Bob Branston's Two Lists
Join our imaginary aviation entrepreneur as he sets out what obstacles his new tour operator needs to overcome & what opportunities there are to take advantage of
The Sun shone bright as Bob Branston drove north along Hayarkon Street on his way to the Hilton Tel Aviv. With a sparkling Mediterranean on his left, the imaginary aviation entrepreneur set his thoughts in order.
Bob’s new Canadian airline Vestal Atlantic was doing okay (see article). But although his competitors Westjet Vacations and Air Canada Vacations moved slow, their sheer market power meant they could buy in whizzy revenue generating algorithms like Bob’s without the creativity of Vestal’s management team.
Bob had looked at the old Thomas Cook model (see article) and decided to turn Vestal Atlantic into a new tour operator fit for the 21st century. He was in Israel to meet with Ben Levy of Pomodoro Ventures, an imaginary venture capitalist who funded the Vestal Atlantic launch, and secure some more funding to make the tour operator transformation a reality.
Two lists came out of the meeting between Bob and Ben. The first was the industry obstacles that they should avoid. The second was trends to capitalise on – Bob would use these to overcome tired old practices that many airlines still use and make passengers confused and stressed by the travel process. In so doing, Vestal Atlantic would jump further ahead of WestJet and Air Canada.
Spending time looking at online travel agents and online platforms gave Bob much inspiration for things that he should not do. Social media was inspiring but the agents just did not make what Bob knew his passengers wanted a reality and the process was messy.
They could buy a flight, rent a car or book a hotel. But what about everything else? Windsurfing, axe throwing, meals, meeting rooms – none were easily accessible using a standard platform. And pricing was opaque – most of the time, adding a hotel room to a flight made the total price of a trip go up, but sometimes they made it go down. Bob thought this was mad.
Bob had said to Ben “if we’re going to do things differently, we have to make it different ourselves”. Here was his list of airline industry obstacles that Vestal Atlantic should avoid.
1. I want a business model that is better, not bigger
2. I want people to see the content they want based on their emotions when they are shopping
3. I want suppliers to be able to show people their content – I do not want to make all the content myself
4. I want to avoid constraining systems and “communications standards”
5. I want modern retail systems that evolve and will not not become legacy
6. I want to combine online and in-store purchases
7. I want customers to decide how they purchase, not to receive pre-determined packages by “distribution”
8. I want to use aircraft as service delivery platforms that are aligned with the theme of passenger trips, be they business or pleasure
9. I want to work with innovative startups, not established travel platform providers
10. I want to offer NFT ticketing (see article) rather than standard e-ticketing, with each passenger having their own wallet
11. I want organic booking paths that evolve as buyer’s choose what interests them
12. I want to offer bite-sized payment plans and low risk in case people decide not to travel
13. I want to offer exclusive deals to people engaging with my brand – the more they engage, the better the deal will be
14. I want to offer slightly less capacity than there are customers on every flight.
When it came to the second list, the opportunities that Vestal Atlantic should take advantage of, here was what Bob had set down:
1. I want the latest and emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, blockchain and crypto, metaverse and Internet of Things
2. I want flexible peer-to-peer collaboration on creative contract creation and value exchanges
3. I want integration with the world’s biggest online and offline retailers, so people can buy my NFT tickets anywhere
4. I want Vestal’s online experience to inspire the opening up of a real high street travel experience store like consumer electronics Grape Store
5. I want my business model powered by the latest advances in airline economics, powered in real time by neuroscience and advanced customer behaviour analytics.
As Bob arrived at the Hilton in Tel Aviv he thought that he should hire some experts to help him figure out how Vestal Atlantic’s future business needs, as defined by his two lists, should drive its workflows and new organisation design going forward.
He thought he would hire airline bloggers Oliver and Ricardo because he could tell from their articles that not only did they understand the creativity required to transform aviation, they also bought lots of plane tickets themselves. An added benefit was that they had worked with airline suppliers, not just airlines.
The best people to work with are not just people who understand the product, but people who also use and buy the product themselves, thought Bob. People who use and buy the product will be able to figure out how customers create their own travel experiences.
One thing that Bob was particularly looking forward to about working with Oliver and Ricardo was using psychology to incorporate frames of reference into how Vestal Atlantic’s flights and associated travel products were presented.
Just like the old studies proving that an expensive beer on the shelf made more people buy the mid-priced rather than cheapest bottle, Bob was keen to offer choices that would help people see what was best value for them. As a result they would voluntarily pay more and be happier with the final service.
With all these inputs and guidelines, the work of designing the business models and its execution plan could start. Bob knew that by using existing airline infrastructure in new and creative ways Vestal Atlantic could create new technology and solutions that would help people unlock tremendous value in their travel.
What did Bob do next? Join us next time to find out.
ricardo DOT pilon AT millavia DOT com (author)
oliver AT ransonpricing DOT com (editor)
Are you enjoying Airline Revenue Economics? Why not read some of our favourite articles from the archive:
Champagne Plane – Wine can be a key revenue driver for airlines
Tata’s Challenge – Air India can only find success by becoming a tech co with aircraft
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