By 2016, 80% of the roughly 200 airlines participating in the SITA/Airline Business IT Trends Survey.plan to offer mobile boarding passes through their own apps, up from the current 53%., the survey found.

And the use of third-party apps for mobile boarding passes is slated to be the norm for 62% of global airlines by 2016, up from the current 21% of carriers, the survey found.

Airlines thus are showing no qualms about in a sense outsourcing the distribution of their mobile boarding passes to companies such as Apple, Samsung and Google, and passengers are getting more convenience as their boarding passes through these apps will pop up on their smartphones when they reach the environs of the airport.

In other mobile developments, while a majority of airlines currently offer mobile check-in and flight search, over the next three years a majority of airlines will add missing bag reporting (60%) and rebooking capabilities (63%), the survey found.

Both missing bag reporting and rebooking capabilities, if they are handled adeptly through mobile offerings, will save travelers lots of wasted time at the airport or on the phone trying to get relief from customer services agents.

The post Mobile boarding passes ramping up in Apple Passbook, Samsung Wallet and Google Now appeared first on Skift.

SimpliFlying's Shashank Nigam, speaking earlier today at SITA's Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels, Belgium. / SITA Online

SimpliFlying CEO and founder Shashank Nigam believes airlines should offer free, onboard Wi-Fi, and that many of airlines and airports are laying their marketing on too thick and clumsily in social media. Nigam presented his views at SITA’s 2013 Air Transport IT Summit outside Brussels today, and Skift caught up with him afterwards.

Nigam: I have a very strong opinion about that. The paid Wi-Fi model right now just breaks. With a $12 fee, neither do you get enough adoption as it’s only around 5%, and that’s not enough to make any money off that. And neither do you provide any sort of customer experience enhancement. So decide: Do you want to make money? Then charge $50 for it. Or do you want to provide a customer service, and then provide Wi-Fi for free.

And, when you provide it free, there are lots of revenue opportunities. Imagine every plane as a marketing node in the sky where you are able to market tours to people flying to Chicago, the boat tours. And people traveling back home from Chicago, you can market grocery shopping. And on every purchase you might make 1%, on Amazon.com, for example. So work with partners, and see how you can leverage this. And, one airline is doing this very well. Mango Airlines in South Africa is using its free Wi-Fi for a customer service. They partnered with Vodacom, which gives them the revenue, and it is a very good ecosystem.

Skift: At one point you mentioned that airlines and airports should get off of Facebook and Twitter because they don’t really listen to passengers anyway. What did you mean by that?

Nigam: When I said stop doing that I meant stop doing it as you are doing it right now, which is marketing and addressing the guy on the couch tweeting about you just as much as the the number one frequent flyer who is often ignored just because he doesn’t have as many Twitter followers as the guy on the couch. So airlines should really be refocusing their effort toward customer service, ancillary revenue, and loyalty rather than just generic marketing.

Skift: How does mobile play into these efforts?

Nigam: Mobile is critical. You can’t have a QR code on a bus and when you scan it you go on a full website because, guess what? People are going on their mobile phones to scan. Mobile is critical; 70% access Facebook through mobile so why not your website.

Skift: Which airlines and airports are doing an especially good job in social and mobile and which ones are failing in their efforts?

Nigam: When it comes to customer service, I would Turkish Airlines is doing well, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and, of course, we know about KLM. KLM does a phenomental job in terms of brand engagement. They are launching a new Facebook game where you can manage your airline company. You can buy planes, buy slots, manage landings, things there. It is really engaging. KLM does it well. In Asia you have the likes of Air Asia; which is very proactive. Even others like Cathay Pacific, Royal Brunei Airlines, i.e. legacy carriers are doing very well.

Skift: You were talking about KLM and its Facebook game, but that doesn’t really enhance the passenger experience, right?

Nigam: I think it’s a full spectrum. Until now airlines have overdone the branding engagement and marketing side of things. There is a need to balance it with the passenger experience. For example, KLM has Meet & Seat. You can sit next to a LinkedIn or Facebook friend or make introductions. KLM, I would say, is balanced, but most airlines are not. They just just do the marketing stuff or run a contest. But, guess what? If you are a low cost carrier and you give away an exit row, and Emirates might come along and give away a first class suite with a shower free, how do you compete with that? So you really must look at who your customers are, what they are doing, and how you can add value to their experience through social media.

Skift: You mentioned that Qatar Airways is doing some really interesting things in its apps from a passenger experience standpoint?

Nigam: I believe Qatar Airways has the prototype iPad app with augmented reality included in it. You can actually point your iPad out of the window and look at what’s beneath and possibly learn more about it on Wikipedia, and even book a hotel perhaps in that place, which may or may not be a partner hotel. You can can also schedule your movies, you can schedule your in-flight experience. In two hours I want to have my meal, and in the next two hours I want to watch a movie and this information is potetially communicated to the flight attendant.

Skift: Which airlines or airports really stick out as needing to get their social media act together?

Nigam: Some European ones, which have been very erratic in terms of tweeting. Ryanair is one which publicly refuses to be on social media and says we don’t care about customers. Our price is the product and because of that people will come to us.

Skift: But Ryanair is successful anyway even without social media.

Nigam: Yes, because there is always a new bunch of backpackers who want to go to Valencia for a few days.

Skift: But you don’t think Ryanair’s social media abstinence is an effective long-term strategy?

Nigam: No. You have to go where your customers are. These days 70% of travelers are logging onto Facebook while they are traveling. They are not going to airline.com. Hence you should be be on Facebook in order to engage them while they are traveling rather than just doing promotions when they get back.

The post Skift Q&A: Airlines and airports should be smarter about Wi-Fi and social media appeared first on Skift.

US Airways and American Airlines aircraft line up. / Associated Press

US Airways Group Inc. and AMR Corp.’s American Airlines won’t learn if their $11 billion merger passes U.S. antitrust review before a court hears American’s request to confirm its bankruptcy reorganization plan in August, people familiar with the matter said.

The Justice Department still is analyzing whether the combination will create a monopoly in any markets and isn’t close to issuing a decision, said three people, who asked not to be named because process is confidential. The ruling is one of the few remaining hurdles to be cleared before the carriers can combine to form the world’s largest airline.

“Ordinarily this might seem like a long time for the merger review,” said Seth Bloom, the former general counsel of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee who’s now in private practice in Washington. “But because they’re waiting for the bankruptcy court to confirm the plan, I wouldn’t read substantive conclusions into that.”

American will ask the bankruptcy court overseeing its Chapter 11 case in Manhattan to confirm the airline’s reorganization plan at an Aug. 15 hearing.

Ed Stewart, a spokesman for Tempe, Arizona-based US Airways, declined to comment on the timing, as did American spokesman Michael Trevino.

Competitors including JetBlue Airways Corp. and Southwest Airlines Co. have questioned the extent of control the new American will have over Washington’s Reagan National Airport. US Airways Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker, who will lead the combined carrier, has said he doesn’t expect any antitrust issues to be raised.

Airport slots

U.S. regulators limit takeoff and landing slots at the airport, where US Airways has said the post-merger American will control 67 percent of daily departures. The combined carrier will have 25 percent of the aircraft seats in the market, which includes Washington Dulles International and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall airports, US Airways has said.

In addition to securing approval from the bankruptcy court and antitrust regulators, US Airways shareholders have to support the combination in a July 12 vote before the merger can close. The companies have said they expect that to happen in the third quarter.

US Airways and American agreed in February to combine as part of AMR’s bankruptcy restructuring. AMR creditors will own 72 percent of the equity in the combined airline, while 28 percent will go to US Airways shareholders. Together, they will pass United Continental Holdings Inc. as the biggest airline, based on passenger traffic.

US Airways rose 1.6 percent to $17.22 at 4:02 p.m. in New York trading. The shares have climbed 28 percent this year, trailing a 42 percent rise in the Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index.

The case is In re AMR Corp., 11-bk-15463, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Editors: Fred Strasser, James Callan. To contact the reporters on this story: Sara Forden in Washington at sforden@bloomberg.net; Mary Schlangenstein in Dallas at maryc.s@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net; Ed Dufner at edufner@bloomberg.net. 

The post The new American Airlines will not see lift-off by mid-August appeared first on Skift.

The unscheduled diversion is the latest hiccup for Boeing’s newest plane, which has been beset by problems and only recently returned to the skies after regulators grounded it worldwide due to trouble with its batteries.

“United flight 139 from Denver to Tokyo-Narita diverted to Seattle due to an indication of a problem with an oil filter,” United said in an emailed statement. “The aircraft landed normally and without incident and we are working to re-accommodate customers.”

Boeing said it was aware of the issue and was working with United and General Electric Co on the problem. GE Aviation, the GE unit that made the jets installed on the 787 in question, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Regulators and investors are keenly following the progress of the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s first predominantly carbon-fiber aircraft, which was more than three years late getting into service after a number of production setbacks.

Introduced by airlines in late 2011, the Dreamliner was grounded worldwide in January after its lithium-ion batteries overheated on two jets in about a week. It resumed commercial service in May after Boeing installed a redesigned battery system on the 50 jets in service.

There was no initial indication that any problem with the plane on Tuesday was related to the battery.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by Stephen Coates)

The post United Airlines Dreamliner diverted due to oil filter problem appeared first on Skift.

That status used to require flying 25,000 miles per year. Now, United is adding a requirement for at least $2,500 in spending, too, to qualify for status in its MileagePlus program.

Most frequent fliers would spend that much anyway if they are earning 25,000 miles. But those who buy discounted tickets might be affected.

Travelers like to get so-called “elite” status because of seat upgrades and other perks.

The change takes effect next year for travelers trying to earn status in 2015. Taxes and bag fees won’t count toward the spending total.

United Continental Holdings Inc. announced the change Tuesday. It matches a change made by Delta Air Lines Inc. in January.

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The post United joins Delta in adding spending requirements for elite frequent flyers appeared first on Skift.

Air Belin jets sits at Munich Airport. Marcus Bolt / Flickr

Pilots at Air Berlin Plc, Europe’s third-biggest discount carrier, plan a short-term strike sometime in coming days in a push for higher pay, arguing they aren’t the ones to blame for losses at the company.

The carrier should make up for wages that lag behind the average at competitors by at least 10 percent, Markus Germann, chief negotiator for the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots union, said. Air Berlin needs to narrow its business focus rather than basing a turnaround push on employees’ concessions, he said.

“Air Berlin is doing a little bit of everything: touristic flights, city shuttles and business passengers,” Germann said. “That strategy obviously doesn’t work, and that’s not the pilots’ fault.”

The airline outlined a strategy in January of reducing its fleet and cutting 900 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, in a push to increase earnings by 400 million euros ($535 million) by 2014. Air Berlin, based in the German capital, posted its first annual net income since 2007 last year only after selling control of its frequent-flier program to Etihad Airways PJSC, the carrier’s biggest investor.

Germann declined to specify the union’s demand beyond saying he wants a “strongly improved offer” from Air Berlin that would raise pilot wages in about three years to the average paid by Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s Germanwings low-fare unit, TUI AG’s competing TUIfly division and Thomas Cook Group Plc’s Condor charter brand. He also declined to give dates or times for the warning strike.

‘Fair Offer’

Air Berlin made “a fair offer” to pilots on May 12, said Mathias Radowski, a spokesman, declining to give figures. The company will do everything it can to minimize effects of any strike, he said.

Cumulative losses in the four years prior to 2012 amounted to 610.6 million euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, and the first-quarter loss in 2013 totaled 196.4 million euros. The company plans to generate an operating profit this year, and reduce net debt to 500 million euros from 728 million euros on March 31.

The company is also suffering from capacity constraints at its Berlin home hub after the opening of a new airport being built in the city was delayed.

Productivity at the company’s namesake brand is declining as Air Berlin shifts routes to partner airlines abroad, Germann said. The airline currently employs almost 1,300 pilots, according to the labor representative.

Etihad, the Abu Dhabi-based airline that’s the third- biggest Persian Gulf carrier and the owner of a 29 percent stake in Air Berlin, said in May that it’s recruiting pilots from the German partner amid an expansion drive by the Middle Eastern company.

Editors: Tom Lavell and Robert Valpuesta.

To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net.

The post Air Berlin pilots plan strike with goal of matching competitors’ wages appeared first on Skift.

Handout of of a United Airlines 787 Dreamliner. Handout / Reuters

It’s a good news, bad news story for airline customer satisfaction: Scores are the best in nearly two decades, but consumers still love to hate airlines more than most any other industry, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Despite raising its benchmark score 2 points, to 69 out of 100, the airline industry beat only cable TV companies and Internet providers in customer satisfaction among 43 industries measured by the index.

“Crowded seating, rising ticket prices, extra fees and poor service all contribute to a rather dreary travel experience,” the report says. Customers were also unhappy with flight schedules and the quality of loyalty programs.

“They’re really just about as bad as it gets,” Forrest Morgeson, the index’s director of research, said of airlines.

Chicago-based United Airlines is emblematic of the industry. Its score remained at the highest level since 2007. But with a dismal score of 62, it was the worst-performing airline among six large carriers measured, rating below the cable and Internet service industries.

Jeff Smisek, CEO of United, said recently that United’s in-house satisfaction scores “have gone up by a factor of five from where they were a year ago,” and he vowed better service for passengers this summer compared with the problem-plagued travel season last year.

United passengers experienced rampant delays and cancellations last summer after United and Continental moved to a common passenger reservation system, an airline’s technology backbone. Glitches and inadequate training of employees were blamed for delays and poor customer service.

“We’re making huge strides,” Smisek said during a speech at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce annual membership meeting June 4. “If you’ve been flying us lately, I think you’ve experienced improvement in customer service, and I think you’re only going to continue to see that going forward.”

The index’s study was conducted during the first quarter of the year, asking about the experience of consumers who flew particular airlines during the previous 12 months. That time frame included United’s trouble-plagued summer of 2012.

Low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways led the airline industry for a second year, up 2 percent, to a score of 83, according to the report, which has been released annually since 1994. Next was Southwest Airlines, the largest carrier at Midway Airport. It rediscovered its “luster,” with a 5 percent gain in satisfaction after a decline following its merger with AirTran Airways, the report said.

Delta Air Lines improved 5 percent, to 68, its highest score in a decade. American Airlines and US Airways, which plan to merge, rate in the mid-60s, just above United.

Airlines aren’t bad at everything when it comes to passengers.

Customers give high marks to airlines for the check-in process (82 out of 100); ease of making reservations (82); and the courtesy and helpfulness of flight crews (81).

But the quality of in-flight services such as the food, beverage service, movies and music was not rated as good (68), and seat comfort was awful (63).

The study’s finding of incremental improvement for airlines echoes others.

For example, airline customer satisfaction improved to its highest level since 2006, according to the J.D. Power & Associates 2013 North America Airline Satisfaction Study released in May. Overall satisfaction improved to 695 on its 1,000-point scale, a 14-point increase from 2012.

A different ranking, called the Airline Quality Rating, a project of researchers at Purdue University and Wichita State University, found that the airline industry in 2012 performed at a near-record-high level on measures important to consumers, such as taking off on time and not losing checked bags. The study is based on data collected by the Transportation Department.

gkarp@tribune.com ___

The post Study finds passengers still love to hate airlines — especially United appeared first on Skift.

Russian air force Sukhoi su-139 fighters performs during their presentation at Paris Air Show in le Bourget, North of Paris, France, Sunday, June 16, 2013. The Paris Air Show will open on June 17 at Le Bourget. Jacques Brinon / AP Photo

The Paris Air Show, which opened for business on Monday, brings hundreds of aircraft to the skies around the French capital, the usual tense competition between aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus, and a slew of innovations large and small. Here’s what to look for over the show:

Battle of the wide-bodies

The much-anticipated Airbus A350 flew for the first time on Friday, launching a new air race between the European plane maker and Boeing for long-haul wide-body aircraft.

Boeing has dominated the market so far, but troubles with the lithium ion batteries in its 787 Dreamliner are giving customers a reason to give a close look at Airbus’ first all-new plane in eight years. The CEO of Airbus parent EADS, Tom Enders, has said he expects a “few hundred” new orders. Boeing executives, meanwhile, downplayed the air show’s importance for orders, noting that the two companies have historically split the commercial aircraft market.

A year ago, at the Paris Air Show’s sister event in Britain, Boeing beat Airbus for the number of orders announced. The U.S. company took in $37 billion in orders and commitments, well above Airbus’ $16.9 billion.

But the announcements during the air shows are not always a reliable indicator of business since prices are often negotiated down heavily and big orders don’t always coincide with the event.

The race for the title of biggest plane maker is as tight as ever. Over the whole of 2012, Airbus delivered 588 planes. That was a record, but one Boeing beat with 601 deliveries, the first time since 2003 it came out on top.

No hands on deck

They have swooped into wildfires to take temperatures and tracked animals across Africa. They have guided a fuel tanker to safety through icy waters. Drones are increasingly being used for non-military purposes and are expected to feature prominently at the Paris Air Show.

There are still tough restrictions on their flight for safety reasons, but while the Federal Aviation Authority works on new rules, the makers of drones will aim to show off innovation and technical prowess at the show. Eurocopter, a company based in France, will showcase new technology that can transform a manned helicopter into one that flies without a pilot.

Even in Paris, sequestration takes toll

American fighter jets aren’t taking to the skies above Paris, nor will they be seen on the ground, for the first time in more than two decades thanks to the U.S. government’s spending cuts – the infamous ‘sequestration’.

The U.S. pavilion remains the largest, but the event will be less of a sales showcase for latest military hardware and more a place for suppliers to meet up with potential customers.

Russia, on the other hand, is looking to make a splash by presenting fighter jets and military helicopters at the show for the first time since 2001. The Sukhoi manufacturer will showcase its Su-35, a twin-engine multipurpose fighter, for the first time outside Russia. Britain and France also will have fighter jets on display.

“It’s two different trends between commercial aircraft and defense,” said Eric Bernardini, a consultant for AlixPartners who follows the aerospace industry.

Every little bit counts

Less flashy but just as important for the industry will be the myriad technological innovations that parts suppliers will come to Paris to present. The biggest issue? The cost of fuel.

The price of jet fuel has more than tripled worldwide since 2003 — a trend both jet manufacturers and airlines expect to continue. Electric- or solar-powered commercial flights are wildly improbable and biofuels aren’t yet economically viable, so airlines are looking to improve mileage any way possible.

For long-haul flights, that means more carbon-fiber in airplane bodies and other design tweaks, such as electric motors for taxiing. For passengers, it means no end in sight on extra baggage fees.

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The post Airlines search for answers to rising fuel costs at Paris Air Show appeared first on Skift.

A rural community of less than 5,000 people, according to Polish government statistics, it is a location that during World War II served as a battleground for Soviets to face off with Nazis.

Miastkowo falls between Western Europe and Asia: flyover country for Euro-Sino, Euro-Russian, and Amero-Middle Eastern travel alike. If it weren’t for the draw of the Americas this balance point could have fallen in neighboring Belarus to the west, or if there were fewer flights in Asia it might have been farther west, closer to Warsaw.

Quartz derived this location by calculating the average midpoint of the more than 61,000 international flight routes in the Openflights Database. The database was last updated in December.

Just as the center of a square is the average midpoint of the lines connecting its corners, the center of air travel is the the average midpoint of the routes connecting airports. In Quartz’s model, each airport was counted as many times as there were routes that originated or terminated at that location. Each route was counted as many times as there were airlines that flew it.

Some of the flights were long, like Sydney to Los Angeles. Others were much shorter, like Luxembourg to Paris. The average distance of every route was 1,639 miles (about the distance of Tel Aviv to Prague), though most are less than 1,110 miles (shorter than a flight from New Orleans to Toronto). The longest international flight in the database is the 9,540 mile trip from Newark, New Jersey to Singapore. The shortest is an 11-mile jump from Monaco to Nice, France.

This story originally appeared on Quartz, a Skift content partner.

Additional links from Quartz:

• Why flying first class increases your carbon footprint by six times
  
• How a restaurant with no cash registers and no prices makes money
• $314 million in shark ecotourism probably won’t dent the global fin trade, but it’s a start

The post The center of modern-day aviation sits in a rural field in Poland appeared first on Skift.

Mr. Smisek, in an interview, called 2012 “awful” for United. The company lost money, was hit by a wave of canceled and delayed flights, and infuriated many customers by mishandling changes to its passenger reservation system and dramatically modifying its frequent-flier rules. Two reservations outages, last August and November, inconvenienced fliers and fueled questions about Uniteds ability to manage itself.

The post United CEO: Changes took place too fast and airline still has “a ways to go” appeared first on Skift.

Read the Complete Story...