Feature - How are other airlines announcing their reopening?

In the previous piece, we’ve talked about easyJet’s “Europening” campaign. What are other airlines doing to announce that they are open for business again? Here we present a selection.

Wizz Air - Say yes to flying

Unlike other European airlines, Wizz Air never really stopped during the pandemic, and for a time was actually Europe’s largest airline.

Wizz Air has also continued expanding, including to Abu Dhabi, with flights to a range of destinations in Central and Eastern Europe.

Like other airlines, Wizz Air has produced videos and marketing collateral trying to reassure passengers and showing what the ‘new normal’ of flying will look like. This includes a video entitled, ‘Say yes to enhanced health and safety'.

The most recent video by Wizz Air called ‘Say Yes to Flying’ (click above for the video), has a cheerful and aspirational tone and portrays travel and flying as something that can still be fun.

In the video, a series of (mainly) millennials are shown wearing masks, but saying “yes” to a variety of different travel experiences, from an Erasmus (student) reunion, to a romantic trip to Rome.

It’s worth saying that the average age of a Wizz Air passenger is 37, and so still firmly a millennial. ‘Say yes to flying’ is pitched very much at that demographic.

Additionally, Wizz Air, like other LCCs, is engaged in some heavy price promotions to get people on board their aircraft and flying again.

Lufthansa - Happy to See You Again

Lufthansa has released an optimistic video entitled ‘Happy to See you Again’, which invites people to rediscover and remember what they loved about travel.

The campaign has been extended to social media, where the #HappyToSeeYouAgain is being used across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

While ‘Happy to See You Again’ has an emotional pull to try and get people flying, Lufthansa’s Homecoming Guarantee arguably might be more effective in getting people to book.

As we were writing this, Austria announced that it would be requiring arrivals from fellow EU countries Bulgaria and Romania to quarantine, due to a spike in Coronavirus cases. That’s an illustration that things can change quickly and you might find yourself in a destination after which the quarantine doors shut.

Lufthansa’s return flight guarantee applies across the group and for flights to and from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and says that Lufthansa will bring them home, “if necessary also by a repatriation flight.”

At the end of June, Lufthansa said half of its fleet was back in the air, and by the end of October, over 90 percent of all originally planned short- and medium-haul destinations and over 70 percent of the Group’s long-haul destinations will be served again.

British Airways - Looking forward to welcoming you back

British Airways’ reopening efforts were somewhat hampered by the UK Government introducing a 14 day self-quarantine rule for June, which was then relaxed for a number of countries in July.

A dedicated microsite has information and a series of videos on what the new travel experience with British Airways will be like, from what to expect to the airport, to new on board procedures.

In contrast to the Lufthansa reopening campaign, BA is adopting much more of a practical, even low key approach.

That focus on practical information continues on the airline’s social media channels, where route maps show where you can now fly from (e.g.) LCY and LGW, along with information on price promotions, newly reopened destinations and of course details about the airline’s flexible booking policy.

Emirates - Dubai is Open

Emirates’ home of Dubai reopened for tourists from select countries on 7 July (a negative Covid19 test certificate is still needed for entry).

A video showcases the fact that ‘Dubai is Open’ and seeks to show tourists that they can do many of the things they used to enjoy pre the Pandemic.

At the same time, the ‘Dubai is Open’ message is being amplified via the sports shirts of major soccer / football teams that Emirates sponsors, including Olympique Lyonnais, Arsenal (London) and Real Madrid, ensuring that millions of TV viewers worldwide see it.

The airline’s football sponsorships was also leveraged via a video where stars of the various teams recorded a message for school pupils who had to deal with a very unusual school year, which has seen many of them missing physical school for months.

The players involved included Real Madrid’s Eden Hazard and Toni Kroos, England Cricket Team member Eoin Morgan, and Beth Mead from the Arsenal and England Women’s International teams.

Air Transat

Canadian airline Air Transat is restarting select international services on July 23rd, including to the UK and Carribean.

Air Transat’s ‘opening’ announcement so far has been almost all about safety and sanitation, as opposed to destination content, such as ‘Traveler Care’, the airline’s new passenger procedure.

Previously Air Transat had run a series of social media destination posts (for example, of Tulum in Yucatan) under the hashtag #BrightenEveryDay, asking people to tag friends and family members who they’d like to travel with once the pandemic is over.

S7 Airlines

Russia’s S7 announced its return to flying by uploading a video showing a series of travellers flying pre the Pandemic (hence why they are not wearing masks!).

The video asks S7’s social media fans to remember what they loved about travelling pre Covid19, and announces that the airline will be flying again with the message of:

“Travels that everyone was waiting for! All this time we dreamed of sunbathing on the beach, jumping into the pool, taking a walk along the streets of new cities, finding ideal locations for selfies and climbing mountains to look at the stars. Travels are back! Over 100 destinations”

S7 and Thai Airways give points for staying at home

Early on in the pandemic, S7 ran one of the most innovative lockdown campaigns we’ve seen, when they awarded loyalty miles for people to stay at home.

Under S7’s Fly at Home promotion, by joining the airline’s loyalty programme and checking in (via your phone location) every day, you received 100 free miles a day.

As well as being great PR for the airline, it almost certainly will have resulted in more people signing up to the loyalty programme, at a time when almost no one was flying.

Several weeks later, in late April Thai Airways launched an almost identical campaign, when it announced it would be giving out three million miles to loyalty club members.

The mechanics were more or less the same as S7’s - you had to give your location via an app to prove you were at home.