APEX Editor's Blog

It’s a generally held belief that the majority of airline passengers who are exposed to inflight entertainment view the moving map at some point during their flight, making it the most popular show in the air. “Evidence [shows] that passengers get a great deal of comfort out of knowing where they are,” Airborne Interactive CEO [...]

Part of IATA’s charter – issued more than 60 years ago when the agency was founded – is to push forward with industry standards that ensure safe and efficient air travel. The association’s latest effort in that endeavour is its highly scrutinised New Distribution Capability (NDC), a complex undertaking that has garnered both praise and [...]

Will Southwest Airlines break from its resonating “Bags Fly Free” tagline and start charging for checked luggage? That was the underlying question during the carrier’s first quarter results briefing when CEO Gary Kelly discussed the carrier’s new ad campaign, which does not mention “Bags Fly Free”. Kelly was on the defensive that Southwest would not [...]

After unravelling their product offerings for the last few years to combat volatile fuel prices and build steady flows of ancillary revenues, many airlines are going back to the future by rebundling offerings in an effort to simplify the booking process for customers who have grown frustrated at having to navigate through the numerous add-ons [...]

IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative is attracting mixed views from airlines, global distribution systems (GDS) and aggregators. Airlines on the whole are keen to see a level of standardisation that will enable them to sell their ancillary products more effectively through indirect channels, but third party providers believe that many questions remain unanswered. NDC [...]

Aer Lingus’ director of product and brand, Michael Gannon, wants to start a revolution. “We want connected customers, not a connected airline,” said Gannon last week during the airline passenger experience conference at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. “And I suppose what I mean by that is that in the next number of years, [...]

NEW YORK: IATA’s answer to the evolution of product distribution for airlines dubbed the “New Distribution Capability” (NDC) could find some resistance in Europe where passenger privacy remains a high priority for various countries on the continent. The association took a major step in its push and development of the NDC by recently seeking approval [...]

MONTREAL: Aviation industry stakeholders attending this week’s ICAO conference in Montreal have found themselves in agreement on a key issue – they believe the organization must be proactive about developing airline consumer protections rather than being reactive to government-led passenger rights legislation. Noting that ICAO already has a regime in place covering transparency and non-discrimination [...]

IATA’s engagement with the US DOT to gain approval for technology standards of its New Distribution Capability (NDC) scheme has resulted in criticisms that the programme would jeopardise privacy rights of passengers through requirements to divulge information that critics believe would be used by airlines in nefarious ways. But as the cries of potential privacy [...]

HONG KONG: Airlines in India face a number of challenges, some self-inflicted and others imposed. Distribution challenges and ancillary revenue limitations are key examples, the Airline Retail Conference in Hong Kong was told. While airlines globally balance a convoluted relationship with global distribution systems, Indian carriers must also contend with online travel agencies like Cleartrip.com [...]