The
need for air travellers to experience comfort at anytime whether on air
or on the ground cannot be overemphasised as that forms the bedrock of
high passenger traffic yield.
The experience a traveller has with an
airline may attract him to fly with it another time or discourage him
from patronising the services of such airline. Therefore, airline are
competing headlong by initiating sundry services and products to get a
better market share.
European and Western airlines operating
in Africa have often seen the prospect of travel on the continent hence,
the speed at which they rush to announce their investment in services
aimed at transforming the travellers’ experience.
Last week, Delta Airlines, biggest US
carrier which operates daily flights between Atlanta and Lagos, said it
is transforming the customer experience on flights between Nigeria and
the United States with more than $3 billion investment through 2013 in
airport facilities and global products, services and technology.
Speaking at the annual Business Traveller
Africa Expo and Conference, Bobby Bryan, Delta’s commercial manager
East and West Africa, highlighted a range of in-flight and on the ground
benefits to improve the product offering for customers flying on
Delta’s daily non-stop service between Lagos and the U.S.
“Delta introduced its new fully flat-bed
seat between Lagos and Atlanta in September 2012 and we currently offer
500 weekly business class seats. Nigeria was one of the first markets to
receive the new BusinessElite product which reflects the value of the
Nigerian market to Delta.” he said.
In June, Delta’s BusinessElite passengers
will see the introduction of the Westin Heavenly in-flight bedding
transforming the sleep experience in the air.
The luxury bed quilt is designed and
manufactured exclusively for Delta by Westin Hotels & Resorts. In
addition, Delta has also introduced a new BusinessElite amenity kit
featuring celebrated travel accessory brand, Tumi and Malin+Goetz
products.
Delta is continuing its investment in new
technology to simplify the customer journey and provide greater control
over the travel experience including the launch of the Fly Delta App
for iPad and improvements to delta.com.
Bryan noted that Delta currently operates
the world’s largest fleet of Wi-Fi ready aircraft and will begin to
roll out Wi-Fi for its long-haul services in 2014 while enhancements are
also being rolled out on the ground.
“Delta’s Sky Priority passengers enjoy
streamlined services at check-in, security and baggage claim as well as
access to Delta’s award-winning lounges. Last year, Delta opened its new
international terminal in Atlanta creating a state-of-the art gateway,
this May, Delta will unveil its $1.4 billion new terminal 4 at New York
JFK airport where Delta has established itself as the leading US
airline.”
Concerning its operations in Africa,
Delta has transported almost 3 million passengers on its Africa services
since the airline launched its first flights from the continent in
December 2006.
The airline flies to five cities in five
African countries namely: Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; Johannesburg,
South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria and Monrovia, Liberia.
Also recently, Britain’s giant carrier, British Airways (BA) said as part of its £5 billion investment
in new products and technology to provide the best possible flying
experience for British Airways’ customers, it is equipping its 3,600
pilots with iPads to further improve customer service and operational
efficiency levels in the coming years.
This move follows the airline’s roll out of iPads across its cabin crew and ground operations team.
By having access to additional real-time
operational data, shared with ground colleagues, pilots will be able to
plan the flight more efficiently using the most accurate information
available pre-departure.
This means flight crew can provide
customers with faster and more accurate flight information than ever
before. With the latest operational updates customers will be better
informed and able to make plans if their flight time has changed for any
reason.
Pilots will also be able to use historic
and current data, supplied by the customer, to provide an even more
personalised service during the flight.
Stephen Riley, British Airways’ director
of flight operations, said: “As pilots we want to deliver a safe and
memorable experience for each and every British Airways customer, on
every single flight.
“The iPads will help us to achieve this
goal by giving us the means to provide a more personalised service and
share more timely flight information with our customers and colleagues.”
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