APEX Greener powered by SimpliFlying Evaluates and Rates Airline Products on Sustainability, Provides Airlines with a Database of Certified Products and Promotes Eco-friendly Airline Products. The Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) has partnered with SimpliFlying to launch a new program for global airlines called APEX Greener powered by SimpliFlying. The program aims to reduce aviation industry’s carbon footprint and alleviate the impact of air travel on the environment, while helping airlines choose greener products without adding costs. Th ..read more

I have a friend who has been flying as a Captain for United Airlines for a couple of decades. When I last flew with him just before the pandemic, he spoke highly of the former CEO, Oscar Munoz. I was pleasantly surprised because pilots and their unions seldom have good terms with airline management. I remember him telling me that Oscar is genuine, and it comes through in his interactions with rank-and-file staff. I spoke with Oscar recently about his new book documenting his journey at United Airlines, and he shared a story that touched a chord. Within five years, United was flying high, achie ..read more

I like airline brands that know how to have some fun with their advertising campaigns. It’s that time of the year, and airlines are once again busy fooling their distracted social media followers and customers while making the rest of the world laugh. The SimpliFlying research team spent the last weekend tracking most of the April Fool’s Day worldwide. We have done a roundup of the best airline advertising campaigns, and we announce the winner of the SimpliFools Award – the airline with the most innovative prank at the end. For those interested, here are some of the be ..read more

Airline brands are different. 15 years ago, within weeks of launching SimpliFlying, I released my seminal whitepaper detailing the 6 steps airlines could take to build a lasting and lovable brand. I called it the 6X Airline Brand Model. The model has been the foundation of SimpliFlying’s work with over 100 airlines and airports globally since 2008 and featured prominently in my book, SOAR. A lot has changed in the last 15 years in the world of aviation. Airline brands have weathered various storms – from regional conflicts to the pandemic. The new realit ..read more

Recently, Air India launched new amenities for its premium passengers featuring off-the-shelf TUMI kits. These kits are common across various international airlines, and I have a few of the same kits in different colours from my previous flights on EVA Air and a few Middle East carriers. While global flyers may recognise the kits, I doubt they would resonate with premium Indian travellers. They are possibly the most non-Indian amenity kits Air India could have released. As India’s national carrier, I believe Air India’s vision is to be a beacon of Indian culture, but t ..read more

This piece comes from the Winter issue of Aviation Marketing Review (AMR) magazine.  Read the whole issue here. With most post–pandemic travel restrictions coming to an end in 2022, airline marketing was back.  Over the past year we’ve seen some great campaigns where airlines have been reintroducing themselves to the travelling public. Here are ten of our favourites from 2022. Air France – Elegance is a journey In May, Air France released a new ad showcasing the best of France and Paris for a global audience. The video tells the story of a woman in a red dress climbing the Eiffel To ..read more

The Winter edition of Airline Marketing Review (AMR) looks at a selection of airline marketing campaigns from the past quarter. We’ve also got a round-up of our ten favourite campaigns of the year, as well as features on Christmas and the FIFA World Cup. Read and download it here. Since 2012, when we started this publication, we’ve showcased 1500+ different airline and airport marketing campaigns. This month our lead campaign was Delta’s “Runway Collection” at LA Fashion Week, where the airline teamed up with six teams of up-and-coming designers to create limited-edition ..read more

The social network Twitter has seen a lot of upheaval since it was acquired by billionnaire and SpaceX / Tesla owner Elon Musk last month.  Recently the disruption and major changes have even led to questions of whether it will survive. With Twitter having such a crucial role in most airlines and airports’ communications and customer service functions, what should you be doing now? Bearing in mind that the situation is changing every day, we’ll first of all summarise things as they stand at time of writing (November 18th).  We’ll then provide some guidelines that we think a ..read more

This article originally appeared in our Sustainability in the Air Newsletter. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly is currently taking place in Montreal, with a key focus being on sustainability.  As part of that, controversies around the industry’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) programme are emerging, with one group accusing it of being a “climate fraud.” CORSIA is seen by the industry as a key tool in the journey to netzero. Under the scheme, emissions were originally meant to be capped a ..read more

European LCC easyJet has been an early mover in the airline sustainability space. It was one the more proactive airlines when climate change concerns started appearing on airline radars pre Covid. Yesterday it released an accelerated road-map to net zero.  This includes three bets, which mark a departure from its previous plans. We’ll look at each of them, and what it means: 1 – A bet on Zero emissions aircraft over SAF Yesterday’s Sustainability in the Air newsletter talked about the EASA report, which showed that Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will need to do much of the heavy lifting ..read more