© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 1 Internet in aviation IT industry Grach Muradyan Moscow 26 November 2008
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 2 Current situation review Internet penetration in airline sales ( airline own web site vs. total bookings) Western airlines: Southwest: 74% ( %) British airways: 46.9 % airBaltic: 43% RU / CIS airlines: Aeroflot: 6-7% Air Astana: 4 % Aerosvit: 3.15%
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 3 Current situation review “The web Veteran” - The first LCC and to establish a home page on the Internet 101+ mln pax (74+ mln pax booked online in 2007) 2997 pax per one WN employee 527 aircraft fleet (B737s fleet only) Number One airline web site for online revenue 70% of customers are checking-in online or at self-service kiosk
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 4 Current situation review Internet in the airline IT: 3 dimensions at least Data transfer media (terminal or host to host) Traffic cost savings, global reach, standard protocols Services access environment Ordering and billing online, problem loading / servicing… Sales and Marketing environment – competition is moving from offline to online ! Advertising, promotions… Travel agencies vs. airlines direct sales channel
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 5 Current situation review Ordering services online via Amadeus Extranet
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 6 Internet sales effectiveness Are Internet sales so easy as seemed initially ? Full business package should be available… ( just one missing component decreases effectiveness) Seamless booking scenarios Flexible Fare Quote, simple & clear FQ rules Reliable CC payments + options (ATO/CTO ticketing) E-ticketing on the whole airline network + interlines Post-sell support, including online rebooking, refund, etc… / Does anybody provide this service in RU ? / Increasing pressure on the airline call centres DCS services online (web check-in…)
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 7 Internet sales effectiveness Are Internet sales so cheap as seemed initially ? Less savings as agent commissions went down CC transaction fees appeared instead Additional permanent costs for Website Servicing and support (outsourcing) Fraud protection Marketing (banners, advertising on the search engines) Payment solutions integrations costs Call centre for online booking (post sell) servicing…
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 8 Internet sales effectiveness Marketing on easyJet.com: banners & references
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 9 Internet sales effectiveness Need for permanent promotion
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 10 Internet sales effectiveness ( post-sale services)
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 11 Permanent support needed Internet sales effectiveness
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 12 Internet sales effectiveness Cheapest fares promotion – risk of loosing revenues ( sales “black holes” vs. upsell options)
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 13 Variety of travel services to be offered Internet sales effectiveness
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 14 Content competition: airlines vs. agencies
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 15 Content competition: airlines vs. agencies
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 16 Internet sales …website referring on the offline channel ?!
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 17 Internet sales …site content should be clear even for “housekeepers”
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 18 Internet sales effectiveness Internet specifics vs. traditional distribution channels Internet was not specifically designed for ticket sales Global coverage / unlimited access channel, but multilingual interface needed No need for terminal distribution, but requirement for user-friendly & intuitive interface No booking / abusing responsibility vs. agency case Risk of seats freezing (soonest payment needed) Booking cost is not fixed (vs. GDS Net Booking fees) Look to book ratio is very low (less then 2%) Competition area between airlines and TAs / portals
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 19 Internet sales effectiveness GDS still behind… GDS content while Internet used as an interface Consolidating travel services (hotels, cars, etc…) Acting as IT providers at the same time Ensuring the sales integrity (E-ticketing) Playing e-Commerce solutions providers role Sabre IBE: SU, KD… Amadeus IBE: FV, VV, KC… Supporting Travel agencies Direct sales channel Providing channel for higher revenue pax
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 20 Internet sales effectiveness channels diversification history Client
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 21 Internet trends Provider – User relationship development Stage 1: Provider gives no choice at all to User Stage 2: Provider offers User to choose within a number of limited options Stage 3: Provider establishes the rules, User creates the content itself
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 22 Internet trends choice by the users –
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 23 Internet trends ( vs. “all inclusive” marketing concept)
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 24 Internet trends Content fully created by users – одноклассники.ru
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 25 Internet trends
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 26 Internet trends Content provided by users - Wikipedia, Wictionary, etc… A project (since 2001) to build free encyclopedias in all languages of the world Everybody is free to contribute (neutral information) More than 10 million articles in 250 languages The largest Wikipedia - in English (2+ million articles) German, French, Polish and Japanese editions (each containing more than 1/2 million articles) Seventeen other language editions contain articles More than 100 other languages contain articles
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 27 Internet trends Passengers to bid on airline website, similar to ebay.com?
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 28 Internet trends Passengers to bid on airline website, similar to ebay.com?
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 29 Internet trends Airlines consolidator website: SkyAuction.com
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 30 Internet trends Airline tickets, room nights, tours, cruises and all-inclusive vacations Negotiating special deals with leading airlines, hotels, resorts and cruises Business around two simple, but powerful, ideas: Consumers should pay for their travel however much they feel it is worth (and not a penny more) Purchasing travel should be easy and exciting (and not difficult and boring…) !
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 31 Some conclusions Internet primary benefit is not (really) cost cutting, but instead Unlimited capacity channel (24 x 7 uninterrupted services) Unlimited geographical coverage Flexible content control & shortest “delivery” time Airline online activity to follow the Internet trends Providing the complete business package (including all post-sell services and support + upsell option!) Becoming more interactive and flexible for choices Allowing User / Passenger increasing influence on the content & services offered by an aniline
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 32 Some conclusions Internet turned out to be not so cheap channel as it seemed initially Internet sales require permanent efforts & investments for support & development Internet sales could lead to revenue loosing if misused (“black hole” effect) It’s not simply online vs. offline, but mainly direct vs. indirect sales split choice Offline vs. online sales should be well balanced: Every channel has it’s value vs. it’s cost
© 2008 Amadeus IT Group SA 33