Airlines have been making many changes in management of late. It inspired us to do a little review of what airline management has been saying, as well as some new initiatives.
- Westjet
- Westjet CEO Sean Durfy thinks the Canadian discounter could control as much as half of the domestic Canadian market by 2013. The airline currently has about 35% of the market with the remainder going to Air Canada.
- Westjet plans to add 50 Boeing 737-NG aircraft by the same year.
- To combat Air Canada, Westjet plans to develop a French product, increasing its presence in Montreal and Quebec City(which it currently doesn’t fly to), as well as hiring 70 additional flight attendants.
- Westjet has announced an all-time high…a load factor of 88% for the month of August, up 3.5 percent from August 2006.
- Westjet was the first airline in North America to introduce an electronic boarding pass option, accepted at all 26 airports in Canada Westjet flies to. Passengers can proceed through security and board their flight using an electronic boarding pass displayed on a personal mobile device. Security concerns aside…it is just as safe as a printed email confirmation.
- US Airways
- US Airways has acquired a new COO, Robert Isom. The Arizona Republic sat down for a Q&A with him, which can be found here. He plans to spend some time defining what they are trying to provide as an experience, and prioritize those things that they have to be good at that they are not currently.
- Frontier Airlines
- Frontier’s new CEO Sean Menke is facing challenges as he takes over: Stiff competition from United and Southwest, delays in certification for its new regional subsidiary, Lynx Aviation…
- Co-founder Sam Addoms stepped down recently as Chairman, and the Rocky Mountain News has a Q&A with him available here.
- Jetblue Airways
- Jetblue is facing challenges as it expands and attempts to remain profitable.
- New CEO Dave Barger expects that Jetblue’s new terminal at JFK, set to open late next year and fronted by the historic former TWA terminal, will assist in revitalizing the airline.
- Focusing on the 100-seat Embraer 190s, Jetblue is connecting existing cities on new routes, allowing it to reduce its dependence on JFK while improving its options for passengers.
- United Airlines
- The San Francisco Chronicle has a profile on Barbara Higgins, the former Disney customer service executive now working for United who is trying to improve their image.
- Delta Airlines
- Delta Airlines has recently replaced its CEO with Richard Anderson, once CEO of Northwest Airlines.
- Delta has also introduced its own blog…Under the Wing. While corporate blogs are a form of self-promotion…they do allow airlines to advise us of what they think we should know and ask for us to provide valuable feedback on ideas they are exploring.
- Southwest Airlines
- Southwest is in the midst of a reexamination of procedures…looking at things they previously avoided in an attempt to remain competitive. This includes such things as in-flight entertainment, assigned seats, international codeshares, a second aircraft type besides the 737, and flying internationally itself.
- Southwest did test a family-only section on its aircraft on some planes, allocating a series of rows for families only to ensure families can sit together. These would be in the back of the plane, allowing the other groups to choose more preferred seats.
- Southwest is fairly good on its Nuts about Southwest blog in advising of its planned initiatives, and many Southwest bigwigs participate in commenting. A recent post was intended to provide a differing perspective on the recent Southwest-Hooters girl outfit controversy…namely that the girl looks fine standing up, but perhaps not so much while sitting down. They have been surprisingly mute on the subject, when they should have stood by their position that it was making others uncomfortable, but that their supervisor’s handling of it was not up to their standards.
More to come…