The Future of Air Travel

THE « FIT TO FLY » PROJECT

APRIL 2020 – THE CRISIS HITS

In early April, as governments around the world were closing their doors to travellers. the aviation industry experienced its worst crisis in its 100-year history. On May 5, Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa group, tells his shareholders: "In less than 65 days, we have returned to the levels of 65 years ago in terms of air traffic volume." The main question at that time in the industry is, how long can this crisis possibly last? 3 months, 6 months or even 12 months?

MAY 2020 – THE ESAC INITIATIVE

In May, the FIT Chair launches the Initiative EDHEC Students Against the Crisis (ESAC) to help companies from all industries to understand the possible impact of the sanitary crisis to their business, systematically explore possible solutions and develop recovery scenarios. 33 students worked with ten companies, spending a total of 1 300 hours of voluntary work. The Air Travel project was built on an existing partnership with the Lufthansa Group. To take a systemic industry perspective the EDHEC FIT Chair invited additional partners to the project, including, Amadeus, Airbus, Celfocus, Emirates, Ferrovial, Frontex, Global Load Control, Heathrow Airport, IATA, Schiphol Airport and Thales.

JUNE 2020 – RADAR WITH DRIVERS OF CHANGE

n the first phase drivers of change were identified through a 360-degree scan. The first workshop focussed on developing a short-term radar on the factors that will drive solutions for imminent problems and short-term recovery of the industry. The most important factors include: decontamination & disinfection technology, service digitalisation, alternative transport technologies, willingness to travel, Trust in health & safety measures etc.

JULY 2020 – SCENARIO WORKSHOP

The second industry workshop applied a scenario sprint methodology which built on the co-creation of scenarios. Participants could leverage on the insights on the factors as well as their own insights and intuition. The workshop identified four plausible scenarios.

1. Comeback – The sky’s the limit (Pandemic under control, Global economy rebounds)
2. The Slow-down – Staying at home (Steady-slow growth, flygskam, climate awareness)
3. Resurgence – Let’s fly again (private air travel increased, innovation is the key)
4. Pivot – Air travel for the few (flying is for the rich, pandemic ongoing, limited recovery)

SEPTEMBER 2020 – 124 MSC MARKETING STUDENTS JOIN THE QUEST

In September, the Chair entrusted the 124 students of EDHEC's Master of Science Marketing program, as part of their course on "Foresight and Strategic Design", with a practical case study: to study the challenges and solutions specific to a group of clients to navigate the health crisis.

SEPTEMBER 2020 – PERSONAS

Using existing reports and customer interviews the students co-constructed 8 personas, which are extreme customers representing a specific customer segment. For each persona the students collaboratively built a profile, a mood board and a key data sheet.

OCTOBER 2020 – WORKSHOP ON PROMISING CUSTOMER SEGMENTS

Working across the partnership of airlines, airports, manufacturers, think tanks and travel services providers the most promising and least promising air travel segments were identified:

Most promising (next 24 months)

• High frequency leisure traveller
• Visiting friends & relatives traveller
• Future traveller
• Heavy business traveller
• Business traveller

Least promising (next 24 months)

• Medical travellers
• Pilots & Crew
• Pensioners
• Migrant travellers
• Low frequency leisure traveller

 OCTOBER 2020 – SOLUTIONS

Building on the personas and the challenges in current passenger journeys the participating companies prioritized the solutions for the pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight challenges.

Fig 5 : priorisation of strategic solutions based on value and speed to solution

Pre-Flight

Testing facilities is the key to gaining public confidence to enable them to align themselves with the destination country’s COVID-19 sanitary crisis protocols. Through easy quick and reliable access to testing facility in the airport premise would help increase the customer satisfaction.
Live airport traffic map is a critical part in managing the flow of passenger traffic inside the airport and through live traffic governance instantaneous real time decisions can be taken by the airport authorities to manage the flow of passenger traffic to abide by COVID-19 rules.

In Flight

Explaining the rules with respect to the pandemic of the destination country is a critical aspect to gain the trust of the passenger.
Thermal cameras inside flights would also enable airlines to have a secondary layer of safety net to protect the health of the passengers of the passengers. Instantaneous decisions taken in-flight (e.g.: isolation of passenger) and after arrival ( e.g.: proper health arrangements) would enable the confidence of the customers to a greater extent.

Post Flight

Electronic queuing during disembarkment would help airports to manage crowds and would automatically promote a sense of wellbeing among the passengers.

A FOCUS ON THE PARTNERS

SUMMARY OF LEARNINGS AND PARTNER BENEFITS

• Ideas and solutions for common problems - specific strategic and practical ideas to move businesses forward
• Access for Foresight platforms
• Work with thought leaders in the industry
• Opportunity to get fresh insights and ideas from talented students