Funviralpark With 2022 behind us, airlines can look to 2023 and set some ambitious targets.
As we approach the end of the year, it’s a good time to reflect on what has happened so far. What works well and where can be improved? Businesses, like individuals, need New Year’s resolutions. Last year saw some good news for US airlines. An exciting new merger proposal and a return to profitability for most airlines. It’s also been a very safe year for U.S. airlines, for which we are all grateful.
In the final year, there is a lot of room for improvement. Operationally this is true, but it also requires adapting to a higher wage environment and changed business travel realities. .
Minimize cancellations
Flight delays frustrate customers, but flight cancellations really ruin the trip. In 2022, US airlines have canceled more than 3% of his flights. This may not sound like a big deal, but when hundreds of customers are affected with each cancellation, you can see how quickly this makes headlines. The biggest way airlines can reduce cancellations is by better aligning their schedule planning and operations teams. The industry has a bad history of scheduling more flights than it can reasonably operate.
Nevertheless, situations do occur that lead to flight cancellations. This can be due to crew issues, maintenance realities, weather, etc. Sometimes canceling is the least disruptive action, but airlines are more likely to delay a flight than if it were canceled. Policies can be adopted to be more sensible on a case-by-case basis. By minimizing flight cancellations, airlines help their customers in meaningful ways and also remove a lot of political pressure. This is due to the decision to Significantly reducing cancellations towards 2023 is the most important operational step.
Other cost savings offset rising labor wages
wages. It’s on the rise in many industries and workers have more power. In the airline industry, pilots are the most influential and will see significant wage increases over the next year. This is already happening in the region’s aviation industry, with wage increases to address a significant pilot shortage. Besides pilots, airlines are also under wage pressure at airports, flight attendants, maintenance and more. Labor costs typically account for about 25% of an airline’s costs. In the next few years, many predict that this he will exceed 40%.
Passing this increase on to higher fare consumers is not a realistic response to this. Average costs are increasing because people are being paid more, but marginal costs are still very low. This continues to put pressure on prices, and the industry cannot afford a drop in traffic likely due to fare increases. , is to find other areas to reduce costs.
Technology is a big key here, including more consumer self-service and automation of simple, repetitive tasks. Frontier Airlines’ recent move away from phone-based customer service has also reduced exposure to this labor. Airlines can also make their business simpler, as complexity, by definition, drives up costs. If airlines must spend more on people, they will have to spend less on other areas and challenge themselves to use less manpower. This is the aspiration the industry needs for 2023.
Accept that business travel is fully restored
About a year into the pandemic, US airline leaders have spoken about a full return to business travel and when that might happen. As time went on, business travel as a percentage continued to increase in 2019, but said the curve flattened out at around 75%. Modest increases continue, and in terms of volume, business travel appears to be limited to about 85% of what he was in 2019. Some airlines’ business revenues were broadly flat in 2019 due to airfare increases in this group.
Embracing this reality is a great 2023 solution for the industry. Airlines need to better understand what this means and how they can adapt, rather than holding onto unrealistic hopes that all volumes will come back. I started making products for tourists. This recognizes that people are combining business and leisure travel and airlines can make this easier for their customers. It could evolve to rethink what that means and how these programs are relevant to customers who travel less. This could also mean rethinking aircraft seating arrangements and scheduling densities in terms of frequency per route.
Allow buses to take over very short flights
A bus service that can travel in two hours or less is a more efficient and sustainable way to get passengers to and from flying hubs on very short trips. Companies like landlines are revolutionizing service by making it seamless. Customers can check-in at their local airport, board the bus, and stop at the hub’s gate to connect their bags. Everyone wins on buses because they have more seats than on local Wi-Fi-equipped flights. Airports love the idea, as it can bring more people to the facility, but buses require as much infrastructure as planes.
This approach to proximate cities alleviates local industries struggling to find pilots, and the cost makes feeds to connecting airlines very expensive. By changing these short flights to buses, customers will be able to enjoy a more reliable transfer service. Regional airlines can focus on longer, more efficient flights. Thinking of the bus as a wingless aircraft overcomes the natural concerns about tightly integrating this kind of service with massive hub connections. Heading into 2023, it makes sense for all airlines with regional feeds to consider.
please be kind and help
These two simple phrases can be applied to both how the airline industry thinks of customer service and how it treats its employees. For customers, when industry employees are kind and helpful, that’s exactly what they want. It’s easy to say these two phrases, but it’s amazing to see them come to life in every action, every day. as difficult as By using this simple filter to see all customer policies, airlines may remove many policies and change others.
In a company, being kind and helpful is a good way to think about employee relations. It’s how we all want it, and it’s also a call to action to help in any way we can. Think about how good an airline would be if they acted upon it.
