Best airport lounge ever (better take your swimming suit with you!)

Maybe because it is summer, but, coincidentally, I have recently had the chance to visit several airports that are next to a beach...

If I really enjoyed the pre-flight swim at Bergen, Norway and I also found really interesting the possibility of Barcelona airport opening a beach club next season, this one beats all of them when it comes to spending some time on the beach while waiting your flight...Mahó airport (MAH), in the island of Menorca.

Judge by yourselves:

This beach on the South coast of Menorca is less than 1km from the airport and, despite not being as dramatic as at Queen Juliana airport in the Caribbean island of St.Marteen, it is also right below the flight path, so you can also do some nice planespotting from here!

More innovation in the executive jet sector: Victor Aviation

It might still be a far cry out for the majority of air travellers (including myself!) but in the past few months I have learned of a number of initiatives that have the potential to make executive jet travel more "democratic"...well, at least, for the upper segment of those that now fly commercial (Ryanair and Easyjet no need to worry for now!).

When it comes to marketing innovation in the executive aviation industry, in this blog we have already documented Blink's approach to executive aviation and Surf Air's flat fees.

The latest I learned about is Victor Aviation. I won't go in much detail here, since there is already this very comprehensive article by Dom Perry, at Flightglobal, that explains everything you need to know about this new way to fly executive.

Basically it aggregates demand to offer competitive prices to fly on executive jets. The novelty is in the transparency it brings to the whole booking process, that it is not unlike that of a normal airline.

I played around with Victor's website and it looked pretty cool too, and it allows you to do things like get alerts when seats become available on a certain route. It also provides plenty of details about the aircraft available.

Victor Aviation is, in a way, a marketplace, for executive jet seats. Although I am not a user of executive jets, this is a project I can somehow relate to, since it is not too different from what we have been doing at GourmetOrigins.com, an online marketplace for high quality foods that I co-founded, where small independent food producers can connect with foodies that look for special treats. So I take this opportunity to wish Victor Aviation's founder, Clive Jackson, the best of successes and hopefully one day will be able to experience the service!

Remembering the history of airships...and rethinking their future!

Today's post is a bit different from usual, but I think the detour is worth it, as I just came across this website Airships.net, that contains a wealth of information about this early form of air travel: the airship.

 Picture: Wikipedia

I must confess Zeppelins are one area of aviation that I know little about, but reading through this website has arisen my interest... This might not be the last post about this topic I write...not least, because, if these entrepreneurial plans end up becoming a reality, the airships might yet come back!

Vueling's CEO outlines some key points about the future of the airline

Mr.Cruz speaking. The event was chaired by renowned historian Paul Preston (foreground)

A few days ago I had the chance to attend a presentation by Vueling's CEO, Alex Cruz, at the London School of Economics (organized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce of Great Britain and LSE Enterprise). It's been a few days already (traveling and other work have prevented me from posting more often lately!) but I guess most of what he says remains valid.

Here are some of the points he touched:

-Vueling has a really competitive cost structure, at a unit cost per ask of €4.18 it compares favourably to Easyjet's €4.36, and even better with regards to other competitors such as Air Berlin, although still some way off cost-leader Ryanair, at €2.22.

-Vueling is unique among low cost carriers in that it participates in two frequent flier programmes: its own, Punto, and IAG's Avios.

-Mr. Cruz explained how when they set up Clickair, an Iberia subsidiary that later merged with Vueling, they followed the textbook examples (Ryanair) of what a low cost carrier should do and should not do, but after some time in the business they started challenging some of this "established" knowledge and experiment with things such as assigned seats or connecting flights, that have yielded satisfactory results so far.

-Vueling is continuing to pursue its hybridisation strategy, with the aim of attracting business customers (the recently launched Vueling Pass goes in this direction)

-They aim to strengthen cooperation with other carriers within Oneworld, such as BA and LAN, to support its growing, although still small, connecting traffic via its Barcelona base.

-Regarding network, and asked by the audience about the long-haul plans some airlines have announced (for example, Norwegian) Mr. Cruz stated that their intention is to continue flying only to cities that are no more than a 4-hour flight away from Barcelona (they do not like hotel expenses!). He still sees new opportunities within this geography, though, for example in Eastern Europe and Russia, maybe even some destinations in Africa.

-Regarding fleet, the aim is to reach 100 aircraft as quickly as possible, since this would provide the scale required to remain competitive. Vueling is likely to remain a single aircraft-type operator for now, although they have considered different options, including Boeing and Bombardier.

-To conclude, one thing that keeps him awake: the risk of the company growing to the point that it loses its personality, its dynamism and freshness...

Still some way to go, I think....

Barcelona airport to open a beach club

Customers are expected to benefit from increased market competition, this is evident when it comes to airlines (despite some missing the "golden age" of aviation where hardly anyone could afford to fly), but what about airports?

Airports do compete too and one of the ways to do so is trying to provide the best passenger experience. In this blog I have already expressed my preference for Amsterdam Schiphol (and I have not even tried the amphibious vehicle tour or the virtual butterfly garden), but now another airport I know well is entering the fray: Barcelona airport has just unveiled plans to build a golf course and...a beach club!

The story caught my attention, maybe because  I have just come back from a trip to Bergen, Norway, where, taking advantage of the airport location (see picture below) and of the amazing spell of warm weather (yes, it can be warm and sunny in Norway too!)

 My favourite bathing spot on the far side of the runway!

I managed to have a bath in the sea while awaiting my flight. I must say it was not an easy task to find a spot with open access to the sea since most of the seafront is taken up by private houses with gardens, but, hey!...here is where I got...(and yes, it feels great to swim a bit before your flight!)

I am sure being able to spend some time on the beach before boarding your flight home at BCN, could prove popular with the millions of tourists that use the airport every year (although the Catalan capital is not a "pure" beach and sand destination, it is not unusual to find people wearing little more than sandals and shorts on flights to BCN during the summer season!)

Sources at the airport confirmed that the idea is to have a private company run both facilities, the golf and beach club, that will be located on airport-owned land next to the terminals, although not physically connected to it (so some sort of shuttle service would need to be set up too) and, both the beach club and the golf club are also going to be open to the general public, not only airport users.

 Making the best out of location!

The beach club might be ready for next year's summer season, while the golf course is expected to be completed by 2014. In a way, it is a sort of "come-back" since there was already a golf club years ago (it was actually the oldest in Catalonia) in the space where now the sea-side airport runway is located.

This is also a perfect example of an airport embracing the idea of treating passengers, not only airlines, as "clients" and making of the airport not just a transit point but an enjoyable part of the whole travel experience.

I can think of some other airports next to the sea...who will be next?

Bye, bye BMI...

I have not flown BMI very often, but I must say every time I did, on its routes from LHR to Moscow and Norway, I had a really great on-board experience. I also liked the look of its aircraft, in their colourful liveries, and was nice to have one more alternative to fly from London...but, unfortunately, a good product is not always synonymous with profitability.

BMI and its employees, however, will avoid the fate of the likes of Spanair and Malev as the airline has been acquired by British Airways, not the worst possible outcome...in any case, it is time to say:

Bye, bye BMI, you will be missed!

More on social seating for airlines: Satisfly takes off with airBaltic

Not long ago I wrote about the phenomenon of social seating. Several airlines and start-ups are exploring different ways to develop and implement this type of service.

While it is not clear yet what model is going to prevail, one of the pioneers in this field, Satisfly, led by Sergio Mello, has reached a significant milestone and announced its first airline partnership, with airBaltic.

The Riga, Latvia-based carrier is usually quite keen to implement innovative marketing initiatives, it is a regular on Airlinetrends' rankings of most innovative airlines, so it is not totally unexpected that it has jumped on the social seating band-wagon, with its airBaltic SeatBuddy service.

What I find interesting about Satisfly's system is that it is not airline-specific, like similar airline social seating schemes developed by KLM and Malaysia Airlines, and also that, by partnering with the airlines, it can be put in front of the travelers every time they interact with the airline, during booking or online check-in. The concept might still take some time to take-off, and might not be for everyone, but as social networks become more entangled with everyone's daily activities I think social seating might end up being one more feature (a segment of) passengers will come to expect when they book a flight.