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With record fuel prices followed by a rapid recessionary decline in travel spending, 2008 has been an extraordinary time for the airline industry. Not since 9/11 and SARS has the business been this daunting. Economists predict the recessionary trend will continue beyond 2009. Throughout this tumultuous period, airlines' drive toward growing ancillary revenue, or non-ticket sales, has proven to be a bright star, lighting the path to potential sustainable prosperity.
The industry's buy onboard efforts have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in new and profitable revenues this year. With airline fares delivering a meager two to four per cent margins, versus onboard sales, which offer margins of 40 per cent or more, it's easy to see why onboard selling will continue to build momentum into 2009 and beyond.
For all carriers, pre-flight, onboard, and post-flight selling has become a must strategy for maintaining profitability in the wake of higher operating costs and reduced traffic. Based on our experience, for every million passenger trips your airline transports, you should be in a position to achieve at least $14 million in additional non-ticket revenues. It is possible for airlines to strengthen bottom-line results, while also taking the passenger travel experience to levels never experienced before.
As the world's leading provider of retail systems to the airline industry, GuestLogix is at the heart of what airline operators are thinking and experiencing. Numerous budget and network carriers have implemented our popular GuestLogix Mobile Virtual Store™ to sell duty-free products, meals, beverages, entertainment, merchandise and much more. The shift toward driving non-ticket revenue growth is rapidly gaining momentum; and we believe we're in the eye of that storm. So, we're providing this monthly newsletter to share our insights and experiences. We will aim to offer timely views on the industry and discuss our own internal developments.
We already have more than 700 million passenger trips under contract, which will be fully deployed by early 2009. Our customer list is full of leading brands, such as American Airlines, Ryanair, Southwest, Germanwings, Delta Air Lines, AirAsia X, US Airways, TUIfly, Air Canada and Saudi Arabian Airlines. As such, we believe we have acquired a meaningful view of the global opportunity in onboard sales and beyond. We hope you find our monthly news interesting and helpful.
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