Face-to-Face meetings form the core of all Routes events, presenting airlines, airports and tourism authorities an unrivalled platform to meet and discuss route development opportunities at one unifying event.
With World Routes 2017 in Barcelona fast approaching, Routesonline gathered the thoughts of decision makers from Finnair, Jetstar and SunExpress on what they do – and don’t – want to hear from airports.
Rikke Munk Christensen, vice president traffic planning, Finnair
"Some cities can have millions of people, but only 10 per cent of the population has a passport - we need that information."
"We need airports to know we have a small team. We don't have much time to analyse markets - we need you to bring information to us."
"We look at frequency optimisation, connections, seasonality, leisure planning and aircraft allocation – we want all of this information from you."
"We have a growth this year of more than 10 per cent. Many of the routes in Asia will be strong in summer but weak in winter - we need to find smaller routes to ensure the aircraft are flying all year round."
"An incentive for marketing support can be a deal breaker for long-haul. The £500,000 to £1m in marketing might be small compared to £150m to run a route. But the margins are small - it's about getting anything you can to make you feel comfortable as a business case."
World Routes 2017
Hear more on what airlines really want at Routes' Lightning talks, taking place at World Routes 2017 in Barcelona. Moderated by Nigel Mayes, senior vice president of consulting and product development at ASM, the session will explore how delegates can maximise the effectiveness of their airline meetings.
Seb Mackinnon, head of airport partnerships, Jetstar
"Our success is your success. We need the right platform, the right marketing and the right partnership."
"The right marketing needs to be a full team effort. We want airports, tourism authorities, local government, developers and hotel associations need to work together."
"It's very helpful when we hear from the origin and destination - cities coming together and providing us with a combined story."
"With regards to incentives it depends on the destination. There are some destinations where you need significant support, but even then marketing is vital - there is no point creating a route if you're not going to market it."
"Without marketing support you double the risk."
Wilken Bellmann , head of network planning and scheduling, SunExpress
"Airports and tourism authorities should meet with hoteliers before they meet with us. We want to know there are enough hotel rooms at the right rates.”
"We want you to be honest with us, and to be committed. Be honest with us about congestion bottlenecks."
"We want you to involve the tourism office, the government... we need the full picture."
"We want you to be prepared for the meeting. Don't ask us where we fly, you can find that out before the meeting. And if you don't know your own traffic numbers or how things run - that looks really bad."
"When it comes to marketing, irrespective of the type of destination the question is what you do with the money. It's always about money."
Downloads
Aviation reports and resources to help you to understand your markets, engage with your key business partners and create new routes.
The Power of Route Forecasting
This new white paper examines how forecasting works and why it’s important to both airports and airlines.
Indirect Traffic: The Key to New Routes?
Indirect routes are often regarded as a pathway to successful new routes - but what are the facts behind the theory?
Fundamentals of Route Development
This guide explains the rules of route development and presentation advice when pitching to potential partners.
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