Airlines-recovery-path

Airline’s Recovery Path To Profitability After The Pandemic – Reduced Distribution Cost And Increased Ancillary Revenue

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After months of lockdowns and travel curbs, the aviation sector is on the path to recovery, but profitability seems to be out of reach for many airlines. Airlines are especially finding it hard to fill seats due to many passengers’ hesitancy to board flights (only 61% of passengers are comfortable flying in the next six months). 

Further, airlines must combat unreasonably high distribution costs, which are among their most significant expenses, thanks to the oligopoly of the three most prominent GDS companies. To make matters worse, ancillary sales, an important revenue driver, have fallen by 73% year on year.

Consequently, airlines’ chances of returning to pre-pandemic levels of profitability will depend entirely on whether they can drastically cut distribution costs and come up with ancillaries that passengers will care about in the era of COVID. 

As you read on, you will find out exactly how airlines can go about achieving this. 

The value proposition of NDC

The New Distribution Capability (NDC), an XML-based standard for data transmission, put forward by the IATA, can disrupt the vice-like control that the major GDS companies have on airline distribution.

By letting airlines control their offer, ticketing, and settlement processes without the GDS across all channels, NDC enables them to cut costs significantly. Moreover, if airlines partner with multiple NDC aggregators globally, competition between the aggregators will bring down distribution costs to around $ 2-4 instead of the $14 – 25 that airlines are currently spending. 

In addition to this, airlines can cut back on distribution costs with an automated group revenue management solution that ensures that group bookings are made in a manner that brings in the most revenue while spending the least possible amount on distribution. 

There is also the option of partnering with various governments to serve as the official carrier of the nation. This means that without any indirect and expensive distribution channel, you can reach hundreds of high-yield passengers.

Boosting revenue with ancillaries

Ancillary sales are way down now that customer priorities have changed. Mainly, passengers are looking for safety from covid, personalization, and great value for money. As a result, the ancillaries you offer need to reflect these realities. 

For instance, many airlines have found great success by offering comprehensive covid insurance covering quarantine, telemedicine, screening, etc., if passengers test positive for the virus. Also, you can make it a point to offer immunity-boosting kits and baggage wrapping for enhanced protection from the infection.  

Notably, you can offer passengers the ability to book the seats next to them to ensure social distancing. 

Another ancillary that passengers will be delighted by is the ability to cancel free of charge if they catch covid.

Meanwhile, your corporate passengers can benefit from Wi-Fi, easy seat upgrades, access to business lounges, shuttle service to their destination from the airport, etc.

With tourists, a surefire way to boost revenue is by offering fully packaged trips to places, such as religious destinations. Specifically, you can provide food, hotel bookings, car rentals, bus services, etc., which will enhance your profit margins.  

Airlines can further offer ancillaries, such as relaxation and well-being packages, given how people have endured a lot of stress and trauma during the pandemic

Conclusion 

There is a lot of uncertainty ahead regarding when passengers will regain confidence in traveling. However, by following the double-pronged approach of bringing down distribution costs and boosting ancillary sales with personalized offers, airlines can return to profitability in no time. 

If your airline needs an IT partner for implementing Direct Distribution Solution or any Consultancy to generate the maximum possible revenue from every seat, reach us at marketing@infinitisoftware.net 

Who-should-control-the-group

Who Should Control The Group Sales For An Airline – Sales Or Revenue Management?

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Whenever a request comes in for a group booking, it is common to find sales and revenue management at loggerheads.  

Airlines generally handle group bookings manually, and in the process, confusion breaks out over whether the group’s accommodation on their preferred flight is in alignment with the airline’s revenue maximization efforts. 

Another conflict that arises is the discounts that can be given to a particular group. In this instance, the sales team looks to fill up the flight with substantial discounts, while revenue management might want to hold out for higher yield passengers.  

Making these decisions manually has made group booking a tedious process for both passengers and airlines, which means that airlines are missing out on a major opportunity to boost revenue.

What if there was a way to automate the entire process of group booking that ensured the flight was filled with high-value passengers? 

Also, what if there was a way for the sales team and revenue management to work together to adopt the best pricing strategy based on demand and the previous buying pattern of the passengers? 

How automating group booking can work wonders

Airlines can manage inventory effectively and fill their plane with the most valuable customers if they had access to a single, web-based interface for accepting and managing group requests, deciding the fare based on demand, and negotiating for providing customers with competitive pricing.  

Here are the benefits of having such a solution. 

Providing the right fares to the right groups

With the dynamic pricing capability that an automated group revenue management system provides, airlines can come up with optimal quotes in a matter of hours depending on group size, load factor, demand, nature of the trip, requested fare, etc. 

With the sales and revenue management teams in sync when it comes to policies that affect offers, the airline can also present travel agents and tour operators with personalized offers in real-time.

Making timely pricing decisions

Since customers have a lot of options in the market, they have immense leverage for negotiating fares. Airlines need to keep constant track of competitor rates and customer history to keep potential passengers from switching. 

When the process of pricing is automated, airlines can make optimized and timely decisions on everything from discounts to surge fees based on the season and sector. 

This leads to more customer retention because the long quoting times associated with manual processes inevitably lead to lost sales.  

Selling to the right group at the right time

Automation goes a long way in helping airlines prioritize which groups to cater to for maximizing revenue, especially when hundreds of group booking requests pour in. 

With the right tools, airlines can accelerate the group sales cycle, close negotiations much faster, and even boost customer spend with personalized pricing and product offers. 

Conclusion 

Increasingly, customers want better prices and more specialized offers with group bookings. Using an automated group revenue management tool, airlines can eliminate nearly all the conflict between the sales and revenue management teams and make smarter pricing decisions that fuel a faster recovery from the pandemic. This is because having a single source of data allows both sales and revenue management to collaborate in ways that will foster efficiency and better customer experience. 

Check-In Counter of An Airline - A Blog Banner for the Future of Customer Segmentation

Customer Segmented Distribution – The Future Of Airline Distribution

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For airlines around the world, developing a comprehensive, 360-degree view of their customers is vital. As the travel industry limps back to normal after a couple of years of travel curbs, airlines will benefit massively if they can figure out what triggers an individual’s purchasing decisions. 

To do this, and turn customers into assets, airlines need to create and cater to segments based on value, behavior, and needs. 

Enhancing the travel experience through segmentation 

For everyone from corporate customers to retail customers to large packs of tourists, airlines can apply segmentation to provide optimal fares, offers, and ancillaries. The segmentation can be based on anything; flying frequency, demographics, etc. are all considerations.

But how does such segmentation help airlines to the extent that it is embraced as the future of airline distribution?

Maximizing the revenue from retail customers

Retail customers are generally low yield fliers but viewing them as a segment with specific needs will go a long way in maximizing the returns from each seat. The key is ancillaries, such as food options, drinks, covid insurance, etc. 

Within retail customers, you can have segments based on paying capabilities, which is an approach that has been successful for Delta Airlines and many others. Notably, Delta managed to offer enhanced personalization with the help of products, such as Delta’s Economy Plus, which targets affluent couples.

To optimize its revenue, the airline tailored its NDC content, pricing, and retailing channel based on the requirements of the target group.

Making the most out of corporate travel

Generally, corporate customers don’t mind surge fees for late bookings, and they will also prefer to fly with comforts, such as priority boarding, checked bags, onboard meals, etc. Some airlines even provide Wi-Fi and business lounges for this passenger segment. 

With highly granular segmentation and insights from customer behavior, airlines can further provide business travelers with stellar customer service. For instance, when the airline knows that someone is a business passenger, they can offer easy flight cancellations, seat upgrades, and notifications during disruptions, which will go a long way in bolstering customer retention. 

Taking advantage of group bookings

Tourists, religious pilgrims, corporate group bookings, and mass requests from travel agents can all be treated as different segments that airlines can take advantage of with personalized pricing and product offers.

Flights like Malaysian Airlines have dedicated Hajj trips with flights that serve only specific meals that are consistent with the occasion, have prayers onboard at the prescribed times, etc. This has been a huge revenue generator for the airline. 

Further, travel agents may look for discounts in exchange for a large number of ticket bookings that will come in consistently every month. Airlines can make use of demand forecasting and seasonal tourism data to provide optimal pricing for them.

Apart from this, companies that have employees traveling in large numbers can be served with loyalty programs, access to premium business lounges, etc. 

A surprisingly underrated passenger segment 

In many countries, governments mandate their employees to only travel on their national carrier. This can be a lucrative segment for airlines if they can provide the government employees with a dedicated portal for bookings, cancellations, and unlocking rewards for flying frequently. 

NDC-enabled merchandizing 

As NDC adoption takes off, airlines can also segment customers based on shopping data and customer intent. Enhancing the NDC-shopping experience will go a long way in helping airlines enhance the conversion rate and customer experience. Moreover, this allows the airline to keep customer needs at the center while designing future products, bundling fares, and making marketing decisions.  

Conclusion 

Not all passengers are the same. As air travel becomes increasingly common, airlines need to figure out how to effectively cater to nearly 3 billion passengers from different backgrounds. With customer analytics, airlines can successfully implement value-based segmentation and consequently boost profits.  If you are looking for a solution that can handle customer segmentation for you and provide you with actionable insights on how to cater to them for optimal revenue, reach us atmarketing@infinitisoftware.net 

Passengers in the Lounge That Illustrates How Airlines Can Give Travel Experiences with GroupRM

How Can Airlines Move Up The Value Chain And Provide Travel Experiences?

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Airlines are constantly looking for new revenue streams that win them loyal passengers. Given how the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the travel sector, it has become even more important for airlines to look beyond ticket sales to run profitably.

Increasingly, airlines have found that the modern traveler—with dozens of choices to pick from—prefers an all-around satisfactory travel experience rather than a few customizations. 

This reality means that airlines need to quickly adapt, moving up the value chain to provide wholesome travel experiences that passengers can cherish for a lifetime.

Here are just a few ways of ensuring that.

Personalizing flights

Nearly nothing enhances a passenger’s experiences on a flight than a hot meal, snack, or drink served by a friendly member of the flight crew.

Airlines like Austrian Airlines and Alaska Airlines allow passengers to order food on their smartphone while others, such as Virgin America, Norwegian, Azul, etc. have kicked things up a notch by letting passengers order drinks and food through the in-flight entertainment system.

Airlines can further provide business travelers with the option of accessing Wi-Fi and business lounges, thanks to the New Distribution Capability that allows airlines to sell using rich data. For tourists and other retail customers, airlines can provide on-demand video options at the push of a button, which will serve to enhance the travel experience.

With airline chatbots, you now even have the option of making the process of booking delightful. Based on past booking and the conversation up to a point, you can have AI-powered chatbots providing recommendations that resonate with the passenger.

Superior loyalty benefits

Proving loyalty benefits can be a great way to boost corporate bookings and even retail ticket sales. You can tap into the goldmine of data that you have at your disposal and make sure that loyal passengers have all their needs attended to without even having to ask.

Customization is key here; you need to make sure that you provide the right incentive to the right person who is most likely to appreciate the entertainment, lodging, food, or transport offers you provide them with.

Travel packages that resonate with the target audience

If your airline provides tours to religious sites, such as the Holy Land, Hajj, etc., or even generally cater to tourists, it would be a great idea to partner with service provides like hotels and tour operators. Doing this will ensure that airlines can generate revenue from the whole trip rather than only selling tickets.

Most importantly, it will make life easier for passengers, as they can have their entire trip’s needs met in one place.

Given that layovers can be frustrating, airlines also can provide passengers with the ability to pre-order food.

Providing this level of personalization and seamless travel experience will undoubtedly lead to passengers choosing your airline the next time they decide to fly.

Localized services

Even when passengers have left the airport, airlines have the opportunity of serving them with GPS-enabled apps that can point the person to local hotels, car rentals, etc. operated by partners.

Also, based on where the person is located, airlines can provide them with relevant offers, promotions, and rewards.

Offering this level of service can go a long way in leaving a lasting impression on the mind of the passenger, making your airline their first choice when they want to travel.

The use of beacons

Beacons, which are portable and wireless devices installed at airports, have great potential for enhancing the passenger experience. They essentially interact with nearby mobile devices to provide passengers with personalized welcome messages, flight confirmation information, and also details regarding the gate to head to.

Conclusion 

For emerging out of the pandemic in good shape, airlines need to focus incessantly on making air travel a memorable experience. As a result, they need to lose the ticket seller mentality and move even beyond traditional ancillary products and sell more experience-oriented products based on user behavior.  

Airline Plan with Three Layers at the Back - Blog Banner - Relevance Of O&D Bid Price-Based Revenue Management In Post-Covid Era

Relevance Of O&D Bid Price-Based Revenue Management In Post Covid Era

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It is no secret that before the pandemic, the airline sector was booming. Companies were constantly expanding their travel budgets, and airlines took full advantage of executives with deep pockets to turn in consistent profits. Further, tourists thronged various hot destinations around the world. In 2019 alone, some 1.5 billion tourist arrivals were recorded internationally, and this effectively meant that international tourism growth outpaced the global economy.

A huge driver of these profits was the fact that airlines had become masters at leveraging historical data to forecast demand to determine seat availability and price in a way that delivered optimal profits. 

But this all changed in the early months of 2020 when the covid pandemic prompted governments to shut their borders and set up numerous travel restrictions that brought the travel industry to a screeching halt. 

The non-viability of O&D bid price-based revenue management

As the pandemic took hold of the world, airlines found, to their dismay, that the O&D systems that had set them back by anywhere between $100,000 to $10, 000, 000, had ceased to be useful.

Border shutdowns, lockdowns, and curfews across the world were forcing passengers to take direct flights rather than connecting ones, meaning there was no fixed demand that the network airlines could take advantage of to set optimal prices for their inventory.

Consequently, airlines are losing their pricing power without their ability to accurately gauge passenger’s price sensitivity and willingness to pay.

Keeping up with the times

Given the volatile scenario of the aviation industry, airlines need to shift to revenue management systems that are flexible and offer the ability to make rapid decisions. The need of the hour is to find a cost-effective solution for optimizing flight routes based on demand and optimizing the pricing strategy based on traveler sentiment and paying capacity. 

It is however worth noting that to maximize revenue, focusing on retail customers and tourists is key. This is because many studies indicate that business travel will take longer to recover. Some estimates say 36 % of business travel may be permanently lost, largely due to arrangements, such as remote work. However, airlines need to make sure that they have enough seats set aside for business travelers on future flights when demand for corporate travel rises.

In the meantime, ancillaries are a great way to boost revenue. Specifically, providing ancillaries that people care about now, such as travel insurance, PCR tests, vaccinations on arrival, etc. will go a long way in filling flights with high-yield passengers. 

Bottom-line 

The promise of O&D bid price-based revenue management—boosting seat availability for high revenue connecting passengers while simultaneously preventing connecting passengers from displacing local passengers with higher yields—is unattainable, at least for the moment when historical data is unreliable. As a result, airlines need to look for simpler forecasting methods that do not eat away revenue the way O&D bid price-based revenue management systems do.  

Emphasis on retail passengers and tourists, and bringing in more ancillary revenue, must also be part of the solution to turn profitable on emerging from the pandemic.  

If you are looking for such cost-effective solutions that are guaranteed to bring your airline back on track, reach us at marketing@infinitisoftware.net 

An Airplane Surrounded by 5 Sales Component Pictures that represents the Airline's Ancillary Sales

What Ancillaries Should The Airlines Focus On In The Post Covid Era?

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Long before covid, airlines—especially the budget carriers— have been boosting their operating margins with ancillary revenue. Ancillaries, which are non-ticket sources of revenue for airlines, brought in 109.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 alone.

Since the pandemic has made passengers pickier—they expect personalization and higher safety standards—and airlines need a massive boost in revenue to recover from the devastation caused by international travel restrictions, ancillaries are expected to lead the way.

Choosing the right ancillaries to focus on

Emerging from the pandemic, customers have a variety of concerns they need resolved before they can trust air travel again. A few of them are: 

  • Increased safety measures
  • Flexibility in pricing
  • Modular offers for corporates

Meeting these should be an airline’s primary focus if they want to rekindle passenger confidence in flying and provide a seamless journey for their customers. This is because customer behavior has seen a massive shift due to social distancing requirements, fears of infection, the economic downturn, and the shift towards online buying. 

The way out of the pandemic—personalizing the passenger experience

To stay relevant and gain increased customer loyalty, airlines need to focus on personalization the way Netflix and Amazon have been able to, by moving from a product-focused approach to a customer-focused one.   

Here are a few of the ancillaries that you can offer passengers in light of the pandemic and your efforts to fill more seats with high-yield passengers. 

Covid related health measures

Passenger confidence will be boosted if you take the initiative to offer ancillaries, such as travel insurance and baggage wrapping and immune boosting kits to protect from infections. Ensure that the insurance is affordable and comprehensive, covering aspects like screening, telemedicine, treatment, and quarantine costs.  

Also, you can take a cue from a variety of tour operators who are offering tours in Russia with a twist—you will be given the vaccine on arrival. 

Moreover, some airlines are allowing passengers to book seats or whole rows near them to ensure social distancing. This can be quite lucrative if airlines are able to automate the booking process and make sure those seats are blocked from being booked by others.

Crucially, passengers also need to be offered the ability to cancel without any penalty if they contract covid.

Modular bundles for business travelers 

Identifying flights or timings with more business travelers and offering something as simple as Wi-Fi will do wonders for your bottom line. Also, offering business-class lounges, extra legroom, transport facilities in their destination, etc. for corporate travelers can significantly boost ancillary revenue.  

To attract more corporate clients, airlines can also begin offering tickets that offer changeability of the seat, refundability, and easy upgrades. 

Frequent flier rewards 

Airlines can present passengers with the opportunity to be part of a rewards program that benefits the fliers every time they use the services of the airline. Seeing rewards accumulate will serve as an impetus for many to become loyal to the brand.  

Further, the airline can make money selling loyalty points to credit card companies who pass it on to their premium customers. These customers go on to become patrons of the airline.  

Tour packages

Tourists and religious pilgrims will form a substantial part of airline revenue for the next few months, given the reluctance of many business travelers to begin corporate travel because of factors, such as remote work.

 So, catering to the tourists with fully packaged trips to their dream destination, including car rentals, hotels, and food, will serve to delight your passengers and add to the bottom-line as well. It is worth noting that airlines can profit from offering relaxation or wellbeing-themed tours because of the effect that the pandemic has had on people’s minds and bodies.  

Conclusion 

Airlines need to come up with innovative, personalized products through dynamic bundles across all touchpoints and channels. Doing so will go a long way in giving the airline a competitive advantage amidst these turbulent times.  \

If you want help with offering customer-centric ancillaries to optimize your revenue and strengthen recovery, don’t hesitate to reach us at  marketing@infinitisoftware.net 

A Group of People Illustrating the Stranded Group Passengers on an Airline Disruption

Dealing With Group Booking Disruptions The GroupRM Way

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Group bookings from business travelers and tourists are among the primary sources of income for an airline.  

What happens if there is an unexpected disruption to your services—a cancellation or a delay—and you leave your passengers confused in the lobby? 

The answer is quite straightforward. Apart from the deluge of negative publicity on social media, you also lose a ton of money by losing your valued customers to your competition.  

This may even have happened to your airline, and you might be in the process of identifying a group booking solution that can help pacify the passengers with top-notch support and handle their rebooking/cancellation requests. 

It is near impossible to avoid disruptions to flights, especially with the uncertainty of covid-19 hanging over major travel destinations. But it is quite possible to manage disruptions effectively and ensure your passengers don’t leave you for your competitors.  

But this is easier said than done. 

Why traditional methods of dealing with group booking disruptions don’t work 

Even during the peak of the pandemic in 2020, around 1.8 billion people had taken to the skies for various reasons. As the pandemic subsides, the number of people flying will only go up, so airlines need to find a way to tackle the following disadvantages of using legacy methods to handle disruptions to group bookings. 

  • The time-consuming nature of manually informing everyone in the group about the disruption. 
  • The near impossibility of dealing with support requests from multiple channels. 
  • Chaotic process of manually rebooking or canceling flights for everyone in the group. 

Delight passengers with automated solutions 

Using the right group booking solution, passengers can be personally notified of disruptions in real-time, provided with support and the ability to cancel/ rebook flights on their own, and allowed to get instant refunds if they need it. 

A solution like GroupRM will do these and much more to boost the customer experience: 

  • Timely notification of flight cancellations or delays through the channel of choice (email, SMS, etc.) 
  • Automatic rescheduling/ cancellation option for passengers through a self-service portal  
  • 24X7 support in multiple languages 

For the airline, an automated group booking solution can:  

Ensure that no passenger is left behind

During a disruption, when passengers get automatically notified, some may quickly navigate to the self-service portal and rebook or cancel their flights while others may be unaware or unresponsive. GroupRM allows you to cater to both by providing the first type of passenger with a self-service portal and freeing up the time of your customer support agents so that they can personally contact the unresponsive ones.   

When there is a disruption, there will certainly be chaos. With the help of an automated solution, you can effortlessly reassign group booking passengers to different flights with low occupancy, free up overbooked flights, and consequently bolster profits. The best part is that this can be done while delighting customers with quick service.  

Bring down the number of support staff needed

Group bookings tend to be filled with businessmen or travelers who are anxious to reach their destination on time. Any disruption in the schedule can cause them to jam up your support lines with questions and rebook/ cancel requests. Using our AI-powered solution, you can handle high-volume days with ease even if you have a lean support team.

Apart from the powerful chatbots, you can also deploy a comprehensive knowledge base for passengers to get answers during a disruption without overwhelming your support agents.  

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, automation is the way to go to effectively deal with the fallout from cancellations or delays to group bookings. Investing a small sum in a solution like GroupRM can go a long way in alleviating passenger frustration during disruption and preventing them from going to your competitors. See for yourself the transformative power of  GroupRM with a demo.  

Air Asia Press

AirAsia India Upgrades Group Booking Experience With GroupRM

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The airline’s investment in digital transformation is set to bolster group booking experience for its customers

In a statement, the CEO and Managing Director of Infiniti, Ananth Narasimhan, expressed great enthusiasm at the prospect of GroupRM helping the airline grow its revenue. He said, “AirAsia India is going to benefit from the ability to leverage historical data to balance supply and demand, understand passenger willingness to pay, and make faster and more profitable decisions. GroupRM is currently used by 25 of the most successful airlines from around the world, and we are confident that its implementation will certainly add value to the airline’s biggest source of group bookings—travel agents—who will be able to effortlessly book tickets in bulk and continue to extend support to the airline.”

Expressing his views, Ankur Garg, Chief Commercial Officer, AirAsia India, said,“We are happy to collaborate with Infiniti, in continuation of other digital initiatives including our new website, AI-powered chatbot Tia and various other systems, all designed to enhance our guest experience. We are confident that our travel partners will benefit from GroupRM’s user friendly functionality to fulfill group travel requests including weddings, conferences, sports and event groups effectively with a fully automated end-to-end solution from request to negotiation to booking fulfillment.”

GroupRM’s additional features include self-service options like cancellation, name updation ingrained through the tool that can be done instantly.

About Infiniti

Headquartered in Chennai, India, Infiniti Software Solutions delivers cutting-edge travel and aviation technology solutions. Major airlines, travel agents, and corporates are part of its impressive list of clients.

Infiniti has come up with products that allow airlines to optimize revenue by effectively managing group traffic and handle corporate, travel agency, and tour operator bookings hassle-free. Owing to the CRM with multichannel integration, customer support has also become a breeze for airiness. Even during flight delays/ cancellations, airlines can stay in control with Infiniti’s AI-powered airline disruption management software.

Infiniti also aims to make corporate business travel itineraries lighter in terms of cost and the time spent to book tickets through its automated travel planning solution. Further, companies can manage their business expenses through a single web interface and empower employees to get reimbursed easily for the same with Infiniti’s business expense management solution.

Recently, the company has launched a next-generation, NDC-enabled travel booking platform for travel agencies and tour operators. The latter businesses can also benefit from end-to-end automation of operations with Infiniti’s travel agency automation solution. You can view the complete list of products and how they will help you at https://infinitisoftware.net/

About AirAsia India

Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, AirAsia India Limited is a joint-venture between Tata Sons Private Limited and AirAsia Investment Limited. AirAsia India commenced operations on 12th June 2014 and flies to 19 destinations across India with 26 Airbus A320 aircraft. The airline offers plush leather seats, a diverse selection of hot meals and Red Carpet premium services. AirAsia India stands firmly on the pillars of its core values – Dare to Dream, Be Guest-Obsessed, People First, Safety Always, Make it Happen, One AirAsia, and Sustainability Spirit.

As an airline that has consistently embraced technology to deliver operational efficiency and enhance guest experiences, AirAsia India has introduced services to facilitate contactless travel like AirAsia Flyporter door to door baggage delivery services; Red Carpet Priority Check-In, Boarding, and Baggage services; AI-powered chatbot Tia and a host of other exclusive benefits on airasia.co.in

How-airlines-can-shift-to-a-travel-marketplace

Can Airlines Move Up The Value Chain And Provide A Fully Packaged Hajj Pilgrimage?

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Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages are both rapidly growing markets. Since these are trips undertaken by millions of devout pilgrims every year in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, catering to them has become a highly competitive industry.  

Consequently, every year, airlines servicing these areas are in a mad rush to book the most passengers in collaboration with large travel agencies. 

Unfortunately, this has turned into an arrangement with two significant losers—the religious pilgrim and the airline. 

Why? 

The travel agents, realizing that these trips are extremely important to the faithful, leave no stone unturned in extracting the maximum amount of money possible from the pilgrims.  

Given that the price of tickets only accounts for around 20 or so percent of the pilgrimages’ cost, airlines do not make much money off the trips. 

Is it possible for airlines to rectify this issue and end up making more money while also delighting their passengers? 

The answer is yes, and the way to achieve this is simpler than you would imagine. 

Read on to find out how you too can jump on the bandwagon of offering fully packaged Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages and bring in tons of ancillary revenue that you are currently leaving on the table. 

Taking your customer experience to the skies 

One of the main customer pain points when planning a Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage is that they do not know much about travel and accommodation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As a result, they must search extensively for travel agents who will plan the whole trip for them. A major issue here is that the prices are exorbitant, and the customer is put in a position where they must suffer a large financial burden.  

Here, there is a massive opportunity in creating a pilgrim-centric service for travelers to Hajj and Umrah. As an airline, you can go beyond picking up and dropping passengers and provide them with an all-inclusive religious pilgrimage that they will cherish for the rest of their life.

Now, how do you go about doing this, and is stellar customer experience the only benefit?  

Airlines can go about doing this by becoming a travel marketplace, an “Amazon of travel” so to speak, which is a platform for various travel agents and other vendors to provide services for which you also get a commission.  

Apart from this, you can strike deals with travel agents to ensure that only your flights are offered as part of their tour packages.  

You can also offer the following and even more to customers while making substantial amounts of ancillary revenue along with the flights they book.  

  • Cars for hire 
  • Hotel bookings  
  • Travel health insurance 
  • Covid testing and support.
  • Flight, bus, and even train tickets. 

For passengers, this will be a godsend because competition among the travel agents listing on the airline’s portal will bring down prices for the travel package. Meanwhile, you can ensure that your flights never fly with empty seats, and rest assured that you are making the maximum amount of money possible from each passenger’s trip. 

Conclusion 

Airlines will benefit massively by moving up the value chain and providing a fully packaged Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage. The opportunity to scale operations is massive; nations, such as Malaysia and Egypt have largely underserved markets that will welcome the ability to complete their religious duties cost-effectively.  

Transitioning to such a travel marketplace model does not have to be complicated at all. Reach us at marketing@infinitisoftware.net to know how we can equip you with travel marketplace capabilities just as the pandemic subsides and demand begins to soar for pilgrimages.

Volaris Press

Volaris Picks GroupRM For Superior Group Booking Experience

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The ultra-low-cost airline’s choice of GroupRM to automate their group revenue management will undoubtedly lead to boosted revenue and customer experience.

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India – March 23, 2021 — Volaris, a Mexican airline known for its affordability, has partnered with Infiniti Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, a pioneering travel and business management technology company, to increase revenue and operational efficiency. This is set to be achieved by Volaris’ adoption of GroupRM, the flagship product of Infiniti that guarantees effective group traffic control.

The reputation of Volaris as a budget airliner has grown in recent years, leading to an increase in passengers from and around Mexico, which is its target market. It is to cater to this audience and boost its bottom-line through dynamic and personalized pricing that Volaris has opted for the implementation of GroupRM.

Mr. Ananth Narasimhan, the CEO of Infiniti, who was pleased with the development, said, “Volaris has made the right decision for this digital age. Choosing to make their group revenue management more agile will pay off in the long run. “ COO of Volaris, Jose Luis Suarez, echoed Infiniti CEO’s optimism, saying, “We hope the implementation of GroupRM makes our customers’ lives easier and helps us with revenue optimization.”

High Growth Potential

Around the world, COVID-19 is slowly getting under control thanks to safety precautions and vaccination drives. Consequently, the travel industry is predicted to reach its pre-pandemic heights in no time. Given this reality, GroupRM will be invaluable to airlines eager to capitalize on the new wave of travelers seeking to put the lockdowns and travel restrictions behind them.

High Growth Potential

About Infiniti

Infiniti Software Solutions is an India-based travel and aviation technology solutions company. It has set its sights on helping businesses all over the globe adapt to the rising demand for digitalization. Over the years, Infiniti has amassed over 300 clients, including major airlines, travel agents, and corporates.

About Volaris

Volaris is the ultra-low-cost airline in Mexico that caters to both domestic and international passengers, especially serving the VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives) market. With 40% of Mexico’s domestic market share and161 routes, it is the largest airline in the country.