Consumer Long-Haul Airline Travel

How fundamental a shift is to occur in long haul airline consumer travel, the Economist describes the growth of Emirates, Qatar Airlines and Etihad Airlines here.  Interestingly, the Economist dissects the complaints of the European carriers, disqualifies them and only offers that continued success is to follow.

The impact on the "business" of airlines in the West will be fundamental and foundational.  In the Air Transport World article here.  Note that the comments at the end of this article are particularly poignant:

"Pointing to that order, CAPA commented that the eventual size of Emirates will be "significant enough to make irreversible the airline industry's transformation from a heavily regulated, nationalistic anachronism to something approaching a real business. No longer can traditional competitors hope to stave off this threat to the status quo, as they have been hoping in recent years while the airline expanded threateningly. This order marks a genuine turning point in that process of change. It is so large in fact that competitors' business plans will be reshaped by it.""

The Economist's Adam Barns (Gulliver here) provides both business and consumer insights in the audio below:

Shin-kansen: Japanese High-Speed Trains!

"The oldest and busiest Shinkansen corridor - Central Japan Railway's 550km Tokaido line, which connects Tokyo with the western city of Osaka - carries 400,000 passengers a day and has run since 1964 without a fatal accident. The average delay last year was 36 seconds, with most of that caused by typhoons."

The Financial Times talks about the Japanese Shin-kansen in "Tokyo bites hte bullet on Shinkansen" here becoming available to the world after close to five decades in use.  Great competition for the likes of Chinese and German train manufacturers.

Trend In-Motion: Future of Transportation

Excellent articles in the Financial Times today on high-speed rail. In "China on track to be world's biggest network" here, the newspaper writes about the future being bleak for the Chinese airline industry while China continues to spend on building new and redo existing airports. Yet, the thing the Chinese airline industry has to focus on is the consumer aspects and why they would choose rail over air:

"Flights in China are almost always delayed and passengers must arrive early so that they can pass through rigorous security checks.

Once on the aircraft, the service is perfunctory, the toilets often filthy and the food barely edible.

In contrast, China's shiny new high-speed trains are clean, fast, smooth and almost always on time. There are no excess baggage fees for heavy luggage, security checks are perfunctory and passengers can use their mobile phones."

I believe, if the US ends up being serious about high-speed rail, it will face the same concern as above.

Service Innovation in Airlines - AirAsia

Tony Fernandes believes that the key to his Air Asia airlines breakthrough success is people (committed to the customer), leadership and ability to brand and market - perhaps the pillars of service innovation.  See interview below.

Google's Holiday Gift to the US Air Travelers

Airline consumer will be heads down on their smartphones and laptops at airports this holiday season, thanks to Google, which is offering free WiFi at 47 participating airports around the USA, details here.  Though you will not find Atlanta, New York or Chicago on the list!

Asian Airlines Delight Thier Customers

16.2 million travellers from about 100 countries took part in Skytrax's annual survey - Skytrax specializes in airline and airport research. The top 10 airlines are all Asian airlines, see details here.


The Economist writes in an article "Asian Tigers" here:

"Lining up behind the Hong Kong carrier were, in order, Singapore Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Qantas, Etihad Airways, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways. Interestingly/strangely enough, the exact same airlines made up last year's top ten, albeit in a slightly different order."

I am an international traveler, yet I will reserve my comments regarding my personal experiences and share the comments of a customer of the airline industry:

"Yesterday at the airport in Hong Kong, I was waiting to get on an AA/Cathay flight back to the USA, and my heart sank when I realized it was an American 777 as opposed to the Cathay plane."