What are the service distractions of Norwegian that could be ditched for better economics
Norwegian have tried to have a service level more like easyJet than Wizz, and that has not really worked out for them. Maybe they can never reach the really ULCC levels being based in a high cost country like Norway. But the loyalty from their core customer base is more based on regional belonging than a steadily eroding included service level through adapting the Ryanair way of everything is an additional extra. They should more try for bettering Ryanair by mimicking the early days of Ryanair when they where an ULCC Ultra Low Cost Carrier.
There are definitely an alternative way forward for Norwegian with less frills freeing up many costs and more important removing distractions for the staff and management. Anything other than a single menu offering should sample be avoided. All cabin staff should serve the whole cabin that should be of a single type configuration even on long haul. Let other airlines take the premium segment and simplify the product offered. That would also give extra wiggle room for additional separation offerings during sample a pandemic crisis.
The single type cabin configuration is very important for commonality across all planes. If all sets of 3 seats are the same you don't need to keep 2 types of seats in store for when . You don't need 2 types of cloth and 2 different procedures for repairing them quickly either. Early on the Ryanair hangar in Dublin included a seat repair area. When you change to a lighter and/or thinner type of seats, as manufacturer offerings improve, you don't need to consider what to do with 2 different classes.
More importantly all passengers can be seated anywhere and that could lead back to free seating, and faster boarding for ultimately faster turnaround times. A concept still used today by the ultimate forerunner and O'Leary's study model for an LCC airline, Southwest.
Priority boarding is a concept that could go at the same time. Early on Ryanair sold it as a must have with free seating so families could ensure they sat today. Then the purpose fell away as they started assigned sating and they had to upt the ante with an extra cabin bag thrown in with priority boarding. The whole thing is a distraction and have a hidden cost in the development of systems. Again Ryanair as a sample have upt their IT department from 50 all at HQ, the tightest in the business, to over 200 spread over 3 countries. That is a 400% rice in the same amount of time as passenger numbers have only gone up with 50%
And this single cabin principle should also extend to the long haul business including intercontinental. There have been many failings of LCC that have tried their luck in the market of premium only. Some of them very short lived. And Norwegian's . But there have been no proper established airline with a worked in name that have tried the proper LCC, or even ULCC, model in that market. Not one that don't have the distraction of a full service split cabin model in addition.
The changes in boarding have also lead to the need for additional staff. In the early days Ryanair did with 1 ground handling agent together with 1 flight attendant for boarding. And that was when each plane flew with 3 flight attendants. Now when they fly with 4 at least 2 airport based boarding agents are required. That is also a cost. Plus all the additional work and costs with the physical queue organizers.
While we are on the theme of SLF loading/unloading, ensure that all planes have at least fold out front stairs. This seriously increase the speed of disembarking and lowers the airport associated costs since one are not depending on airbridges. Planes more than 60% full should always get rear stairs.
There are definitely an alternative way forward for Norwegian with less frills freeing up many costs and more important removing distractions for the staff and management. Anything other than a single menu offering should sample be avoided. All cabin staff should serve the whole cabin that should be of a single type configuration even on long haul. Let other airlines take the premium segment and simplify the product offered. That would also give extra wiggle room for additional separation offerings during sample a pandemic crisis.
The single type cabin configuration is very important for commonality across all planes. If all sets of 3 seats are the same you don't need to keep 2 types of seats in store for when . You don't need 2 types of cloth and 2 different procedures for repairing them quickly either. Early on the Ryanair hangar in Dublin included a seat repair area. When you change to a lighter and/or thinner type of seats, as manufacturer offerings improve, you don't need to consider what to do with 2 different classes.
More importantly all passengers can be seated anywhere and that could lead back to free seating, and faster boarding for ultimately faster turnaround times. A concept still used today by the ultimate forerunner and O'Leary's study model for an LCC airline, Southwest.
Priority boarding is a concept that could go at the same time. Early on Ryanair sold it as a must have with free seating so families could ensure they sat today. Then the purpose fell away as they started assigned sating and they had to upt the ante with an extra cabin bag thrown in with priority boarding. The whole thing is a distraction and have a hidden cost in the development of systems. Again Ryanair as a sample have upt their IT department from 50 all at HQ, the tightest in the business, to over 200 spread over 3 countries. That is a 400% rice in the same amount of time as passenger numbers have only gone up with 50%
And this single cabin principle should also extend to the long haul business including intercontinental. There have been many failings of LCC that have tried their luck in the market of premium only. Some of them very short lived. And Norwegian's . But there have been no proper established airline with a worked in name that have tried the proper LCC, or even ULCC, model in that market. Not one that don't have the distraction of a full service split cabin model in addition.
The changes in boarding have also lead to the need for additional staff. In the early days Ryanair did with 1 ground handling agent together with 1 flight attendant for boarding. And that was when each plane flew with 3 flight attendants. Now when they fly with 4 at least 2 airport based boarding agents are required. That is also a cost. Plus all the additional work and costs with the physical queue organizers.
While we are on the theme of SLF loading/unloading, ensure that all planes have at least fold out front stairs. This seriously increase the speed of disembarking and lowers the airport associated costs since one are not depending on airbridges. Planes more than 60% full should always get rear stairs.
Comments
Post a Comment