Aviation Marketing Consulting Blog » Aviation

Flying the Unfriendly Skies

Rocco Cipriano — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:12:36 +0000

Looks like the “Friendly Skies of United” are a little less friendly for musicians. Country singer Dave Carroll created a video regarding his less than “friendly” experience flying United Airlines

Carroll had his guitar broken by the airline’s baggage handlers and when he received no compensation with the airline, he took out his frustrations by writing a country song and created a music video about his experience.

The video has since gone viral and was featured on major American and Canadian news outlets. With all this unwanted attention, United Airlines recognized its error and has since contacted Carroll to make reparations. In addition, it has asked to use his video as part of its training.

Here’s the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

The next cheap no-frills airline is launched

admin — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:32:41 +0000

How would you like to pay only $9 for your next flight to Florida or Michigan?
Introducing JetAmerica, the newest low-fare, no-frills airline. It’s intriguing marketing pitch – up to 19 seats on every flight for just $9, less than the toll on some highway, and it’s not just an introductory offer, but for as long as the airline is flying, which at this price, I wonder how long before JetAmerica goes the way of Air Florida, ValueJet and the host of other, now defunct, low-cost airlines.
Part of why JetAmerica is able to offer such low fares, is because of federal grant money designed to encourage the use of regional airports. JetAmerica is planning flights from Newark, NJ; Toledo, OH; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Detroit, Lansing, South Bend, MI and Melbourne FL.

Indiana Jones set to rescue aviation

admin — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:31:22 +0000

Avid pilot and screen star, Harrison Ford is staring in a new TV spot that highlights the importance of general aviation to our economy. The spots were created by the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) with a budget of $1.5 million (of which Ford has donated his appearance fee). The spot is hoping to offset the negative fallout that has beset the corporate business aviation ever since the CEOs from Detroit’s top automakers arrived in Washington in their corporate jets to ask for government bailout money.
To the average citizen, this was a prime example of corporate waste and mismanagement. In contrast to us involved in aviation, we understand that this is how aviation can be an effective tool used by top executives to manage their time and resources efficiently.
Let’s face it, corporate America is the bogeyman these days – being characterized as greedy and out-of-touch with mainstream citizens. Think how the AIG bonuses struck a nerve with the average person. Yet it is the height of hypocrisy, when politicians demonize business people, while they continue to use jets to their own travel – case in point, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, uses large Airforce jets to travel back and forth to California, or President Obama using Airforce One for a short one-hour flight to address a audience on Earth Day.
Here are some important points regarding general aviation’s contribution to our economy:

Generates $150 billion for our economy
Employs 1.2 million people who pay taxes.
Allows business people to conduct commerce outside of the large airport terminal hubs – making them more productive, and bringing commerce to areas outside of the already congested major metropolis cities.