Passengers Get What They Pay For Says IATA's Outgoing CEO
Skift Take
We have to agree that there's no such thing as a free lunch, especially not on a plane. Airlines need to turn a healthy profit--and keep investors happy--to pay for product and service improvements. Even so, just saying everything is better doesn't make it so. Airlines will need to work on changing negative passenger perceptions, rather than pretending them away.
As he prepares to leave his post at the head of the world's largest airline organization, IATA's Director General, Tony Tyler, shared some wisdom with Skift on the sources of customer dissatisfaction with airlines, and what passengers have to look forward to over the next 20 years of aviation.
At IATA's World Passenger Summit in Hamburg, we asked Tyler for his thoughts on the antagonism that exists between passengers and airlines. He considered our characterization of the relationship as antagonistic a tad too strong, but conceded there are issues. Still, Tyler feels the industry works hard to address passenger needs.
"To a very great extent," he tells us, "you get what you pay for." Tyler believes that's what passengers want. "You have a wide choice of types of service and flexibility on ticketing conditions, which is as it should be."
Ranging from bare-bones, ultra-low cost airlines to full-service and boutiq
