airline simplification airline technology

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").

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.

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."

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.

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.