What's in AMM this month?

Introduction

Regular readers of this magazine will know that there are themes and topics we come back to time and time again

One is the growing climate change protest movement, and how that movement is trying to turn air travel into something that is perceived as being environmentally and socially irresponsible.

Here, my belief is that the current industry response is not yet robust or effective enough.

As a result, it was good to see Eurocontrol coming out with a report on decarbonisation issues, which made five concrete industry recommendations (see above graphic).

For example, one recommendation was to use sustainable industry fuels on long haul routes, as well as lowering the cost of those fuels by incentivising their production and use.

These recommendations are excellent. They now need to be put into language that consumers can understand. For example, what’s a ‘sustainable industry fuel?’ What kind of difference does it make?

Communicating all this information in an accessible way matters, given that environmental groups such as the Extinction Rebellion are (taking their arguments to their logical conclusion) questioning why airlines should even exist in the first place.

As a result, it’s something we’re going to be examining further via an industry guide in a future issue.

However, in the meantime our cover story does have an environmental angle to it. Lu fthansa has recycled an old A340 into both lifestyle products (wash bags, ruck-sacks) as well as designer furniture.

You can buy the items in question (while stocks last) on Lufthansa’s online shopping site.

Other airlines which have l aunched campaigns that have a sustainability theme include Frontier Airlines, which launched what it claimed was the US’s greenest flight from Denver to Greenville.

Meanwhile, SAS has come out with a refreshed livery, which the airline says directlypoints to the airline being committed a more sustainable future.

Differentiating your offers with rich content

Our industry guide this month comes from ATPCO. ATPCO’s rich content helps airlines and distributors differentiate and better monetize their products.

In the guide we look at a number of different areas. This includes the importance of getting the balance between choice, clarity and relevance right, when it comes to presenting passengers with information and purchase options.

It al so includes some interesting (and as yet unpublished) research ATPCO’s content experts carried out about what people want to see in cabin images, as well as research on many people still being confused about what codeshare flights and ‘operated by another airine’ means.

The guide introduces the Next Generation Storefront (or NGS™ or short), and includes a very recent case-study about how ATPCO worked with United to promote special offers and flights around the US College Football season.

Finally, with ATPCO having signed a partnership agreement with a series of Chinese online travel companies, we look at how Chinese consumers in particular react to content and visuals.