Support Airline Service: Use Highly Targeted Marketing
We Recommend Incorporating Data Analytics.

When you support airline service with highly targeted marketing you will improve your air traveler capture and your chances for air service success.

Typically your air traveler demographic and psychographic make-up is different from your drive guest so we recommend air guest specific marketing and using an excellent Data Analytics
program to drive your market support. Knowing your air passenger segments allows you to put the right message in front of the right passenger type at the right time via the right media. This maximizes air passenger capture and is the best way to support airline service.

Look at your current air passenger purchasing patterns and other facts to help you know what message will work with each passenger segment, and at what time via what media. If you truly want to effectively support airline service, invest in a Data Analytics program or provider to fine tune you air passenger targeting and messaging.

When you effectively support airline service you set your community up to compete successfully against other airports who are often vying for these same passengers. A your more likely to catch more fish using the right bait your also more likely to capture more passengers when you target your air service offerings and features through targeted messaging.

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 Service Choices Should be Prioritized by Best Spend and Greatest Return on Investment Principles

Prioritize air service choices by set standards of “Best Spend” and “Greatest Return on Investment”. This will help your community air service succeed. Starting with the best opportunities (the center of the bulls-eye), and slowly moving out to riskier options will lead to better risk management and overall program stability.

You must remember that air service that is more successful requires less funding support. This air service is easier for a community to sustain. You should set as a priority choosing air service where there is a high passenger demand over aspirational service where you hope to develop a market. Once you’ve exhausted the markets that are most likely to self-support themselves, you can then look to develop market demand in new markets.

When you don’t prioritize your air service choices effectively, you can damage you ability to maximize air service to your community. It can lead to service not being self-sustaining or exhausting your funding sources. Your air service choices can then impede your ability to execute on other air service opportunities. Many airlines require community partners in supporting air service, which requires funding. Without sufficient community funding in today’s airline industry, opportunities are non-existent or can often become unrealized. Airlines often move on to other opportunities in other communities where the funding is present.

When you prioritize your air service choices wisely you can put your air service program on a firm foundation today and into the future.

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

Grow Community Air Service Sustainably
Be Cautious with your Air Service Growth

Grow community air service sustainably and you will see long-term air service benefits.

Fight against the want and sometimes community pressure, to grow community air service too quickly. If there is a chance you will overreach and be unsuccessful with new air service or this new air service damage incumbent service, you should err on the side of caution.

There are multiple benefits to your community when you grow community air service sustainably. Consistent growth vs. inconsistent air service development builds airline trust and reduces airline risk. This creates more growth opportunities for your community and saves on the long-term air service investment needed.

When you grow community air service too quickly every air service market failure puts doubt about whether your community can be a profitable market. Airline doubt makes your community look risky and the level of incentives or revenue guarantees to capture the air service increases. Over time, this can increase the level of community investment needed to improve your air service or put up a big road block to capturing any new 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 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 .

Strong Current Air Service: Where Air Service Acquisition Should Start
To Gain New Air Service Your Incumbent Air Service Needs to Work!

Strong current air service. If your community doesn’t have strong current air service knowing this can help turn your focus to supporting your community flights. This the best community first step to gaining new air service in this situation. If you pursue new air service while your incumbent air service is doing less than well, or you can’t answer the question: “Do we have strong current air service,” you are jumping the shark and hurting not only this near-term effort but damaging your long-term community air service development prospects.

The question “Do we have strong current air service,” is likely to get a positive response if your community is acting more like Yakima, Washington and Gunnison, Colorado and not Klamath Falls, Oregon. It means you’re proactively focusing on increasing community awareness and engagement with your current incumbent air service instead of prematurely pursuing new air service acquisition.

When Yakima answered the “Do we have strong current air service” question a year ago they started a community awareness program (Fly YKM Campaign) that focused on building-up usage of its current flights. Yakima flights had produced a 59% load factor. Through the FLY YKM efforts over the past year load factor increased to 73%. From recent discussions with Alaska Airlines, Yakima appears close to regaining some air service it lost over the last few years.

Gunnison, Colorado also answered the “Do we have strong current air service” question by focusing on air service support. Gunnison has highly seasonal air service that had seen many years of capacity decreases. Last winter Gunnison began a Fly GUC campaign as well as initiating other programs like the Gunnison Airfare Club that put local traveler attention on the local flights in a positive way. The winter 20122013 load factor of 62% increased to 72% in winter 20132014 leading to an air seat capacity increase of about 5% for this coming winter 20142015. This defies a trend of over 6 years of consistent capacity decreases at Gunnison due to low load factor and revenue performance.

Klamath Falls, Oregon had seen a consistent decline in capacity the last three years from about 64,000 seats to 42,000 seats until this June 2014 when air service on United ceased altogether. Klamath Falls appears to not have asked the question “Do we have strong current air service”. Their decline followed many years of low load factors below 70% which also had a declining trend over these years. The focus for this community for most of this decline period was on getting new flights and not focusing on making the flights they had work first – through community flight support and awareness campaigns. They did eventually start these support efforts but unfortunately for Klamath Falls the flight support efforts began only months before they lost all their commercial air service. Klamath Falls, by not asking and answering the question “Do we have strong current air service”,  focused their efforts on attracting new flights instead of putting more support into the flights they had. They lost their commercial air service.

Asking and answering honestly “Do we have strong current air service” is a critical first question to ask so you can appropriately direct your focus to new air service pursuit or current air service support. For communities not performing well, if you focus first on driving comparatively strong air service performance with your incumbent air service you can then later acquire new air service.

Almost every community recognizes the economic benefits that come with good air service access. Profitability of your air service alone isn’t the magic bullet for capturing new flights. Recognizing the competitive nature of the many communities wanting new air service and insuring that your community air service portfolio is strong comparatively will help make sure you win out over competing communities for new flights.

If you invest in supporting your current air service and don’t take this for granted you will likely end up doing well with your air service. When you out compete most other communities then you will be able to answer “Do we have strong current air service” in a positive way.

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 .

Understand How Air Service Choices Impact Funding Efforts
Avoid choices that don’t drive self-sustaining Air Service funding

Air service choices impact funding efforts. When you understand how air service choices impact funding efforts you can build a program over time that is solid and self-sustaining. We think you should ask some of the following questions when considering your air service choices:

> Do you have the funding to support both the new and incumbent air service successfully?

> Will the extra guest capture you forecast with your air market decisions, offer sustainable or better funding? Can you keep up or grow air service in the longer term?

Recommendation: Avoid air service choices that may meet lesser priority goals and don’t drive self-sustaining funding. This can reduce overall air program funding. It can also often lead to long-term air service capacity reductions.

When you don’t understand how air service choices impact funding efforts, bad choices can cost your community. Your air program funds can decrease limiting future growth potential.

When you don’t understand how air service choices impact funding efforts, you can mistakenly select air service that meets only the needs of the few. Because this doesn’t follow market principles, the air service choice will ultimately be unsustainable and fail.

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 .

Respect Airline Staff Time Challenges: Get Airline Response
Your Community is Only One of Hundreds They Serve!

Respect airline staff time challenges or you could find the airline slow to react to your community support requests. Failure to respect airline staff time challenges will get your emails redirected to their spam box and your calls unreturned. Critical coordination needed for the success of your air flight investment will not occur if you do not respect their time. Further, you could put at risk the success and continuation of your air service.

If you don’t understand that each airline analyst deals with close to 100 markets you are missing a key point. You do not respect airline staff time challenges if oftentimes you are treating them as the library of congress or a professor – they are not their to educate you or your community, they are their to do their jobs in helping their airline to higher profitability.

If instead you do come in with a clear and quick agenda for your meetings and do all you can to reduce the impact of the community on the various airline analysts time, you will avoid the spam box they will answer your calls! You’ve shown you respect the airline staff time challenges. The various airline analysts and other staff are the gatekeepers to coordinating well with the airlines which can help drive your flights to greatest performance and success.

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 .

Understand Airline Priorities and your community’s position within those priorities:  “Think like the airline”

Understand airline priorities and your community’s position within those priorities:
“Think like the airline”. The airline focus is on their stockholder earnings and their overall profit.

Professional guidance to a community is critical to speaking the airlines language in a convincing way to acquire air service and most effectively coordinate flight support efforts with the airline. You need to understand airline priorities because the airline focuses on these priorities. If you’re focused on actions other than those that will meet the airlines priorities you will not get the airlines support. Without that airline support optimizing your air service performance will be difficult and getting air service next to impossible.

You can show you understand airline priorities, and thus gain as much airline support as possible, by endeavoring to bi-sect your communities needs with these priorities when you pitch acquiring new service or when you look for airline support of incumbent service.

You do understand airline priorities when you understand that the airline focuses on their needs and really only engages with your community when your needs bi-sect their needs.

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 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 .