Category Archives: Air Service Development

Airline Staff Community Engagement

Airline Staff Community Engagement – Drives Successful Flights

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Airline Staff Community Engagement
Drives Successful Community Flights

Airline staff community engagement – every community looking to develop their air service should focus on this. This won’t get you NEW air service but it can get the airlines more active engagement in your current air service which can lead to successful air service. This success, in turn, can help you attract new flights in the future.

When airline staff community engagement is active they know more about the flying guests and the support mechanisms available to help support their flights. This helps build more confidence in the community and comfort in their support of your flights. To engage airline staff most effectively we recommend you get your local tourism partners to host key airline staff and offer “Deals” for less critical staff so that they can visit and familiarize themselves with your community.

Often, multiple invitations are necessary to get airline staff community engagement through familiarization visits to your community. I’ve found tailoring an itinerary to the specific airline staff works best.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask that we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to help mobilize community support efforts and guide clients in bridging the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. Contact Scott Stewart directly at scott@communityflights.com .

Air Program Funding Reserves

Air Program Funding Reserves – Critical to Program Growth

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Air Program Funding Reserves
Critical to Program Growth

Air program funding reserves is critical to program growth. The community should fund a reserve to account for the volatility in year to year air service costs and funds available and thereby support a consistent air development effort. The airline industry is cyclical like all business and some years will have more funding requirements than other years. Communities should consider a carryover of some or all of their annual non-applied funding to help fund higher than usual costing air service opportunities or have a larger reserve for years that cost more than expected (particularly in the case of revenue guarantee programs and/or incentive programs).

Setting up air program funding reserves recently has been highlighted by a situation in Vail Colorado. This community doesn’t have air program funding reserves. They recently were given a short window opportunity to continue a seasonal flight to Toronto. While they were able to rally community stakeholders to come up with the funds, it was a scramble and they could have lost this opportunity. Many communities can’t move within weeks to get funding necessary for this type of air service opportunity. Some communities can’t even react within a month or two and having air program funding reserves set-up in the program structure can make sure air service opportunities don’t pass your community by.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask that we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to help mobilize community support efforts and guide clients in bridging the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. Contact Scott Stewart directly at scott@communityflights.com .

 

Airline Revenue Guarantees – Air Program Funds Important

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Airline Revenue Guarantees - Air Program Funds Important

Airline Revenue Guarantees – Air Program Funds Important

Airline Revenue Guarantees
Air  Program Funds Important

Airline Revenue Guarantees air program funding is important for your community to have readily available. It can become a need for your community to have funds for airline revenue guarantees or other incentives to acquire or support airline service. Sometimes you have advance notice well in front of an air service acquisition opportunity and other times you don’t. Creating an established funding support system in your community can help you maximize air service acquisition and avoid missing out on community air service opportunities that can sometimes come up on short notice.

I recently came across an article where airline revenue guarantees came up as a need to support Toronto Canada to Vail airline service at the Vail/Eagle Airport in winter. There was little notice for the community to commit to what was actually a retaining of air service to/from Toronto on Air Canada.

Fortunately for the Vail Community, they were able to execute on the airline revenue guarantees of $115,000 despite not having a set fund for this opportunity. Some communities would have had to pass up the air service option in similar situations and had the airline revenue guarantees requirement been higher, Vail may have ended up missing out on this opportunity.

In this situation, Vail had secured last winter 20132014 service From Toronto to Vail/Eagle airport (EGE) for a commitment to devote funds to marketing support. The first year of this flight occurred without the airline needing airline revenue guarantees. While the service did well per the article in February and March it did not do as well in December and January. Air Canada, the operating carrier, was requiring airline revenue guarantees to continue the service in the 20142015 winter.

Surprises in the change of serving requirements conditions and support from the airlines are not unheard of especially when flight performance falls short. Fortunately for Vail they were able to act quickly, secure the airline revenue guarantees funds and continue the air service from Toronto.

If Vail wasn’t able to get commitments from various community organizations quickly (In this situation it was only a couple of days), they would have lost out on this airline service. Why would this matter?

Well, for many communities, especially ski communities, visiting guests spend a lot of money which filters through the community helping with tax collections, which support community services, as well as supporting businesses and job creation which helps keep the community citizens employed etc…When an Average guest in many ski communities spends $1500 or more…the contribution to the local economy of even one airline service is very large, often millions of dollars.

If you can make $4 Million Dollars and it costs you $115,000 would you invest the $115,000? The return on this investment would be about $35 to $1 invested. Many businesses and communities feel this is a good ROI and do make such an investment via airline revenue guarantees in their air service.

Flight Departure2

Note: While you may have to commit to guarantee up to $115,000, if the flights do well you don’t necessarily pay any or all the $115,000. Communities only pay up to this amount pending the real shortfall from the pre-agreed upon contract terms.

If a community wants to ensure it can act on most if not all airline revenue guarantees opportunities they would be wise to: a) pre-set a target for funds for an airline revenue guarantee program, b) insure the pre-set target includes enough uncommitted discretionary funds for unexpected expenses or unexpected air service opportunities and c) will have funds that are sustainable over many years to avoid any potential loss of air service.

A community that has a preset funding strategy and program is better prepared as it regards  airline revenue guarantees or other air support needs. This preparation will give their community with a good chance to acquire and keep air service and take advantage of sometimes surprise airline service opportunities.

 

Sustainable Air Service Funding

Sustainable Air Service Funding – Use Dedicated Sources

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Funding Driven by the Success of Air Service is Sustainable Air Service Funding – Dedicated funding sources are critical

Sustainable air service funding should include dedicated funding and make up a good amount of the community air service support total funding resources. Funding, to a great degree, should be driven by the success level of the air service performance itself, i.e. self-funding and self-sustaining. For example: a tourism tax will drive the funding needed to meet or exceed the costs of the air service in current and subsequent years rather than fall short of the cost of the air service.

When attempting to obtain sustainable air service funding, finding new sources of funding is difficult for many communities. Many communities have many service needs competing for more limited funding than has been there in the past. Because of this, communities should strategically set a lot of their air service development funding as dedicated. Funding levels should be set where growth in air service drives growth in funding to a level where the new air service as well as incumbent air service will be supported sustainably.

Sustainable air service funding is important to airlines as well. If your community has funds to support your air service one year but not the next and you then cut service you increase how the airline perceives your community in regards to risk. Higher risk perception by the airlines can often mean higher cost via incentives or revenue guarantees needed to get or sustain your air service.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and request that we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to help mobilize community support efforts and guide clients in bridging the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. Contact Scott Stewart directly at scott@communityflights.com .

Community Air Service Support Funding Strategy

Community Air Service Support Funding Strategy

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Considering Long-Term Goals when Setting Funding Levels is important to a Community Air Service Support Funding Strategy

Community Air Service Support Funding Strategy should focus from the start on long-term goals in regards to the reaching needed funding level targets. It is harder at a later date to get more funding after the first funding mechanism(s) are set-up.

Community Air Service Support Funding strategy execution is often one area where you get only one good bite at the apple and any later bite attempts will see the apple a moving target.  Community expectations are often set in stone with the first funding plan, making later adjustments or acquisition of more funding supporters difficult if not impossible.

Communities that look forward and anticipate future funding needs as it regards community air service funding strategy execution, will give themselves the best chance for long-term air service success. Setting-up adequate funding levels, structures and sources based on these anticipated needs, will create a funding resource that will grow with the organization and sufficiently give the level of cash resources needed to successfully develop community air service.

When you take great care in developing your community air service support funding strategy, you can create good base funding from which to develop successful community air service.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to mobilize community support efforts and help clients, bridge the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can get more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. You can contact Scott Stewart at scott@communityflights.com .

Community Air Service Development

Community Air Service Development – Maximum Effort

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Community Air Service Development is more than just Post-Flight Analysis

Community Air Service Development requires more than just post flight analysis and creation of airline sales pitches. Community Air Service Development is also about more than increasing flight capacity and markets served.

Increasing air service is not always possible in many community air markets today. Many communities may have already met their flight service potential. Despite this, community’s may still have air service development needs. This includes sustaining the air service they now have.

Communities with air service currently meeting their air service potential, may still have air service development needs. Effective community air service development is also about maximizing air passenger capture and optimizing flight revenues and profitability. These features of air service development bring increased community economic activity and improved flight security! If a community is not constantly focused on developing their air service, they could lose the high-stakes competition to keep air service. They can also lose the many economic benefits that go with this.

Community Air Service Development

Community Air Service Development needs to fly on two Engines which includes post flight analysis and pre-flight departure passenger and revenue capture support efforts.

At Community Flights, our community air service development efforts focus on pre-flight departure air service support in addition to post flight analysis. With an effort that includes focus on post-departure analysis we insure your community air service can reach optimum success. Community Flights believes a community is operating on one engine at best, if you are not executing an airline passenger capture program:

  • We mobilize communities to effectively support airport airline service.
  • We improve air passenger capture, flight revenues and flight profitability.
  • We improve airport opportunities to increase capacity and airline market service.
  • We enhance community economic benefits driven by airport airline service.

Community Flights can solve your community’s problem of getting the airlines attention. We can help get the airline consideration of adding air service to your community. When your current air service demonstrates strong passenger demand, flight revenues and profit, the airlines often become very interested. This helps in sustaining and sometimes growing your flight service. When the airlines look at your community, if the community is seen as a low risk high profit opportunity, you will get more air service access opportunities!

Currently, there is not a lot of air service growth domestically in the United States. Now more than ever if you want to reach your air service goals you want to insure you’re taking every reasonable action possible to support your flights. Investing wisely in professional air service pre-flight departure support, in addition to post-flight analysis is a difference maker that separates your community from competing communities.

Airports. If you have an air service consultant helping you with air service development and they are not mobilizing and aligning the community on air support efforts you are flying on one engine. You are only doing half of what you can to drive success. Tracking regularly your community’s competitive position and consistently executing on community awareness and engagement, will help complete your air service development effort. Community Flights can start the important second engine of air service development (Maximizing passenger and revenue capture on your flights) and take your air program farther faster.

Call Community Flights at 970-759-3559 or email us at scott@communityflights.com to discuss how our successful air passenger capture program can drive effective community air service development and help your community break through and meet your air service goals. www.communityflights.com for more information on Community flights services.

Air Service Funding Plan – It Needs to be Effective

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Air Service Funding Plan – It Needs to be Effective
Should Cover Many Program Cost Areas

Air service funding plan should cover the following cost areas: administration, air service experts, air service incentives, reliable data and marketing support. Air service is not just a get it and the flights will be the filled-and-successful proposition. Regularly focused community support and marketing efforts are necessary to increase awareness and usage of the air service in order for your air program success.

An air service funding plan is one of the critical roadmaps to a communities air service success. When a community acquires new air service but doesn’t have the other funding to support the new service it becomes like buying a car and then putting no gas in it. The car won’t go very far and your new flights may not capture enough extra passengers to produce enough flight revenues.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to mobilize community support efforts and help clients, bridge the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. You can contact Scott Stewart at scott@communityflights.com .

Air Service Funding Should Capture all Regional Beneficiaries

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Air Service Funding Should Capture all Regional Beneficiaries
It’s More Difficult to Pick-up Funding After the Initial Effort

Air service funding efforts in your community should capture all the regional beneficiaries upfront during the first solicitation effort. Funding support should also be proportional from the beginning of the funding process. It is difficult to pull air service beneficiaries into “Funding Support” after the first solicitation effort.

When setting up your air service funding if you are not capturing all the regional beneficiaries you will have a hard time getting contributions later. Beyond not optimizing your funding this can also create a sense of unfairness in the organizations that are funding your air program. This can also destabilize your funding efforts and cause some partners to stop funding your efforts.

When you consider air service funding and the level of benefit, you should start with the end program needs in mind. From the total funds you expect needing you should then find the beneficiaries and ask they fund to a level proportional to their benefit. While nailing these funding levels to the complete satisfaction of all partners is impossible if you can get this close you can reduce funding support as a level of contention in the air program organization.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to mobilize community support efforts and help clients, bridge the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. You can contact Scott Stewart at scott@communityflights.com .

 

Community air service funding targets

Community Air Service Funding Targets Should be Fair

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Community Air Service Funding Targets Should be Fair
Should be proportional within the region and industries

Community air service funding targets and should be fair. They should also be proportional within the region/ industries and based on the “Benefit” of the air service within the community air program. Many community agencies will “keep score” so a funding mechanism that focuses on fair contribution will help keep the focus on effective air service support and not funding equability.

When community air service funding targets are not well-considered upfront or unfairly structured, this can cause lack of community business participation and insufficient funding for ongoing support of the community air service.

Community Flights experience has shown that when community air service funding targets do not show fairness,  both in businesses and organizations identified and level of funding to request, effective community air service support and development will be hand-cuffed. We recommend that communities don’t set their air programs back from the start by setting up fund-raising efforts that have unfair structures.

Community Flights has developed over 35 best practices and guiding principles for communities looking to improve their air service. The above is just a small sample of a complete guidebook of best practice.

If you’d like to receive the complete guidebook for FREE: Community Flights Air Service Development Best Practices and Guiding Principles, email: scott@communityflights.com and ask we send the full guide.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to mobilize community support efforts and help clients, bridge the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. You can contact Scott Stewart directly at scott@communityflights.com.

 

Selecting Air Carrier Service

Selecting Air Carrier Service-The Best Questions to Ask

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Selecting Air Carrier Service – Best Questions to Ask Meridian, MS City Leaders Studying New Airline Services
Questions to Help Select the Best Air Service

When Selecting Air Carrier Service, Asking the Right Air Service Questions is Critical!
Meridian, Mississippi has a fantastic opportunity according to a news article that came out recently. { http://www.meridianstar.com/local/x1760092838/Airlines-submit-bids-to-serve-Meridian-other-MS-markets } They are in the process of selecting air carrier service. They have two air carriers that have bid to serve their community giving them an option in selecting air carrier service. While I don’t have access to the two airline bids from ExpressJet and Aerodynamics Incorporated, I have a hunch which would be the better choice and on the steps taken to give the selected service the best chance for success.

Successful Air Service is more than just having the best carrier(s) serving your community!
Before I suggest the best questions to help lead to a good for selecting air carrier service, I do want to emphasize that getting to a result of successful air service takes a lot more than deciding on the operating carrier. Air service isn’t just an “acquire air service and it will be sustainable” proposition. Consistent and effective community support by a mobilized community is critical to success. Investing in a professional air service support program several months before the start of new service is critical to an effective community effort. Airlines need to see air service succeed right away or they will move unprofitable air service and the plane serving your market to another market where they can make money.

Some Air Service Questions a Community Should ask when Selecting Air Carrier Service
Key Drivers of Air Service Success

Key Driver: 40%-60% of most passengers using local airports are local origination
Question: What are your top demand destinations from your local population?

Since Meridian does not have air service at this time, residents fly out of Jackson and other regional airports. However, data is available to show the destination of Meridian residents. Meridian should professionally analyze the data to help decide the best carriers for Meridian based on who will better serve the travel destinations of its residents.

Typically in today’s airline industry, flights use a hub airport which then feeds passengers to multiple other feed flights to get these passengers to their destination. About 70% (this can vary) of the passengers on the flight from your market to the hub market are going on via another flight from the hub to their destination and only 30% are flying to the hub and terminating their trip there. Matching air service with the best airline system to deliver the passengers to the top destination markets can help recapture local flyers from alternate regional airports and be a guide in selecting air carrier service.

Key Driver: Meridian is home to a key military installation, the Meridian Air Station
Question: Will the carrier(s) offer a military air rate and what will this be?

Recapturing a good part of these local passengers, including military service members, will be critical to successfully supporting the local airport flights. If the military rate is not competitive with alternate competing regional airports like Jackson MS, the recapture of enough of these air passengers won’t occur and your air service will struggle. Unprofitable air service would put the air service in jeopardy of being cancelled. Military traffic is a key part in selecting air carrier service.

Key Driver: Sustainable Air Service in the long-term
Question: Which air carrier option will best help growth to larger aircraft in the future?

Due to economics and plane costs, smaller regional jets of less than 70 seats are finding it harder and harder to deliver a profit to operating carriers. Currently there is a retirement of more and more of the aircraft with fewer than 70 seats. These aircraft are not being replaced by the airlines. Meridian is choosing between two operators who would use 50 seat regional jets. To avoid making an air carrier choice that could mean losing air service after just four or five years, Meridian needs to what service provides the best growth opportunities when selecting air carrier service. The community will need to create or capture a higher level air passenger demand at the local airport. Meridian will likely need to support air service on 70 seat or larger aircraft in the not too distant future if they want commercial air service long-term. Meridian needs to decide the present, but with an eye to the future.

This idea of Meridian building their air service with the future in mind is also critical feature in selecting air carrier service. I caution Meridian against just thinking about thinking their choice from the two air carrier options is their only key air service decision. Unless Meridian puts in a formal air service support effort that they intend to continue long-term, they will not position their flights successfully for the air service industry of the future. Their initiative will just create an air service “Episode” for a few years instead of an air service legacy that will drive economic benefits thru their community flights for the long-term.

I hope Meridian uses futurist thinking in their selecting air carrier service decision-making process. Further, Meridian should engage professional assistance to help and support their decisions. These questions are just a sample of what I think Meridian should ask in regards to successfully re-establishing commercial air service in Meridian, Mississippi. Other questions  I would suggest asking with an eye to long-term commercial air service access for the Meridian region. Professional advice can help ask the right questions.

Scott Stewart is the principle of Community Flights; an air service support, development and management company. Community Flights works with communities, organizations or businesses on leveraging the great economic asset that air service is for economic gain. Scott formed Community Flights in January 2013 to mobilize community support efforts and help clients, bridge the “air service understanding gap” with the airlines to create an airline and community win-win air service support and performance environment. You can find more info about Community Flights at www.communityflights.com. You can contact Scott Stewart at scott@communityflights.com .