By "expanding demand" to supplement the passenger load factor, the airline launched a new marketing method—
One-hundred-yuan ticket "sub-card" is popular
Our reporter Kang Qiongyan
"I bought three round-trip passes for Chengdu Feihaikou in a row. The single fare is only 600 yuan, and the direct ticket purchase is at least 1,000 yuan." Shi Wei, who is engaged in sales in Chengdu, is now a member of HNA's "Free Flight" product. Iron powder.
This is the latest gameplay in the air ticket industry after the annual free flight and the blind box of air tickets. In July of this year, Hainan Airlines took the lead in launching with the Qunar platform.
Consumers pre-purchase air tickets for specific routes at a fixed price, and in the next month, they can redeem air tickets at any time among the airlines' open flights.
Except for the fuel cost of RMB 50, there is no need to pay any additional fees.
If you don’t redeem it next month, you will get a full refund automatically.
Hainan Airlines and Qunar launch one issue of "Free Flight" every month, and the fourth issue is currently sold out.
The reporter saw that the latest phase of HNA's "Free Flight" products cover nearly 300 domestic routes, many of which have air tickets as low as 100 yuan.
For example, the price of a naked ticket from Shanghai Pudong to Chongqing Jiangbei is 190 yuan, and the price of a naked ticket from Beijing to Dalian is 190 yuan. Even popular routes like Shanghai Pudong to Guangzhou are only 270 yuan.
Air China's air ticket discount card currently only departs from Guangzhou, and the price is slightly more expensive, ranging from the lowest level of 300 yuan to the highest level of 600 yuan, such as Guangzhou to Beijing 550 yuan, Guangzhou to Chongqing 300 yuan.
The latest Eastern Airline Card is applicable to more than 400 routes in and out of Shanghai, Beijing and the northwestern region. The price is divided into three levels: 200 yuan, 300 yuan, and 400 yuan. The fare is as low as about 10% off.
Such as Urumqi to Shanghai Pudong, the naked economy class price is only 200 yuan, Shanghai Pudong to Sanya only 300 yuan, Shanghai Hongqiao to Harbin only 400 yuan.
Qunar platform data shows that the average price of air tickets is around RMB 300, and the average discount is around 20%.
Last year, most of the major airlines launched the annual package "Fly with Heart" products at a price of around 3,000 yuan, such as Eastern Airlines’ weekend free flight, China Southern Airlines’ happy flight, Shenzhen Airlines’ affectionate flight, etc.; Shandong, Spring and Autumn, China, Juneyao Airlines’ "Fly with your heart" products are all priced close to 3,000 yuan.
Although the incentives are not small, many netizens report that because they can’t get away with their work and encounter repeated epidemics, buying a set of "flying as you want" is actually wasted if you can’t fly it a few times.
Shi Wei also bought HNA’s "Fly with Your Heart" last year, and sometimes it was not possible to redeem the desired ticket. It is not convenient for this year’s secondary card. "When redeeming secondary card tickets, almost all seats are open for redemption on the same day’s flight, and there are also time periods. More choices".
More importantly, once you have redeemed "XiXinFei", you can't get a refund, while "Yue Yue Fei" can be refunded in full as long as there is no redemption.
This is particularly in line with the travel needs of passengers at the moment when the epidemic is sporadic.
Airline ticket is a new product launched by airlines in line with consumer demand.
Qunar Big Data Research Institute found that after the epidemic, the lead time for passengers to book air tickets has become shorter.
The number of days for leisure travel tourists to purchase air tickets in advance has been shortened from an average of more than two weeks in 2019 to about one week this year.
Consumers' risk aversion and demand for travel flexibility and low cost have jointly given birth to air tickets.
It quickly became the "sweet pastry" in the eyes of airlines.
According to Guo Lechun, deputy dean of the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, from previous issues, 18 to 26-year-olds accounted for more than 80% of ticket purchase users, and more than 90% of tourists.
From the perspective of the distribution of consumers, the purchase areas are mainly concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and new first-tier cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, and Hangzhou.
Most of the destinations are Haikou, Sanya, Chengdu and Chongqing.
In addition, airlines urgently need innovation.
According to data from the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, the overall passenger load factor of the industry in 2021 is only 79%, which is about 7 percentage points lower than before the epidemic. How can we "expand demand" without losing the price conditions for passengers with rigid demand To supplement the passenger load factor is an important proposition faced by airlines.
"Sub-card" ticket pre-sale products are innovations in product design.
Guo Lechun introduced that air ticket pre-sale products have been iteratively fast in the past six months, including the previously popular "ticket blind box" and "ticket prepaid card", which are essentially air ticket pre-sale products.
Every time a new product is launched, it is accompanied by a technological upgrade. The purpose is to better meet the needs of users and at the same time allow airlines to reduce losses under the impact of the epidemic.
"From the perspective of customers, sub-card products make it possible for passengers to arrange travel according to their own time, which meets the psychological needs of the younger generation who like to stock up; from the perspective of airlines, it is more conducive to flexible inventory allocation and achieve a win-win goal." Hainan Said Weng Changmin, general manager of the aviation sales department.
"From the perspective of sales, the ticket secondary card is expected to become a phenomenon-level product, which will once again stir up the ticket pre-sale product market." Qunar Air Ticket Product Director Wang Guangyu said that this year, Qunar has sold Hainan Airlines, Hainan Airlines Free Flight, and Tibet Airlines. For Yixing and other similar products, the cumulative sales of HNA’s first four phases of "Free Flight" exceeded 80,000 sets, with sales of about 10 million yuan in each phase.
Qi Qi, an associate professor at Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College, said that "Fly with your heart" products generally cost more than 1,000 yuan, and the price is higher. Some small and medium airlines have fewer routes covering cities and consumers are subject to more restrictions; in addition, products The coverage period is long, and many airlines are operating at a loss.
"The single pre-sale products launched this year address the pain points of consumers and airlines' revenue management under the epidemic, and are cheaper and more flexible for consumers; for airlines, the booking process can be advanced to facilitate flexible adjustments. Classes, guide the source of pre-sale passengers to the surplus seats on the flight." Qi Qi believes that this is a "win-win" for consumers and airlines.
Our reporter Kang Qiongyan