The aviation industry grows larger and more competitive by the day. On one hand, opportunities have never been so great, with more airline passengers than ever before, advanced technology and plenty of network expansion possibilities.
On the other hand, the proliferation of LCCs and the rise of the Gulf carriers have shaken up the market, while global oil prices, terrorism and other outside events have all raised the stakes for airlines.
In the current climate, what does an airline have to do to woo customers and keep them satisfied? This was the topic debated by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific readers last month during a lunch sponsored by Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) at Hong Kong’s Elite Dining restaurant.
Malaysia Airlines’ chief commercial officer Paul Simmons kicked off the discussion, candidly referencing the airline’s troubled recent history, which saw it spiral into administration following two high-profile tragedies: “We lost our Skytrax five-star rating and frankly that shows to the world that we slipped, so we need to put that right,” he said.
Simmons distinguished between what he considers the basics and the differentiators for an airline’s status. The core elements of creating a quality product – things like network and frequency – he labelled as the “table stakes to get you into the game”.
“Network is the backbone of an airline – if that’s not right you’re never going to get anywhere,” he said. “Our network was primarily designed for effective travel between Europe and Australia. Now it flows differently and some of the timings don’t make sense anymore, so we’re redesigning the network to make it better.”
Simmons also highlighted on-time performance (OTP) as a crucial part of building a solid foundation, citing market research that revealed poor OTP to be the biggest source of customer service dissatisfaction.
One lunch guest identified “TQP – time, quality, price” as the key criteria for choosing an airline, in that order, arguing that to attract business travellers, it is vital to ensure realistic schedules that allow people to complete a full day’s work before catching a flight. If an airline can offer well-timed flights, with a good quality product and service, then pricing will naturally become a lesser consideration as people are willing to pay extra.
Alliances and strategic partnerships also ranked highly. As one attendee stated, flying within an alliance such as Oneworld should ensure that, “as a customer I have the widest network possible, that all of it is seamless and that at all times I’m being looked after by [the host airline]”.
Once the “basics” had been covered, readers were full of suggestions on how airlines can vie for business at the top end of the spectrum. One of these is a universal business maxim: do something that no one else does. In Malaysia Airlines’ case, guests responded positively to the airline’s famous satay sticks and laksa soup noodle offerings as a good example of celebrating a unique cultural identity.
Other important elements for an airline aspiring to best-in-class status were put forward by various lunch guests, including top-notch customer service across the board, particularly when it comes to sorting out problems; innovation – with things like “bid-for-upgrade” systems standing out; good communication of special offers – in the vein of Cathay Pacific’s Fanfares; individualisation – in the form of wifi and charging ports to give passengers more control over what they are able to do onboard; and perks such as a buggy system in airports to help premium passengers make tight connections.
Safety was a topic that was bound to crop up in relation to MAB, but concerns were unanimously dismissed: “I’ve got no qualms about the safety of Malaysia Airlines,” said one reader, while another guest added they considered the two recent incidents “extraordinarily bad luck” and they wouldn’t hesitate to book Malaysia Airlines in the future.
The overall message was clear: business travellers require and expect a high standard of core components such as hard product, route network and service as an absolute minimum. Beyond that, airlines need to up their game in the soft product and think outside the box to make the experience as comfortable, seamless and efficient as possible in order to stay on top.
