Source: qantas.com
A lot of anticipation surrounds Qantas's planned premium Asian airline and hopes the Australian flag carrier's does not screw it up. In the spirit of pre-emptive correction action here is a five-point primer on what senior management could do to ensure their success:
- Forget your critics and locate your hub in a true part of Asia. Yes part of the recent industrial dispute was around relocating existing services and staff but it was mostly around a series of faux-pas culminating in news of your CEO receiving a 70% increase in his salary. Make this about a new airline, a new chapter in your company's future and that future being in Asia. Choose a hub like Singapore, Hong Kong, even Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or Haneda.
- Absolutely kill your online, social and mobile experience. Yes, you made another gaffe with your twitter promotion but don't let that put you off social media to engage with existing and potential passengers. Many parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, will expect you to have a strong social media and mobile presence. Indonesia has the biggest facebook population outside of the United States and many other Asian markets will expect you to do most of your customer engagement via these channels and will look down on you if you don't. Deliver your ticketing and customer service through the web and mobile apps.
- Take a leaf out of many of the innovative services offered by many airlines based in Asia Pacific to make yourself unique in the market. From onboard immigration processing (Garuda), "book the cook" in-flight catering (Singapore Airlines) to cheaffuer services (Emirates & Virgin Atlantic; true they are not Asia Pacific-based but they travel into Asia) there is a mix of services you can offer to make yourself unique and compelling.
- Nail a great in-seat experience. At the end of the day what customers pay for are to get from Point A and Point B and the seat. For the first point, see below. For the second, it's not just about a lot of leg room (although that definitely helps). We're talking about great in-flight entertainment with just-released movies and TV episodes, connectivity ports for your iDevice or Blackberry (still very popular in Asia) and plenty of pockets for your gear.
- To really differentiate against the budget airlines and make this a new kind of Premium airline (rather than just an also-ran) deliver on quality and service and for airlines this means on-time service. Be daring and centre your whole organisation on this. Offer rewards back if you're later than 30 minutes on departure or arrival for at-fault delays.
Daring and different, but absolutely memorable and that's what you must be if you don't plan to compete on price.
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