With Planet Earth in lockdown, our industry at a standstill and many of us in self-isolation or quarantine at home, or grounded, this is our blog for you – it’s a way to share stories within our community, to form solidarity and foster a sense of belonging.
Short essays on what we are each doing, how we are getting through this darkest hour in travel, how are we handling withdrawal symptoms from travel, what we intend to do with this down time, a word we want to focus on, a wish we have or simply, an important topic you want to share with your travel friends at this time.
Rajeev Kumar, founder & CEO, Mystifly
It was around 3,000 years back when kites were discovered and though the exact origins aren’t known, they say it was the Chinese who first flew kites. The discovery of kites inspired humans to think about flying.
Well actually, humans have always been fascinated with flying and have tried to fly just like birds. Wings made of feathers or, at times, lightweight wood have been attached to human arms to test their ability to fly. The results were often disastrous as the muscles of human arms are not like those of bird wings. But kites have been pivotal to the invention of flight as they were the forerunner to balloons and gliders and that eventually led to commercial flights.
Once commercial flying became affordable and safe every time we took off in a plane and landed at an airport we saw this world growing more connected. Airlines connected us to new people, new cultures and businesses across continents.
With Covid-19, almost overnight every commercial airline in the world saw demand evaporate and hundreds of their busy fleets grounded. So what would return to normalcy for air travel mean?
There is no doubt that airlines, which think strategically about how they will return back to operations and reform their businesses to adapt to the new situation, will make the cut.
Travel is the accumulation of many unmatched experiences. For some it’s about the adrenaline rush of adventures; for most it’s about food and cultural discoveries; and for many it’s just about the relaxation that travel promises. There is no doubt travel creates some of the best memories we relish for the rest of our lives. And airlines for years have connected us with these experiences.
Airlines with strong tech focus and agility to change will have the advantage
With Covid-19, airlines and businesses associated with them now have a singular focus on survival – just to stay alive.
With some of the iconic brands staring at insolvency or having announced getting into administration, one clear conclusion is that the airlines of tomorrow will not be the same as what they were pre-Covid-19.
It is certain that airlines that emerge out of this crisis will be those who have a strong technology focus and he agility to change. I have always advocated that the airlines of tomorrow would be technology companies that happen to own aircraft, and I see this crisis bringing that thought closer to reality.
Traditional thought processes of driving discounts and continuing to operate with the general mindset of how an airline should operate will no longer be relevant. The airlines, which think discounts will generate demand, will only be negatively impacting their balance sheet.
From a consumer perspective travel in general is considered to be a high involvement purchase, and travellers will be wary of the risks and need to be fully convinced that it’s safe to travel before they would risk themselves or their family.
Time to bring the three pillars of distribution, fulfilment and payments together
Traditionally, the air travel industry has rested on three pillars, namely distribution, fulfilment and payments. These conventional pillars have performed a gigantic role in influencing the industry and shaping it. But these pillars were designed for the pre-Internet world.
Hence, although the Internet transformed how consumers shop the airline industry just couldn’t take advantage of this massive opportunity. The thought process in most airlines was to adapt to the change and many airlines managed to create an inefficient wrapper around the three pillars without restructuring. What most airlines did in that period was to invest more in making the inefficiencies more efficient, rather than eliminating the inefficiencies.
The ones who took advantage of the power of Internet were the low cost and ultra low cost carriers. Traditional carriers merely created a wrapper around them to compete with the low cost airlines without questioning the fundamentals of the business, and they continued to exist in the pre-Internet era.
This thought process is very clearly demonstrated in the transition from paper ticket to e-ticket where, instead of breaking the old traditional process, the industry just digitalised the paper ticket into an e-ticket without removing any of the inefficient processes.
We all know it took airlines about 10 years to transition 100% from paper to e-ticket and this digitalisation process continues to haunt many even today, making it very difficult to take advantage of new payment models and e-wallets that today’s consumers use.
Airlines must prepare for the new change where they truly are retailers that can create offers based on market realities and demand. This means thinking about a new airline world where the pre-Internet structure and the three very efficient pillars, which have worked in silos, are brought into one structure so that airlines can be agile and be true technology-driven businesses.
Revival for our industry is heavily dependent on the success of containment efforts, government policies and other factors. A lot will depend on finding a vaccine, how an effective cure will be made available and how travellers weigh their risks. Experts predict it could be 2023 before we see full revival.
Hence, airlines should not be in haste but instead use this downtime time to question the fundamentals. If kites from China brought this desire to fly, which eventually led to commercial flights, let the airline industry ensure that Covid-19 brings another such profound change. Let coming out of this crisis not be about creating another wrapper around things, but about a fundamental rethink and reset of the technology that could drive the business to newer heights.
Note: We will be running this blog for as long as we need to, to get us through this. If you wish to contribute, please send your essays to Siew Hoon. Send images too, it’s your story.
• Featured image credit: kristo74/Getty Images