Trends in Airline Industry | IATS Aviation Academy

The trajectory of the global airline industry is pretty much like that of an aircraft. At times it takes off for the high skies and at times, it dips to ground levels. 

Airline Industry

In between these highs and lows, lies the story of the industry of its survival, of the new and emerging trends that fuel its growth. 

Brand Equity

A number of leading global airlines have taken off on their 'social' flight and some are indulging in novel ways to engage with customers to build lasting relationships with them. Yes, it does mean stepping out of the corporate comfort zone and engaging real-time with the customer, but that's a feat airlines will have to achieve if they want to enhance brand equity and get a mind share of today's customer. While some airlines have taken a lead in engaging with customers on social media and social media management, others are still wetting their feet. Among the recent innovative airline social media campaigns and initiatives are Virgin Atlantic's (VA) 'Looking for Linda', an interactive contest that got customers hooked with its unique concept; KLM's 'Meet & Seat' service where fliers can select seats alongside fellow passengers based on mutual interests in their social media profiles; and British Airways' Facebook application called 'Perfect Days' that encourages travelers to share a travel wish list and itinerary via a Facebook. 

The Brand tells you all

As social media takes precedence in the overall customer relationship management pie, airlines will need to look at building a large and robust resource pool that can respond to customer queries, complaints, posts and tweets round the clock. As studies indicate, today the volume of social media communication for some of the world's leading airlines, ranges between 15,000 – 200,000 tweets and between 60,000 – 1,000,000 Facebook fans, but in the near future, the numbers will increase phenomenally. And as BBC presenter Nik Gowing observes in his study, 'Skyful of Lies and Black Swans', there is still a long way to go before airlines can actually become competent in the social media management. It will thus, make strategic sense for airlines to partner with providers that can provide them with a readymade resource pool of social media experts and technology platforms that help enhance brand equity on social media.

Online Medium

The online medium – the Internet, represented by online travel agencies and Websites in the airline business, is today a powerful revenue generator for airlines. As indicated by market research data, almost 75 percent of air tickets today are bought online. e-Commerce and automation of business processes such as web check-in have largely enhanced the convenience of air travel. Added to that is the increasing popularity of the smart phone, which is expected to play an active role in customer relationship management and revenue generation in the time to come.

Airline Business

No matter how strong the online channel becomes, the offline channel or the airline customer service contact center will still continue to be a critical touch point between the airlines and its passengers, thanks to the 'personal' touch it brings. For many service-related complaints and challenges, passengers still prefer to 'speak' with a customer service agent. In many instances, customers often drop off from making an online purchase of air tickets or travel packages because of technical errors, slow Website speed, or during the billing process using debit / credit cards. Such customers can be retained by the intelligent convergence of the online and offline channels, either by the smart placement of the customer service contact center number or by activating a click-to-call feature either on the airlines’ Website or on the travel agencies' Websites. Where the online channel fails, the offline channel – the customer service contact center can take over smoothly to solve customer queries or problems.

Analytics

With the proliferation of channels, the data generated in each channel is multiplying by the minute. This huge pile of data is a gold mine that contains very crucial information on passenger profiles, choices and preferences that can be leveraged by airlines to develop product offerings, strike away product / service offerings that do not appeal to customers, monitor challenges faced by customers and provide customized solutions, predict customer needs and preferences by the analysis of historical data and effectively cross- and / or up-sell additional products or services. 

Perfect Analytics

All this and much more in terms of sales, marketing and customer service can be achieved with the help of analytics. With its ability to extract crucial information from a huge pile of data that helps businesses make sound business decisions, analytics is emerging as a strategic enabler for the airlines business. For the airline industry analytics assumes importance in the form of social media analytics,contact center and speech analytics and revenue model analytics (particularly in the proration process). An altimeter measures the height of an aircraft above sea level – a crucial piece of information for the aircraft to remain aloft. Analytics equips the airlines business with crucial insights, in that sense, analytics is emerging as an 'altimeter' that will help the airline business stay aloft.

Revenue

Inadvertently rising fuel prices, dull economic conditions and increasing competition are realities that are biting into the revenue generating potential of the global airlines business today. Airline companies are thus exploring newer ways of changing the course in revenue generation. Some of these strategies include tapping alternate revenue generating streams such as selling ancillary products and services across the value chain or stopping revenue leakage via the total revenue integrity route.

Revenue Inflow

The ancillary route is an important revenue generator for airlines today. According to a PwC report, the top five U.S. carriers generated more than US$ 12 billion in ancillary revenue during 2011. Services that are emerging as hot favorites in the ancillary services menu include paying for checked baggage, booking a preferred seat and wi-fi connectivity. Most airlines are faced with the problem of revenue leakage at various levels of the business and are now actively looking at reining in this challenge by initiating a total revenue integrity program. Airlines must look at total revenue integrity program that cuts across multiple processes including ticketing processes, e-ticketing, departure control and customer relationship management.

Regulation and Standardisation

Regulations and directives on standardization will continue to dominate the airline business environment now and in the future. Most of these regulations are related to finance and accounting, environment and consumer rights. For instance, while airlines in the European Union are penalized for emissions above the limit specified by regulatory authorities, American airlines are adapting to the new pricing rules set by the U.S. Department of Transportation, wherein airline companies will have to include all taxes and fees while advertising fares for their flights.

Airport Operations

While regulation envisages increased safety of passengers and improved sustainability of the business, compliance adds to the total cost of operations. It is a cost that airlines must bear on their own - without passing on to passengers. Since new regulations are a given for the global airlines industry, airlines must engage in a compliance program that can optimize business processes and transform operations. In a bid to ease the effect on various environmental factors on the revenue of the global airlines, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has introduced a directive – the Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) that aims to standardize and speed up the interline billing and settlement in the industry. Here again, as airlines take the plunge towards standardization of the interline billing and settlement process, they will need to carefully look for a partner and a program that will be cost-effective and help process optimization.

IATS - Aviation Academy

IATS - Aviation Institute

In a short span of time, IATS Aviation College has carved a name for itself in the travel arena by producing professionals of excellent calibre. Job potential in both Airports and Airlines has increased in recent decades. Mastering of communication skills, specialized training by Airline industry professionals and imparting efficient training programmes in travel formalities are the hallmarks of IATS education. 

For more details www.iats.in

Contact us on     info@iats.in

Call us on            +91 9947 45 9000

Airport Operations | Airline Customer Service | IATS

IATS Aviation College, made its humble beginning in June 1996 at ADOOR, a bustling town in God's own country. We have started our prestigious training centre in THIRUVANANTHAPURAM in 2013 and our COCHIN centre was inaugurated in 2014.

Let them Fly - IATS Aviation Institute

In a short span of time, IATS Aviation College Aviation College has carved a name for itself in the travel arena by producing professionals of excellent calibre. Job potential in both Airports and Airlines has increased in recent decades. 

Airline Customer Service

Drive outstanding customer service with the winning combination of knowledge, skills, and attitude. Front line airline customer service professionals, such as ticket reservation staff, check-in and gate agents, and cabin crew, work in one of the most dynamic industries. Working as an airline customer service agent for an airline comes with some unique benefits, such as free air travel, but it can also be quite stressful when dealing with anxious passengers and hectic schedules on a daily basis. Whether you are working on getting those planes out on time at the gate or dealing with customers at the ticket counter, there are some essential duties that you likely will perform at some point in your career. Customer service agents who work at airport ticket counters are usually the first airline representative that passengers make contact with when arriving at the airport. In this role, you greet customers as you check them in, which entails verifying their identification and printing boarding passes. Many passengers will have luggage with them, and it will be up to you to identify which pieces need to be checked in, which can be taken aboard the plane and which will require an additional payment because of weight or because the passenger has exceeded the number of bags allowed by the airline. You might need to lift heavy luggage.

Airline Customer Service - A Career in the Sky

Your airline might assign you to work the gates inside the airport. In the gate area, you have a direct impact on whether the plane pulls back at its scheduled time. Boarding passengers in an orderly, but expeditious, fashion is your main duty. Doing this, however, means you will need to deal with customer questions and requests pretty quickly. This might include reassigning seats, processing first-class upgrade standby lists for the airline's loyalty program members and even selling some last-minute upgrades to customers who decide they want to sit in a premium cabin. As customers board, you will scan or verify boarding passes and take one last look at passengers’ carry-on bags to insure they are not too big for the overhead bins. When flights land, you will help deplaning passengers with questions about connecting flights or rebook them on new ones when they miss their scheduled connection. For agents who work at smaller airports, their duties often include attaching and detaching movable jetways to plane doors.

Customers are the important persons - Airline Customer Service

As a customer service agent, it is almost a guarantee that you will hear customer complaints and problems and it is up to you to resolve them. You might have a passenger who missed a connecting flight and needs new accommodations immediately, or you might need to issue meal vouchers to passengers of a flight that has been cancelled at the last minute. Despite the stress you may be under, you must always maintain a professional and courteous attitude. 

Give wings to the dream - Airline Customer Service

The major U.S. airlines tend to require their agents be at least 18 years old, possess a high school diploma or GED, and have a valid driver’s license. And since you will have access to secure areas of the airport, you will need to pass an extensive background check mandated by the federal government. The background check will include verification of past employment, residences and criminal history, among other things. Other common requirements include the ability to lift at least 70 pounds, a willingness to work holidays, weekends and nights. In some cases, prior customer service experience will be necessary. Speaking more than one language, while not required, often is a plus.

Conclusion

Students of IATS have made massive strides in many foreign countries such as America, Canada, Switzerland, England, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Greece, Spain and various Gulf countries. The powerful advancements made by former students in the international arena have helped IATS to reach great heights. Several students of IATS are now placed in most of the superior posts in domestic airports such as Trivandrum, Kochi, Calicut, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. In addition to offering major IATA courses , IATS also offers several short-term courses.

For more details visit www.iats.in

Contact us on              info@iats.in

Call us on                  +91 9947 45 9000

Airport Operations | IATS Aviation College

IATS Aviation College, made its humble beginning in June 1996 at ADOOR, a bustling town in God's own country. We have started our prestigious training centre in THIRUVANANTHAPURAM in 2013 and our COCHIN centre was inaugurated in 2014.

IATA Aviation College

In a short span of time, IATS Aviation College Aviation College has carved a name for itself in the travel arena by producing professionals of excellent calibre. Job potential in both Airports and Airlines has increased in recent decades. 

Mastering of communication skills, specialized training by Airline industry professionals and imparting efficient training programmes in travel formalities are the hallmarks of IATS Aviation College education. 

Airport Operations

In a rapidly changing environment, airports have to adapt to economic downturns, technological changes, market changes, airline commercial deregulation, and the worldwide trend to convert airports from government organizations to more business-like entities. These pressures have or have had or are having significant effects on the way airports do business, not only from a financial perspective but also from an operational standpoint.

Airport Operations

In these challenging times, and with emerging competition from other airports and other modes of transportation, it is of the utmost importance that airports recruit and provide employees and managers with the best available knowledge and skills. This course was prepared to provide you with a solid overview of the airport operations field and with tools to apply your knowledge and skills to your airport. It is designed to be useful not only for your own benefit but also to help you make better decisions for your organization. Airport operations demand the highest standards of safety, reliability, efficiency and comfort. Given a continuously growing demand for air traffic, a high concentration of movements and a limited place available to handle operations, it is required to implement optimised procedures and technologies and a close connection of all stakeholders. For instance: about 75,000 people employed by more than 500 companies ensure that up to 195,000 passengers are being carried every day at Germany’s biggest hub in Frankfurt.

A Career to Airport Operations

Attending this 3-day training course will provide you with a structured and practical introduction to all multifaceted aspects of airport operations; exploring the functional elements of an airport including a detailed explanation of aircraft operations, airside and landside processes as well as other topics of interest, such as flight planning, safety, maintenance, winter service, emergency and rescue management. If you are new to airport management or aerodrome operations, or have worked primarily in a specialised role only, and now wish to broaden your knowledge and understanding (perhaps to  meet a promotion requirement), this course is a comprehensive and in depth introduction. Specifically you will learn details about: the role of the airport and each of its components in the global aviation business; how different airports meet different market needs and have different requirements; aircraft operations from start-up to shut-down; operating aircraft and Aerodromes (ADR’s) in all weather conditions, including low visibility; safety management principles and how to protect the ADR and operations from threats, including obstacles and wildlife; and, the impact airport operations can have on the environment, and how these impacts can be reduced or eliminated. 

Types of Airport Operations

• Air Traffic Control

Air traffic control (ATC) is the task of managing aircraft movements and making sure they are safe, orderly and expeditious. At the largest airports, air traffic control is a series of highly complex operations that requires managing frequent traffic that moves in all three dimensions. A "towered" or "controlled" airport has a control tower where the air traffic controllers are based. Pilots are required to maintain two-way radio communication with the controllers, and to acknowledge and comply with their instructions. A "non-towered" airport has no operating control tower and therefore two-way radio communications are not required, though it is good operating practice for pilots to transmit their intentions on the airport's common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) for the benefit of other aircraft in the area. 

Air Traffic Control

The CTAF may be a Universal Integrated Community (UNICOM), MULTICOM, Flight Service Station (FSS), or tower frequency. The majority of the world's airports are small facilities without a tower. Not all towered airports have 24/7 ATC operations. In those cases, non-towered procedures apply when the tower is not in use, such as at night. Non-towered airports come under area (en-route) control. Remote and virtual tower (RVT) is a system in which ATC is handled by controllers who are not present at the airport itself. Air traffic control responsibilities at airports are usually divided into at least two main areas: ground and tower, though a single controller may work both stations. The busiest airports may subdivide responsibilities further, with clearance delivery, apron control, and/or other specialized ATC stations.

• Ground Control

Ground control is responsible for directing all ground traffic in designated "movement areas", except the traffic on runways. This includes planes, baggage trains, snowplows, grass cutters, fuel trucks, stair trucks, airline food trucks, conveyor belt vehicles and other vehicles. 

Ground Control

Ground Control will instruct these vehicles on which taxiways to use, which runway they will use (in the case of planes), where they will park, and when it is safe to cross runways. When a plane is ready to takeoff it will be turned over to Tower Control. Conversely, after a plane has landed it will depart the runway and be "handed over" from Tower to Ground Control.

• Tower Control

Tower control is responsible for aircraft on the runway and in the controlled airspace immediately surrounding the airport. Tower controllers may use radar to locate an aircraft's position in three-dimensional space, or they may rely on pilot position reports and visual observation. 

Tower Control

They coordinate the sequencing of aircraft in the traffic pattern and direct aircraft on how to safely join and leave the circuit. Aircraft which are only passing through the airspace must also contact Tower Control in order to be sure that they remain clear of other traffic.

For more details Visit www.iats.in

Contact us                 info@iats.in

Call us on                      +91 9947 45 9000