Airlines starting to take advantage of trapped audiences
If you are already selling sandwiches and Internet access, why not add limousine services and tickets to Broadway shows? Haven’t the always-sales-conscious airlines thought of it?
Yes, it’s an idea that American Airlines is testing to expand its retail component, says The New York Times.
The airline is offering in-flight Internet access and items from SkyMall, its glossy catalogue, on 165 airplanes.
“We wouldn’t invest if we didn’t feel comfortable it would provide a fair rate of return,” said John Tiliacos, managing director of onboard products for American Airlines. He added:
“Given where we find ourselves as an industry, financially it behooves us to identify every source of revenue we can identify.”
Other airlines declined to talk on the record about their plans, says the Times, but nearly all the major carriers acknowledged that they were working on expanding retail offerings.
The technology making the onboard sales possible is being provided by GuestLogix, a Canadian company that sells the credit card readers and sales software to the airline industry.
A brochure promoting its products describes onboard retail as unique because “operators are able to lock their doors with their shoppers still inside.”
By David Wilkening
David
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