The First & Most Comprehensive Look At The Airplane Flying Experience!
At any given time, up
to 5,000 aircraft are in the American skies.
Nearly 10 million passenger flights will take place this year. United
States airlines flew a record number of passengers last year -- – 741.6 million
domestic and 107.7 million international. So just how are airplanes meeting the
needs of today’s traveler?
Jetliner Cabins:
Evolution & Innovation,
www.jetlinercabins.com, a new eBook App by Jennifer Coutts
Clay, who has over 40 years of experience in the marketing and operational
management of airlines, features over 6,000 images, links to 400+
airline-related organizations, revelations from dozens of international experts,
and hundreds of pages of insightful text that showcases a unique perspective on
airline branding, interior cabin design, and the passenger experience. Providing both a historical record and
futuristic crystal ball, Jetliner Cabins is unique and unlike any other
book or app concerning aviation and transportation.
Clay worked for British
Airways and Pan American World Airways.
The Fulbright Scholar has consulted airlines for the past three decades
as the principal of J. Clay Consulting.
I am so pleased to be
involved in promoting her work for www.media-connect.com.
Here is an interview with her:
1.
What
do you see in the near future for the aviation industry as it relates to the
comfort of air travel? Current upgrades in cabin design include: ergonomically
constructed seat-frames, climate-controlled seat-cover fabrics,
lumbar-supporting contoured seat-foam inserts, LED ‘mood’ lighting, improved
air quality, bigger overhead bins for carry-on bags, larger windows, dimmable
window-panes, advance ordering of food and beverage, endless In-Flight Entertainment
options, Wi-Fi enablement, in-seat power supply, onboard streaming of program
content.
2.
When
you began working at British Airways in the 1970’s, could you have imagined the
state of air travel in 2018? In the 1970s we did not imagine that nearly 4 billion
passengers would be flying on the scheduled airlines in 2018. The general situation was less stressful in
the 1970s: Passenger Load Factors (PLFs) used to be around 65% or 70%. We did not envisage PLFs averaging close to 85%,
as we see today: this means that many aircraft are now flying completely full,
a lot of the time.
3.
What
else could airlines do to make air travel a more enjoyable experience? Airlines have to
tackle the problems of stressed-out passengers and increased passenger
expectations. There is a need for more
personalization, humanization, interesting experiences and warmth of welcome. With ever-longer flights airlines need to
provide more options for how the time can be used onboard the aircraft. To ensure their well-being, passengers need
to be encouraged to move around the aircraft: ideally, they should be able to socialize
in lounges, work in business areas, visit an exercise station, and then take a nice
shower.
4.
Which
airlines, domestically and internationally, provide the best value – some
combination of price, scheduling, convenience, and comfort in travel? Surveys show that in
USA Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest have achieved amazingly strong loyalty
levels because customers feel these airlines provide top-class value for money. Of the international carriers, Air New
Zealand, Qantas and Singapore Airlines have always been rated very highly. And some Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) have
achieved cult status because of their low fares – but not for reasons of seat
comfort e.g. Air Asia, EasyJet, Ryanair.
5.
How
are airlines making air travel more accessible and enjoyable to those with
special needs? Recent advances include aisle-size
wheelchairs, seat-armrests that can be raised for ease of access to the seat
row, in-flight literature in braille, special meals for dietary or medical
reasons, privacy curtains for use instead of closing the lavatory doors, and baby-changing
facilities in lavatories.
6.
How
has business-class comfort evolved over the years? The business-class
cabins of major long-haul airlines are now more comfortable than many first-class
cabins of ten or fifteen years ago. Passengers
can enjoy their individual suites/compartments with stretch-out sleeper-seats,
meal services on demand, cocktail bars and myriad entertainment options. This is the result of “trickle-down product
upgrades”.
7.
Has
the gap between first-class luxury and economy-class grown bigger or smaller
over the years? How so? Bigger. In the first-class cabins of the “gold-standard”
long-haul airlines the current levels of luxury are unparalleled in the history
of aviation. There are celebrity-quality standards of comfort and privacy. By contrast, economy-class cabins have become
more cramped and crowded than ever before.
8.
Airlines
have made improvements to fight terrorism, reduce pilot error, and provide
cost-efficient, on-time flights, but they also have managed to charge for
basics such as blankets and checked bags. They have long done away with free
meals and the seats have gotten narrower while security lines slow everything
down. How would you rate today’s flying experience? We
are looking at the evolution of economy-class travel. By “unbundling” their fares, airlines are
providing a more transparent selling platform.
Passengers can make their own individual decisions for their own
reasons. The “moderns” and “millennials”
appreciate this approach. Yes, some security
lines are slow, but they are not controlled by the airlines. Who would want to fly on an aircraft without the security screening process?
9.
Take
us back to the glory days of aviation. What made those days special? In the early days of
air travel most passengers were relatively wealthy or “special” for some
reason. They dressed in their best
clothes to fly. At the airports they
were welcomed personally. Aircraft cabins
were not crowded. Flight attendants were
thrilled to have glamor-style jobs working for airlines. In USA pioneering airlines such as Braniff,
Eastern, Pan Am and TWA became aviation legends: they opened up the world of
international travel, “the infinite highway of the air …” (Wilbur Wright).
10. What will next-generation aircrafts
provide to fliers? It seems that next-generation aircraft will be supersonic
jets, along the lines of Concorde. There
might be ecological developments e.g. there might be electric-powered or
solar-powered aircraft or flying cars using bio-fuels. There might be operationally more-efficient
versions of the current new-generation aircraft types e.g. the Boeing 787
Dreamliner, Airbus A380 and A350; the Bombardier C Series; the Embraer E-Jets
and other regional jets.
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Brian
Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas
expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or
anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and
email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when
discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©
2018. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.
This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America
and participated in a PR panel at the Sarah Lawrence College Writers Institute
Conference.
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