NYNY Solutions

It’s (probably) happening right now. The airline industry is shapeshifting with carrier shutdowns and bankruptcies in the US acting as the canary. Jared Blank even wrote this Obituary at onlinetravelreview.com that put things in a pretty dramatic perspective.

So, what happens next? In his blog, Jared picks up on some of the possible new business/technology solutions that could help turn things around. Of these, I think the notion of link-ups between carriers in manageable, flexible and, above all, cost-efficient connections between long-haul and regional carriers will be crucial.

This could be an inflection point where airlines must form new alliances and give up on the Our-Airline-Is-An-Island idea of the independent operation where the business plan promised that an ever growing route map and direct online sales would lead to profitability and, in some cases, world dominance.

My $0.02 is that if you’re an airline and want to optimise your cabin factor to reach profitability, it’s time to find dancing partners, and it’s time to start looking at combining footprints to actually meet customer demand.

Here’s a great example: Living in Scandinavia, it’s impossible to miss Sterling’s ads for regional hops to London, Berlin, etc. If I want to kick back in Nice, I know where to book. But, the problem is, I’d never even consider combining, say, a Sterling itinerary from Copenhagen to London, with a Virgin Atlantic itinerary from London to New York. I’m sure there are plenty of excellent flights to match that would give me a great combined itinerary, and would give Sterling AND Virgin another ass in their seats, but then they have to help me along - it might be as easy as to simply suggest the idea, thereby letting me know they thought about it and at least they themselves think it’s a good idea.