Welcome to Airline Marketing Monthly

Editorial - by Dirk Singer

A dishevelled but cheerful looking man boards an aircraft, swigging from a miniature spirit bottle. He sits down, still drinking. But then he suddenly gets up and proceeds to dance around the aircraft cabin, this time wearing a life vest.

Finally, the crew subdues him, after which he appears in front of aPolice crime board, where he’s given the title “Flying Mojito.”

This scene comes from the European Union Aviation SafetyAgency (EASA) campaign to combat ‘Air Rage’, or unruly passenger behaviour.

It follows a similar campaign in the UK called ‘One too many’, where passengers are warned of the consequences if they disrupt flights.

Campaigns like this are needed, as air rage is an ongoing and growing problem, and not only in Europe.

For example, earlier this year, an alcohol-fuelled brawl erupted on a Scoot flightfrom Australia’s Gold Coast to Singapore, resulting in the flight being diverted toSydney, where it was met by Police.

My observation though is that the two campaigns I’ve seen - ‘One too many’ in the UK and #NotOnMyFlight in Europe (which we cover in this issue) are not nearly hard hitting enough.

On the #NotOnMyFlight video, Mr ‘Flying Mojito’ comes across as almost a figure of fun.

A more realistic scene would involve a character angrily demanding more cans of beer from flight attendants while loudly arguing with the person in front of him, and creating an unpleasant and threatening aircraft environment in the process.

Meanwhile, the ‘One too many’ campaign does spell out the consequences (in particular fines) of air rage, but I wonder whether your average stag party filling an airport pub will take any notice - by then it’s too late.

Though that particular campaign has been disseminated on social media, it would also benefit from more direct targeting.

For example, airlines know when a party of ten young men is flying on one of its aircraft. As a result, you could run an email campaign directed at them before they fly.

You could also target certain keywords (‘stag do holiday’) on social media and run advertising against it.

Of course as many airlines argue, an awareness raising campaign isn’t enough, you have to tackle the availability of alcohol in airports before passengers board.

For example, Jet2 and Ryanair have proposed that airport pubs and bars don’t open until mid morning, and you limit customers to two drinks before their flight.

Our cover story this month comes from Transavia France, which turned quite a simple insight - the fact that empty billboards in France appear in the Transavia colour green - into a creative, effective and cheap campaign.

Meanwhile, our industry partner is caravelo, a leading technology providerspecialized in ancillary revenue solutions for airlines.

In partnership with caravelo, we explore chatbots, looking at how airlines can introduce and use them for maximum effectiveness.