Iberia wants you to Fly Around the World with its new Facebook game

Gamification is the word of the moment in social media and airlines are starting to experiment with it. Spanish flag-carrier Iberia, now part of the IAG Group, is the latest airline to experiment with this channel in order to generate buzz and follower engagement.

Iberia has just launched "Flying Around the World", a Facebook game here users can accumulate "hours of flight" by answering questions related to the airline and its products and services, the goal is to accumulate these hours of flight, you start as a co-pilot on short haul flights and become "Long-haul Pilot" (Comandante de largo radio), you can answer up to five questions per day and each correct answer gives you "flying hours".

Each question is labeled as a "flight", for example to complete a Madrid-Milan flight I had to answer how Iberia's last minute discounted online booking service is called (answer "Los que Corren, Vuelan" ("those that run, get to fly"). Iberia will be progressively adding new flight sectors over time,as the goal is to keep users engaged. As any good social media "trap", you get extra points for liking Iberia's Facebook page and leaving them your email (not that they hadn't it already!).

The more "zones (Europe, Latin America, etc.) you complete, the more chances you have to win in the draw that takes place at the end of the contest (15th December). Iberia will throw in "special" sectors to cover from time to time, as a chance to accumulate more "flight hours".

The prize? You guessed it!
4 free flights for the select few to any of the 24 long-haul destinations on Iberia's network (or "Avios" Iberia's, and IAG's, frequent flier "currency")

I was playing around with it a little bit, an, although the mechanics of the game are not particularly revolutionary, it is a nicely executed project that makes for some good light entertainment while you recall the extent of Iberia's network...I'll let you know in case I win!

To Fly to Serve: British Airways' great retro commercial

Those of you that live in the UK and have been to cinema recently would have probably watched it, as it has been on the air for a few weeks already...I finally had the chance to watch BA's commercial "To Fly to Serve" a few days ago and quite liked it, so I thought about sharing it here for all readers to enjoy!

By the way, I am not sure what the first two aircraft shown in the video are...any clues? (the second one looks like a Dragon Rapide, but not sure)

Routes Exchange: an innovative approach to route planning for airlines and airports

Route planning is one of the aspects of the airline business that I am more passionate about.

In the competitive globalized World we live in it is not only airports but whole communities that are affected by route planning decisions. Network quality is vital not only to airports but it can also have a dramatic effect on the overall competitiveness of the region they serve.

Just think what was the typical centralized route network in every European country twenty years ago (I still keep some flag carrier's in-flight magazines from those days!), you would have one or (eventually) two hubs per country with flights to regional airports and a handful of other major capitals, most secondary airports had to live off charter flights and the regular links to the country's hub...but then came Ryanair, Easyjet and all the other LCCs and proved that many more combinations were possible, that if you had the right business model you could make thinner routes work too and the overall air travel cake got bigger.

But the route frenzy is not over, just as we see the low cost model consolidating in virtually every major air market (except Russia), I would expect another wave of route development driven by the long-haul this time: better aircraft economics (think Boeing 787) will unlock potential on many thin routes, the emerging mega-carriers like Emirates and Qatar Airways will continue to build up their presence in Europe, China and the US, increasingly covering second tier cities (something they already do in India) plus the long-haul low cost model that is already succeding in the Asia-Pacific region is coming to Europe soon.

There is a world of possibilities out there, but...how to make sense of all the different options?

Here is when "Route Exchange" comes into play...

I found the concept really innovative, "Route Exchange" is an online platform, managed by Routes Online, that airlines and airports can use to evaluate potential new routes. It is a tool that helps both sides (airlines and airports) identify market opportunities and facilitates the information flow between them.

There is also the possibility of proactively seeking new routes opportunities, this is for example what AirAsiaX did this summer, sending a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its upcoming European expansion. All European airports were invited to submit their RFPs to the innovative Malaysian airline...but this particular contest is going to be the topic of a separate upcoming post...

Do airports need to advertise to the general public?

I was taking a ride on the London underground (aka "the Tube") the other day and an advertisement on the top of the wagon, just above my head, caught my eye...It was a London Heathrow airport ad (see picture) highlighting the airport's role in the UK economy by connecting the country to the World's fastest growing economies...all fine, no doubt about it, but...does the average commuter really care? will you choose to fly from LHR next time because of this? ok, I know, it's a public relations stunt...but, again:

if you are an airport, is an ad on the tube the best way to deliver the message?

Qatar Airways about to invest in Spanair and why this is good news for Barcelona airport (and II)

As a continuation of my previous post on Qatar Airways possible acquisition of a stake in Spanair, here are some interesting questions that come to my mind when thinking about the possible consequences of this deal:

1) What is going to happen with Spanair's current Star Alliance membership and how is this going to affect the agreements Spanair had with Star partners on several routes, some of were of strategic importance to the carrier, such as Singapore-Barcelona-Sao Paulo.

2) What designs has Qatar Airways for the new Spanair and what degree of control would be able to exert? Is this a purely financial operation, with Qatar Airways limiting itself to turn the company around and making it a stronger stand-alone carrier?  Or are we witnessing the first act of a much more ambitious project aimed at building a presence in Europe (possibly by acquiring other troubled European airlines). If the latter turns out to be the case, it would be interesting to know what is Qatar Airways plan: a feeder operation involving a transit through Barcelona from Southern Europe regional airports and onto the Gulf does not seem to fit into the global-connector strategy Qatar Airways is developing through its Doha hub. Or maybe using Spanair to code-share on flights beyond Europe, as Singapore Airlines is already doing with Spanair? or build a base in Barcelona to fly from there to destinations in America, along the lines of what Indian carrier Jet Airways tried to do in Brussels?

In any case, Qatar Airways is gaining access to a large and recently renovated airport, with plenty of spare capacity and a geographical position that makes it a suitable gateway to Europe and beyond when flying from the Gulf.

3) Another interesting question that comes up these days is: will Spanair keep its name? rumours are its name is going to be changed to Air Barcelona or Barcelona Airlines. I am, personally, not a big fan of airlines named after cities, but this change would possibly make sense, since the Spanair brand does not enjoy a particularly strong recognition, whereas "Barcelona" is certainly a powerful brand (coincidentally or not, the Emirate of Qatar is also sponsoring FC Barcelona and another of the World's emerging airlines kicked off its European brand building campaign by associating itself with Barcelona's name)

In any case, I will be posting more analysis as soon as more news will come out soon, as Spanair's current situation is hardly sustainable...watch this space!

Qatar Airways about to invest in Spanair and why this is good news for Barcelona airport (I)

I just learned that Qatar Airways might be about to acquire a 49% stake in Barcelona-based troubled airline Spanair. While I do not know the details of the deal, I can think of a few reasons why this could be a good move for all parties involved, as well as for Barcelona's airport.

First of all, is a matter of financial necessity and of urgency. Spanair is in a critical financial situation and, despite strong backing from the Catalan government, is quickly running out of cash. Since I wrote this note a few months back it seems Spanair's cash-flow position has only got worse.

An investor with deep pockets is needed in order to keep the airline flying and allow the Catalan government to save face and disentagle itself from an operation that is difficult to justify at a time of tough budget cuts, while claiming a partial success at keeping Barcelona's long-haul hub aspirations alive.

And this takes us to the next factor that I think it makes a tie-up with Qatar Airways a potentially interesting proposition and this is none other than opening a window to the East and to the globe's currently most dynamic economies. On June 2010 I commented on this blog how commercial aviation's center of gravity is moving East and any carrier and airport with aspirations should try to ride this trend. A link with Qatar would certainly help Spanair and Barcelona airport gain this intercontinental dimension they have been so much longing for.

A side effect of a re-capitalized Spanair is that it will put pressure on Vueling, Barcelona's other airline, that is already being squeezed by Ryanair's increasing presence at BCN. Having to face renewed competition from a stronger Spanair will certainly not help recover its margins. It will also prevent Vueling from becoming the only carrier able to build some sort of air hub at Barcelona. Although Vueling has been developing some flight connectivity at BCN there are serious doubts about Vueling's capacity to build a fully fledged hub at the shadow of Iberia, that remains its main shareholder, since any such move would risk cannibalizing Iberia's operations in its main Madrid hub.

In my next post I am going to present some interesting strategic questions that arise from the possible imminent completion of this deal...

Airbus and Rolls Royce in pole position to equip Russia's major airlines

It looks like the Airbus A380 had quite a successful first appearance at MAKS, the Moscow Aviation Show, that took place last week. Russia is one of the aviation markets where interesting things are currently happening, not least because of the resurgence of the domestic aircraft industry, lead by its star, the Sukhoi Superjet.

But there are no plans for a competitive very large commercial airplane to be produced in Russia in the foreseeable future at a time when Russians are increasingly traveling abroad, no wonder airlines are looking to upgrade their long-haul, wide-body fleets (it also helps that taxes on >300 seats imported aircraft have been recently abolished).

Whereas Boeing was the manufacturer of choice when Russian carriers first renewed their fleets in the post-Soviet era, Airbus is making important advances into the Russian market. First it was Aeroflot ordering A330s and A350s, now we hear that the Russian flag carrier might be interested in acquiring up to 5 A380s. This would be great news for Airbus, but also for Rolls-Royce, the possible engine supplier of choice with its Trent-900, the engine that powers the majority of A380s flying today (Rolls-Royce Trent-700 was already selected to power Aeroflot's new A330s), not because of the size of the order "per se", but because of what it represents in terms of visibility and its consolidation in the Russian market.



Transaero is another airline said to be interested in the A380. Russia's second largest airline is adding long-haul capacity at a frantic pace, it is adding Boeing 747-400s with high-density configurations (ex-Japan Airlines aircraft fitted with up to 525 seats) as well as former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777s (by the way, also equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent engines). If it is able to fill all these Jumbos, why not go for the A380, then?