Pick your plane! (LINK)
March 4th 2008 09:26
It turns out that the second item I was going to mention was also by Richard Watson. He calls it Aggregated Customisation, and notes particularly a company called DayJet. This is a new commercial air company providing corporate jet travel at commercial airline prices.
The company uses Very Light Jets to serve smaller cities and communities as an alternative to driving a few hundred miles for a short visit. A person can save enough time and overnight hotel stay to make the trip cheaper than driving or even flying through a hub.
Though DayJet customers have to book online, there are no schedules. They pick the place to and from where they want to go, the date of travel, and the time they want to arrive. The more flexible their arrangements, the lower the fare, which could in fact be similar to the price of a standard economy flight and a night in a hotel.
The ‘trend’ thing about it all is that unlike normal travel deals everything is almost worked out on the basis of serendipity. If there are enough people going in a certain direction, a plane will take them there. The more flexible the customers are, the more likely they are to get a plane going where they want.
Watson sees three trends combining in this approach: Mass Customisation. In other words, letting customers have a customised version of a standard product. Dynamic Pricing. The cost of a product changes according to demand or supply. And Social Networking. The Internet pulls people who have a similar interest or need together.
The company uses Very Light Jets to serve smaller cities and communities as an alternative to driving a few hundred miles for a short visit. A person can save enough time and overnight hotel stay to make the trip cheaper than driving or even flying through a hub.
Though DayJet customers have to book online, there are no schedules. They pick the place to and from where they want to go, the date of travel, and the time they want to arrive. The more flexible their arrangements, the lower the fare, which could in fact be similar to the price of a standard economy flight and a night in a hotel.
The ‘trend’ thing about it all is that unlike normal travel deals everything is almost worked out on the basis of serendipity. If there are enough people going in a certain direction, a plane will take them there. The more flexible the customers are, the more likely they are to get a plane going where they want.
Watson sees three trends combining in this approach: Mass Customisation. In other words, letting customers have a customised version of a standard product. Dynamic Pricing. The cost of a product changes according to demand or supply. And Social Networking. The Internet pulls people who have a similar interest or need together.
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