Feel air recently announced their launch of a long haul no frills, feel-good air service between Stockholm/Oslo to New York and Bangkok.
I had a talk to the CEO and founder Kai Holmberg
Give me some ideas on how you will combine Ryanair’s intense low-cost focus with Air Asia’s or Virgin’s more flamboyant style, after all, all three airlines have some pretty charismatic leaders that are tough acts to follow.
AirAsiaX has really been our role model from day one. Our references to Ryanair and Virgin are done more accidentally to give the market a sense of direction of our thinking rather than saying we're copying them.
We have a dozen more role models within all different niches and, all in all, this will create a unique feel-good brand and a world-class operation.
As far as combining a puristic cost religion with an informal and friendly service concept, we don't really see the contradiction.
Actually, there is a synergy. In the same way that you gain lower costs while supplying a high quality operation (e.g. with regards to aircraft dispatch/reliability), the same goes for service.
We believe that treating your employees nicely makes them deliver a more efficient and profitable product.
To be able to offer 50% lower fares than our competitors, we know we can't offer the highest wages in the industry, hence why it's important to create a brand and a team culture that the crew wants to be a part of.
Working for FEEL is a blast. And we call our service "differently enjoyable", so that when we have our guests onboard up to 12 hours, they will come back the next time both because of the fares and because of the cool, honest and informal service.
I might not be as charismatic as the leaders of these three companies, but I know that our joint team will be.
Charisma normally comes with the actual job and not the person so that will be developed over time. How do you intend to make maximum aircraft usage to your advantage? Many people claim that true low cost only works on short haul flights.
Combining NYC and BKK on an inconsistent schedule makes us able to utilize our fleet 16.7 hours a day on average. Where we use one aircraft, legacy carriers might use two. Short haul do not fly at night. We do.
And even without having departures or landings at odd times.
Again the BKK and NYC combination out of Scandinavia is something quite unique.
We've optimized our schedule for New York weekend trips. Scandinavian guests will go the airport after work on Thursday and fly out at 16:30 so that they can land at JFK before 19:00 - just in time for dinner.
Their return flight is at 21:00 on Sunday night so that they can go straight to work on Monday.
Seem like your timetable is geared towards the holidaymakers. How do you think they will react to paying for food?
First of all, in 2010 we don't think that people like to be dictated what to eat. They want choice. FEEL offers a selection of meals that most people like.
They can pre-order on the web at a price advantage or they can order whilst onboard. Some people eat more, some eat less.
Important also, this is a win-win element for the environment – too much food is wasted in the existing long haul model.
It's a mystery to me why Norwegians seem to be most successful in Scandinavian aviation. Why?
Perhaps it's partially by market and partially by accident. There are great aviation professionals in both Sweden, Denmark and Norway. But because of the long and hilly geographics, no one flies as much as the Norwegians do!
How do you intend to build market confidence after all the airline collapses last couple of years.
Three elements are important to us:
1 It starts with organization. Recruiting Otto Lagarhus as our accountable manager is the best decision I've made so far. Otto’s background is amongst others accountable manager for the entire SAS Group, the director general of Norway Civil Aviation, consulting many of the worlds best airlines (both legacy and LCCs) on quality and safety issues, and having his heart with the quality and safety area makes him the best man for the job. He only attracts the best people around him.
2 Viable business case. We wouldn't have started this operation if we couldn't see a rapid profitable business. We're in this game to make money (and to have fun at the same time).
3 Thirdly, it's about protecting the downside and mitigating all
significant risks. The casualties of 2008 had not protected themselves from
fuel costs rising to $147 billion. So, in the same way that a pilot always
need to have a plan B for the flight path, our business intelligence needs
to have one too.
Tell me about the distribution strategy?
Feel Air chooses a risk mitigated approach to sales and distribution. Our primary focus is to fill up all seats, hence why Feel will sell tickets through intermediaries as well as direct on our website and call centre.
We focus on the leisure passenger. But because we want to attract the whole market and even the incoming market as well, we want to offer TOP's, charter companies, OTA's and travel agencies’ the ability to book via GDS or even a direct link for volume partners.
So that’s good news for the intermediaries in these days! Finally what do you personally bring to the table?
As signalled on FEEL's aircraft livery, I want to bring a profitable and fun balance between the very distinctive low cost logo and the more sophisticated service pattern to go with the long flight lengths.
Apart from that, I bring guts, a clear vision, and a substantial mortgage on my
house!
[caption id="attachment_5041" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Otto Lagarhus and Kai Holmberg"]
[/caption]
FEEL Air recently announced the launch of a long-haul, no-frills, "feel-good" air service between Stockholm and Oslo to New York and Bangkok.
I had a talk to the chief executive and founder Kai Holmberg:
Give me some ideas on how you will combine Ryanair’s intense low-cost focus with Air Asia’s or Virgin’s more flamboyant style, after all, all three airlines have some pretty charismatic leaders that are tough acts to follow?
AirAsiaX has really been our role model from day one. Our references to Ryanair and Virgin are done more accidentally to give the market a sense of direction of our thinking rather than saying we're copying them.
We have a dozen more role models within all different niches and, all in all, this will create a unique feel-good brand and a world-class operation.
As far as combining a puristic cost religion with an informal and friendly service concept, we don't really see the contradiction.
Actually, there is a synergy. In the same way that you gain lower costs while supplying a high quality operation (e.g. with regards to aircraft dispatch/reliability), the same goes for service.
We believe that treating your employees nicely makes them deliver a more efficient and profitable product.
To be able to offer 50% lower fares than our competitors, we know we can't offer the highest wages in the industry, hence why it's important to create a brand and a team culture that the crew wants to be a part of.
Working for FEEL is a blast. And we call our service "differently enjoyable", so that when we have our guests onboard up to 12 hours, they will come back the next time both because of the fares and because of the cool, honest and informal service.
I might not be as charismatic as the leaders of these three companies, but I know that our joint team will be.
Charisma normally comes with the actual job and not the person so that will be developed over time. How do you intend to make maximum aircraft usage to your advantage? Many people claim that true low cost only works on short haul flights.
Combining NYC and BKK on an inconsistent schedule makes us able to utilize our fleet 16.7 hours a day on average. Where we use one aircraft, legacy carriers might use two. Short haul do not fly at night. We do.
And even without having departures or landings at odd times.
Again the BKK and NYC combination out of Scandinavia is something quite unique.
We've optimized our schedule for New York weekend trips. Scandinavian guests will go the airport after work on Thursday and fly out at 16:30 so that they can land at JFK before 19:00 - just in time for dinner.
Their return flight is at 21:00 on Sunday night so that they can go straight to work on Monday.
Seems like your timetable is geared towards the holidaymakers. How do you think they will react to paying for food?
First of all, in 2010 we don't think that people like to be dictated what to eat. They want choice. FEEL offers a selection of meals that most people like.
They can pre-order on the web at a price advantage or they can order whilst onboard. Some people eat more, some eat less.
Important also, this is a win-win element for the environment – too much food is wasted in the existing long haul model.
It's a mystery to me why Norwegians seem to be most successful in Scandinavian aviation. Why?
Perhaps it's partially by market and partially by accident. There are great aviation professionals in both Sweden, Denmark and Norway. But because of the long and hilly geographics, no one flies as much as the Norwegians do!
How do you intend to build market confidence after all the airline collapses last couple of years.
Three elements are important to us:
- It starts with organization. Recruiting Otto Lagarhus as our accountable manager is the best decision I've made so far. Otto’s background is amongst others accountable manager for the entire SAS Group, the director general of Norway Civil Aviation, consulting many of the worlds best airlines (both legacy and LCCs) on quality and safety issues, and having his heart with the quality and safety area makes him the best man for the job. He only attracts the best people around him.
- Viable business case. We wouldn't have started this operation if we couldn't see a rapid profitable business. We're in this game to make money (and to have fun at the same time).
- Thirdly, it's about protecting the downside and mitigating all significant risks. The casualties of 2008 had not protected themselves from fuel costs rising to $147 per barrel. So, in the same way that a pilot always need to have a plan B for the flight path, our business intelligence needs to have one too.
Tell me about the distribution strategy?Feel Air chooses a risk mitigated approach to sales and distribution. Our primary focus is to fill up all seats, hence why Feel will sell tickets through intermediaries as well as direct on our website and call centre.
We focus on the leisure passenger. But because we want to attract the whole market and even the incoming market as well, we want to offer TOP's, charter companies, OTA's and travel agencies’ the ability to book via GDS or even a direct link for volume partners.
So that’s good news for the intermediaries in these days! Finally what do you personally bring to the table?
As signalled on FEEL's aircraft livery, I want to bring a profitable and fun balance between the very distinctive low cost logo and the more sophisticated service pattern to go with the long flight lengths.
Apart from that, I bring guts, a clear vision, and a substantial mortgage on my house!