – Mexico City (MEX) and Buenos Aires (EZE) to Frankfurt (FRA).
If I were to take a guess, I’d say we continue to see the 747-8I for some time on these bigger routes and in busier seasons. It may turn out to be one of the last options for passengers to fly a 747 a few years from now. Eventually, though, the more efficient 777X will replace it. Though Lufthansa has said it’s looking to shift to smaller airplanes overall, the 777X seems a natural fit for its big hub to hub routes. I don’t think we’ll see a day when the A350 is the largest plane in Lufthansa’s fleet – at least as long as Germany remains Europe’s largest economy.
Delta favors smaller, but only by a little bit
If we look at Delta, which also has a wide range of wide-bodies in its fleet, the picture is a little more complicated. In part that’s because initially its 777s and A350s (both of which fit about 300 seats) took over quite a lot of flying while its smaller 767s (200 to 240 seats or so) were more or less parked.
Since then, however, the 777 fleet has been retired and the 767s (both -300 and -400 series) have been doing nearly 60% of Delta’s wide-body flying. And its smallest Airbus wide-body, the A330-200, has flown much less throughout the pandemic. The A330-300, A330-900neo and A350-900 have filled in the rest of the flying, but while they were doing a majority of the wide-body flying in the first months, they’re not back to flying roughly the same percentage of Delta’s wide-body flights as before the pandemic.
It’s interesting to note that a number of 767s have been retired during this time, and A330-300s have been used to fill the gaps where necessary despite having a higher seat count. If no 767s had been retired it’s likely the total percentage of flights run with the 767 would be even higher.
What’s the bottom line?
It seems that airlines have tended to park their biggest planes, but perhaps not as drastically as some might have expected. That may have had a lot to do with cargo capacity. But cargo capacity will continue to be a consideration post-pandemic as well, so it’s not as if these planes will prove useless once things get back to normal. And if we see the boom in travel demand that some are predicting is on the way, many of these larger aircraft may see they get plenty of use yet.
Will there be less very large aircraft in airline fleets overall? Yes, probably. The A380 is all but done for except at a handful of airlines. And will smaller, long-range planes like the 787 prove popular in the years ahead? No doubt. But the bigger, fuel efficient planes like the 777X and A350-1000 will almost certainly still have their place in the sky too.
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Design and Engineering
Article | January 7, 2022
DataBridge recently released a new market research analysis on AI in aviation, and the findings are promising. The aviation industry has relied on artificial intelligence (AI) for years. The technology has assisted pilots through machine learning algorithms to collect flight data about altitudes, air traffic management, weather, and route distance. It has enabled them to optimize fuel usage and reduce fuel costs. And now, it is going further.
AI has been cascading into other areas of aviation. Here are some trends to note from the “Global Artificial Intelligence in Aviation Market” study.
Benefitting Ground Operations
AI is extensively used in real-time support systems and air traffic control. From automated baggage check-in to facial recognition, it is powering several ground operations. These functions contribute heavily to maximizing resources, reducing labor costs, and enhancing seamlessness across different processes.
Improving Performance and Processes with Machine Learning (ML)
The emergence of AI in aviation is thanks to a surge of capital investments by key aviation players. Cloud computing is being used by many organizations as a way to consolidate processes and deal with complexity better.
Impacting How Planes will be Piloted
AI will considerably impact the future of piloting as we know it. Building on Airbus’ first ever takeoff, landing and taxi using vision-based AI in 2020, prominent aerospace tech firms continue to work on self-piloting planes or passenger autonomous aerial vehicles (AV) that will employ AI-powered intelligent navigation to fly.
Improving Efficiency and Accuracy for Manual Processes
According to aviation experts, ML digital assistants are able to process massive volumes of historical data in order to support ground staff and pilots alike. With AI’s capabilities of enabling elusive insights into patterns and complexities of data, the technology is considered ideal for aviation, where there is no room for errors.
The Path Ahead
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of new technologies in pushing the envelope and innovating solutions. The evolution of technology will only propel the adoption of AI further into the aviation industry. With multiple use cases and brilliant results from the use of AI, the aviation industry is all set for a digital transformation fuelled by data, machine learning and precision
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Air Transport
Article | July 6, 2022
While countries continue to implement new Omicron-related restrictions in response to the rising number of cases globally, a majority of these are in the form of enhanced COVID testing requirements – not travel bans. As a result, travel demand for popular peak-season destinations has remained strong, and over the past few days we’ve seen a BIG INFLUX in bookings as news trickles out that Omicron may be a less severe variant.
If this continues, we expect to see another prolonged booking surge, so plan accordingly and get your requests in ASAP for best options – especially parking and hotels. While the new U.S. 24-hr testing requirement for return travel is tight, it’s not a big deal if you are prepared with an approved at-home testing kit (like Abbott BinaxNow, Qured, Ellume, etc.). Alternatively, our Trip Support Teams can help you identify testing providers abroad.
Looking ahead to your missions in 2022, you may want to consider On-Aircraft COVID Testing for your N-registered aircraft. It’ll make international COVID testing MUCH easier on you and your passengers when at-home testing kits aren’t an option.
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Business Aviation
Article | August 31, 2021
Let’s be honest!
Customers support advertising. But they seek out information.
In a marketing world where advertising reigns, aviation customers want well-researched, proficiently crafted informative content that tells stories, explains products, and helps them make smart decisions.
Content: Builds Credibility and Influence with Information
When you make a decision, you seek out the most credible sources of information available on the internet or off the net. However, for many aviation consumers, content types like publications, blogs, whitepapers, and other high-quality are the most preferred to read.
A consistent flow of information maintains the credibility of your publication and communication with your clients, customers, or stakeholders. This can only be possible when you have a good content marketing strategy.
Good content marketing, as marketers say, is an all-hands-on-deck affair. Strategizing, content production, analysis, audits, and reviews play a vital role in creating great content marketing ideas. In addition, you need to coordinate with different departments to meticulously create a plan of action that hits the right audience at the right time with an accurate message.
But remember, even if you plan it in the right way, things can go wrong. And you might feel that nothing more can be done, even having perfect airline marketing strategies.
So, in such a moment of disparity, for your aviation marketing, it’s helpful to revisit some of the most amazing content marketing strategies successful stories out on the internet to get inspired and give a new perspective to your next content marketing ideas.
Content Marketing: Stories
Let us have a look at the excellent content marketing success stories. The following examples showcase the suitable approaches you can have for your next content marketing campaigns. So, take a look and learn to craft a better strategy.
JetBlue’s Campaign Towards Passenger Concerns
The airline industry has had its share of ups and downs in executing airline marketing strategies and airline advertisement plans since the pandemic outbreak in 2020.
Under such conditions, low-cost airline JetBlue showcased its brand stand above all these struggles. Their content marketing strategy that creates compelling, engaging, and informative content consistently helped convey the brand message to the audience and build brand image.
The Strategy
JetBlue’s content marketing ideas focus on humanizes its approaches. For example, the company launched a campaign that awarded passengers with rewards points.
The airline’s digital marketing strategy, at every level, has a unique way of providing information to its audience and offering solutions. This way, it offered the clients more reasons to engage with its brand. The brand used blogs and media coverage to engage with its clients. Here are the following content strategies it used:
Timely published airline articles attracted instant attention of visitors to the website. The information provided in the article was about the usage of technology and successful collaborations to ease the operations.
Filled the website with timeless articles that served information to overcome the pandemic challenges and provide value in real-time.
Always tried to go with the trends, latest news, and updates. As updates were in time, it maximized clicks and engagements.
The Outcome
Content published and strategies implemented successfully enabled JetBlue to acknowledge their audiences’ concerns. The information provided solved the persistent problems of the audience. This approach resulted in a significant hike in the percentage of website visitors, which eventually grew traffic.
Copa Airlines’ DotDigital
Copa Airlines, like other airlines, also wanted to streamline the operational processes allied with content marketing campaigns, emails to target the most of audiences, and stabilizing its market position. It was all because the manual process took up a long time and contributed to accuracy errors.
As part of its recovery plan, it also wanted to become more agile in its email and content marketing by synchronizing the gap between website visits and email triggers to focus actively on capitalizing on the demand.
The Strategy
Copa Airlines’ partnering with dotdigital, a marketing and engagement platform, successfully implemented the campaigns. It focused only on active audiences and accurately understand the purpose. By employing powerful content creatives to create and automate email copies with variations, it was able to restructure the process and added personalization that subjected audiences’ demands and preferences.
The Outcome
Copa enhanced its brand visibility, which boosted conversions by 2%. This result led to a 14% hike in revenue, thus improved its ROI.
With the addition of automation and personalization, Copa also experienced an 11% drop in unsubscribe numbers. This pointed towards the increased engagement of audiences with the new content marketing strategy.
AirAsia’s Media Business Expansion
AirAsia’s topmost concern towards its business expansion was content marketing, media, data, and adtech. The brand wants these functionalities to perform on the top in revenue growth and lift its performance in 2021 & beyond.
To grow its business, it focuses more on engagement and providing value to its audience. It seeks to build a more substantial base of audiences than before. Since early 2020, the brand accelerated its digital business by demonstrating product offerings through blogs, video, and chats. The content information provided through the content marketing strategy was more authentic, relevant, and delivered significant value to customers.
The Strategy
The brand runs campaigns using self-service adtech and content platforms. The company has a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG), through which it created RedCarpet that focuses on smart campaigns with the help of content creation capabilities.
The Outcome
The critical part of the RedCarpet initiative is it created multiple partnerships signed for the upcoming quarter of 2021. It also introduced flexibility in tech offerings to the customer through various content generation on its website and social media channels. But, most importantly, the brand took a step ahead to enhance content services as a publisher. This is a new investment straightaway to become the pandemic warrior in the airline industry.
The brand envisions surged engagement among customers and potential audiences once travel restrictions are lifted. Thus, AirAsia’s database will have more users in the coming years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the need to educate audiences in the airline industry becoming necessary?
Today consumers are becoming smart. They are saturated with businesses offering the same repeated product or service. So, being educated help them to make informed decisions. And creates loyalty towards the brand along with a long-term relationship.
How can content marketing help to address target audiences in the airline industry?
Content marketing can help in addressing the queries of the client at various levels of the process. This strengthens a positive outlook towards the brand and probably motivates them to become part of the brand.
How to use content marketing to increase brand image in the airline industry?
Follow these steps to increase your brand image using content marketing:
Create a brand that tells a story about offerings to the audience
Research on the unexplored side of your industry which is still untouched and thus attract eyeballs to drive your brand
Think of expanding content created out of your research
Create evergreen content pieces
Create a live website and include the easiest ways for visitors to approach
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