Company Profile

In recent years, a major Latin American carrier was experiencing explosive growth—to the point that its in-ﬂight Wi-Fi strategy wasn’t keeping up. Nearly half of total passenger complaints were about reaching their data limits while traveling. The airline turned to Panasonic Avionics for help in understanding how to revamp its connectivity packages.

20%

NPS Improvement

The Challenge

The FIFA World Cup is the most viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games and The Superbowl. With the majority of airlines only equipped with AVOD media services, passengers feel disconnected with what’s happening on the ground – especially when the game they have been waiting for is on during their flight. Passengers want it, are thankful when they have it, and get disappointed or frustrated when their airline doesn’t offer it, even threatening to book on an airline that does.

Panasonic’s Approach

Panasonic’s business intelligence unit crunched the airline’s numbers using advanced analytics and found some surprising details as well as untapped opportunities. First, nearly 30% of customers were spending more than $30 per ﬂight on Wi-Fi and texting, which exceeded the most expensive package on offer, implying passengers were willing to pay more than the airline expected to stay connected.

Panasonic also identiﬁed a cultural miscommunication: Latin Americans understood “social” to mean texting, whereas non-Latin Americans thought it meant social media. The latter group was blowing through their data caps by loading Instagram or Facebook. The airline now has more universal messaging—and pricing—around in-ﬂight texting.

The Solution

Panasonic analyzed customer complaints to identify the root causes of customers’ biggest pain points. We used advanced analytics to understand passengers’ in-ﬂight spending patterns and how much data is used per ﬂight. Then we used data to shape a new suite of Wi-Fi/texting package options at competitive price points. Finally, we introduced universal messaging and pricing for in-ﬂight texting.

The Results

By more accurately matching usage to pricing and package size, the airline experienced an 88.2% increase in year-over-year Wi-Fi revenues. Better yet, zero complaints about data caps have been lodged against the airline since its new pricing structure was introduced.

The airline saw these year-over-year increases:

0

Customer complaints about data limits

36%

Average spending per user

60%

Average revenue per flight

148%

Average MB used/passenger

Increasing Revenue & Passenger Satisfaction with Connectivity

By leveraging price optimization, a major airline decreased customer complaints and increased connectivity revenue in just two weeks.