airport expansion

Technology: Extreme À La Carte

Robert Buckman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:04:54 -0400

Here’s a notion you might find difficult to stuff in your overhead bin: Airlines haven’t gone near far enough when it comes to "à la carte" pricing. In the airline world today, "à la carte" means experimenting with delivering products and services for an additional fee with the ultimate goal of growing revenues. And when network giants like Continental forecast netting $100 million from its checked bag fee, airline CEOs see an experiment worth pursuing.

Technology: A380 Impact Within U.S. Muted at First

Robert Buckman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:37:58 -0400

As big as the Airbus A380 is, its impact in the U.S. market will be muted for the first few years simply because there won't be a lot of them flying here. In fact, to date no American carriers have even ordered the plane.

The impetus for the A380 really rests with other markets and the real impact will be felt where the plane is configured like a giant bus to carry up to 850 passengers. Which speaks to its purpose: To provide major point-to-point, global, long-haul flight capacity.

Technology: The Sun Rises in the Southwest

Robert Buckman — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:52:51 -0400

The air travel landscape is changing forever from what we've come to expect: cheap flights, frequent flights, and all-inclusive fares.

The slow economy, the weak dollar, and high-priced fuel are all contributing to the big move by the big carriers in the U.S. market to slash their schedules. The network airlines' goal is fuller flights — boosting "passenger load capacity" from 82 percent to more than 90 percent. Meaning every flight will seem like Christmas or Thanksgiving.

In fact, the airlines are not finishing cutting schedules.

Technology: Are Airports at Risk?

Robert Buckman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:48:35 -0400

Are airports really at risk?

Yes, says the Pennsylvania-based Business Travel Coalition, which claims 150 airports will lose all air service if oil prices stay in the $130-a-barrel range ("BTC Warns Congress About Airline Industry Failure").

Work/Life: Are Private Terminals and Small Planes the Future of Air Travel?

Owen Wild — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:39:58 -0400

With the network air carriers pulling service to mid-tier-city airports around the U.S., air service from private terminals is filling the vacuum in places like Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

USA Today reports that SeaPort Airlines recently began flying between the two cities using nine-seat Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.

Technology: Between a Rock and an IT Place

Robert Buckman — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:19:23 -0400

As the news site Anna.Aero points out, route reductions are providing opportunities for some airlines to expand and others to cut back.

The overriding issue derailing airline recovery especially in the U.S. is, of course, oil.

Work/Life: Is À La Carte Cruising in Your Future?

Owen Wild — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:32:08 -0400

The next time you are toot-tooted aboard a cruise ship, come prepared with more than just your swimsuit: The à la carte revenue model that has swept the airline industry may be coming to a cruise line near you.

Perhaps a topic oversimplified by the press, the practice of charging consumers for services they select (how novel! how capitalistic!) has been stigmatized as "nickel and diming."

Technology: Airline Industry Basically Bankrupt?

Robert Buckman — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:34:04 -0400

George Mason University's Kenneth Button, a professor of public policy, calls an airline basically "a bus with wings."

In the same Travel Weekly article in which Button makes that assertion, he also points out that the airlines have a razor-thin operating margin of just 0.4 percent vs. 6 percent for other industries.

"The cost of flying is cheap when you compare it to the cost of driving," he said. "People expect too much for too little."

Work/Life: ...But Boss, I Saved $15 at the Bunny Ranch!

Owen Wild — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:18:34 -0400

The unpopularity of American Airlines' $15 first-checked-bag fee is stimulating the creative impulse in marketers who want to tap into travelers' desire to get some relief from the airlines' expanding list of fees.

While nobody can turn back the clock to the fee-less past, certain civic-minded groups are stopping up to the plate, like the doctor or dentist who validates your parking, to pick up the change for their customers.

Now you can add to that list a Nevada brothel.

Technology: Fees, Fuel, and Survival

Robert Buckman — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:37:09 -0400

Terry Trippler is absolutely "right on" in his quote in a recent edition of USA Today in which he says "This isn't nickel-and-diming. It's survival."

Trippler is talking about the American Airlines $15 first-checked-bag fee.

I think flyers are starting to recognize that right now, moves like this one, controversial as it is, are about survival. This fee isn't about getting extra revenue, but about getting operational revenue.

Work/Life: Bringing Chaos Out of Order

Owen Wild — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:07:17 -0400

American Airlines may rediscover in the most unwelcome way possible that the Law of Unintended Consequences is not only alive and well, but probably was invented in an airport terminal.

In fact, American may end up erecting a statue to that law once the full implications of their new first-checked-bag fee policy goes into effect on Sunday, June 15.

Think about it. Not about the $15 or more you won't have in your pocket. I've almost come to terms with that. Think of what's going to happen in those ticket and check-in lines.

Work/Life: Silverjet Strikeout Makes Three

Owen Wild — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:49:05 -0400

And then there was one.

L'Avion is the last of the pure business-class airlines still flying.

Work/Life: Orbitz Poll Says No to Inflight Internet

Owen Wild — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:17:32 -0400

A recent Orbitz poll says business travelers "don't feel the need or desire to be connected at 30,000 feet."

But don't count me among the nearly six in 10 who prefers to keep the air up there a refuge from the Internet.

Sure, I can appreciate the airborne downtime that comes with unplugging from our always-on world. On the other hand, an airborne Internet would give me not only better productivity but up-to-date new and improved entertainment choices.

Work/Life: Have Mobile Tech, Will Travel

Owen Wild — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:07:53 -0400

While business travel has taken a hit from the recent up tick in ticket prices, increase in air traffic congestion and a decrease in passenger comfort, I see mobile technologies as one ray of sunlight on the road warrior's horizon.

Traditionally the most popular mobile technology among road warriors has been the cell phone. But business travelers today are staying connected in a variety of ways — from smart phones to WiFi-enabled laptops to, of course, the trusty BlackBerry.

Work/Life: Why Are Business Traveler-Unfriendly Rules Back in Vogue at Some Carriers?

Owen Wild — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:28:26 -0400

Lower earnings among major U.S. airlines have led some carriers to resurrect revenue-generating strategies — I call them "segmentation tactics" — that essentially penalize business travelers more than other travelers.

Work/Life: Top 10 Ways the Road Warrior Can Fire Up The Economy

Owen Wild — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:29:39 -0400

So the U.S. Congress is rebating us up to $600 of our own money to help stimulate consumer spending and pull us out of the recession.

So if it's every road warrior's patriotic duty to use his rebate to fire up the economy, here are my top 10 ideas for frittering away mine.

(1) Get better luggage;

(2) Try out a local BBQ restaurant featured on The Food Channel;

(3) Get one of those portable GPS gizmos that comes with a travel guide;

Technology: Share the Air

Robert Buckman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:01:29 -0400

I have to admit I wasn't aware the extent to which commercial air traffic shares the sky with military air traffic — and how long ago those lanes in the sky were laid out. But Scott McCartney, a pilot himself, knows all about it.

What is amazing is how much of a difference it made when two air corridors were opened in military airspace for the Thanksgiving holiday.

At first I thought the big question would be, Can we do that sort of sharing more regularly?

Bio and Interests: Robert Buckman

Robert Buckman — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:43:22 -0400

Some people are trendsetters. I'm a trend-fretter.

I'm an airline futurist, i.e., someone who studies, forecasts, and yes, frets about where the industry is headed. In fact, in my role as director of airline distribution strategy for Amadeus in North America, I am constantly analyzing trends that will define tomorrow.

Work/Life: German Travel Agency Offers Nudist Flight

Owen Wild — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:16:06 -0400

If you had the impression that airlines were going the extra mile in "tailoring" services to the needs of their customers, the news that German travel agency OssiUrlaub.de has dreamed up a nude flight shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Bio and Interests: Owen Wild

Owen Wild — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:55:25 -0400

As director of marketing for Amadeus North America, Mr. Wild is responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of all marketing operations in both the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Wild has spent the past decade working in the travel industry, and joined Amadeus in 1998. In his current position, Wild directs the company's North American marketing initiatives, management of the overall marketing plan, and the activities of the marketing team.

On Business, Will Travel

Owen Wild — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:40:02 -0400

Road Warrior Wild of Amadeus, the world's leading travel technology provider, not only tells you how to cut time and stress on your next business trip, but offers expert insight to companies seeking to make their travel dollar go farther.