Excellent business idea for ”airBaltic”

An open letter to Martin Gauss, CEO of ”airBaltic”, from Kevin Havill, Director of ”NewHansa”

Dear Martin, I write this letter openly via the national press in Latvia and the Minister of Transport because as a customer I have found it impossible to obtain direct contact with you or your staff via normal company routes. I fully understand your management principles that dealing with customers directly and in particular their complaints must be a very time consuming and unrewarding task.

I have, though, come to a new business concept for your company which could turn out to be very profitable and I am sure that is something you would like to consider.

In short, give up flying planes and start a bus company!

My own recent experience of trying to fly ”airBaltic” from Riga to Vilnius resulted in me paying a full price air ticket and ”airBaltic” supplying a coach that delivered its passengers to the outskirts of Vilnius in the middle of the night approx. 8 hours after we would have been due to land. Furthermore, I see you already realise that passengers able to afford plane tickets can also afford taxis, provided, of course, they can find one. No need for the bus to go further than the city boundaries.

So give up buying expensive aeroplanes, paying for overpriced terminals, staff, maintenance, publishing magazines, paying airport landing taxes, etc., and avoid the security control by directing passengers to take a short walk to a bus stop outside. Customers will, of course, still book and pay air flight tickets online or via their travel agents.

Will people really pay approximately six times the cost of normal bus prices?

Well, I’m sure they will because they will benefit from the excitement of travelling through an airport, dealing with people dressed in very classy green uniforms, missing very boring business meetings & meals etc. etc. To keep excitement levels up maybe you could introduce a lottery system to enable some passengers to win (or be punished with) air travel. You do, of course, benefit from a monopoly for several routes so there will be shortage of demand.

I hear you asking whether it is quite legal to advertise air travel and replace it with a bus for the same price and totally fail to match the advertised timetable. Well, the answer appears to be yes, according to your existing customer services practice. Regulation EC 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union outlines compensation rights, but these, as you know, can be completely ignored and/or misinterpreted.

Kind Regards.