Frequent flyers: Building custom

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A recent survey of 2,500 passengers by Deloitte, the financial advisory firm, found that 72 per cent of high-frequency business travellers participate in more than one airline loyalty programme. Few people will be surprised by that statistic. But it underscores how airlines – which already operate the most complex loyalty schemes of any sector – must continue innovating their frequent flyer programmes (FFP) to incentivise repeat custom.

Texas International Airlines launched what is widely regarded as the first modern FFP in 1979. It was followed two years later by the more advanced American Airlines AAdvantage and United Airlines MileagePlus programmes. Both schemes are still operated today, but their breadth and scope has changed profoundly over the past two decades...

Interview: Cathal O'Connell, BMI Regional CEO

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When International Airlines Group (IAG) acquired rival British carrier BMI in 2012, CEO Willie Walsh was unequivocal that he had no interest in retaining its two loss-making subsidiaries. That meant the end of the road for bmibaby, the airline's troubled low-cost unit. But BMI Regional lived on after a £8 million buyout by Sector Aviation Holdings, an Aberdeen-based consortium funded by aviation entrepreneurs Stephen and Peter Bond.

Alongside chairman Ian Woodley and chief operating officer Graeme Ross – the founders of BMI Regional's precursor, Business Air – CEO Cathal O'Connell is leading the charge to re-define BMI Regional in the absence of its former Star Alliance partners. In doing so he is exploring new paradigms for Europe's beleaguered regional airlines, whose smaller fleets have been hardest hit by the rampant fuel price hikes of the past decade...