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MARCH/APRIL 2013


Ancillaries


then lounges, with a single upfront payment, may be the answer, as generally, these things are free once through the door. Many are now mini business travel service centres, with desktop computers, numerous plugs and mobile chargers – enough, in fact, for a canny corporate traveller to argue they are a necessity. This is particularly so as more time is spent in airports now that security procedures are so much tighter – gone are the days at most airports when a 30-minute dash from entrance-to-aircraft did the job. The number of generic lounges is growing fast as the door to airlines’


The number of generic lounges is growing fast as the door to airlines’ own facilities slams shut


own facilities slams shut, provided by companies such as Servisair, as well as the airport operators themselves. “It’s the airports stepping into the premium market rather than the airlines,” says John McConnell, Glasgow Airport’s head of commercial. “We have our own premium parking, fast track and a premium lounge because there’s a market for it. Traditional airlines have to compete against low-cost, and they’re dropping the frills. It’s the airports that are picking it up.”


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BATTLE OF THE BRANDS Generic provider Servisair, which now operates lounges under the Aspire brand, has thought laterally about its competitors. “I would class Costa Coffee and Frankie and Benny’s as competitors – all those high street brands are now airside,” says Servisair director Shaun Weston, who adds that only up to 2 per cent of all passengers are lounge users. Aspire lounge prices begin at £17.49 (booking online), but Weston says it has around 170 contracts with TMCs, corporates and travel agencies at varying rates.


Heathrow by Invitation REGIONAL ROUND-UP


BIRMINGHAM No.1 Traveller’s first lounge outside London opened in October. Seating 100, the cost is £22.50 for three hours’ usage, including unlimited wifi. Use of the new Express Lane security channel can be bought at the airport for £3.


HEATHROW Heathrow’s main focus last year was the Olympics, and all investment was channelled this way. However, one recent innovation for VIP executives is Heathrow by Invitation, which includes chauffeur transfers and kerbside drop-off at a private suite, where immigration and security procedures are carried out, before a limo service to the aircraft. Meet-and-greet parking provider Stressfreeairportparking.com recently doubled its capacity at Heathrow.


BRISTOL


Servisair is building a £600,000 lounge at the airport, part of its Aspire portfolio. Opening in April, it will be twice as big as the current executive lounge and will offer hot food. The airport has also extended its Premier business car park and enhanced fast track security, which costs £3.95 when booked online.


GATWICK


Servisair launched its Aspire brand at the North Terminal in 2012, aiming at corporate travellers. Gatwick South’s Servisair lounge will be refurbished by summer. Chargebox mobile phone chargers are now offered in both terminals.


MANCHESTER Manchester opened its generic Escape lounge in Terminal 3 shortly before Christmas. An Aspire lounge opens at the end of March, which will include three ‘quiet booths’.


GLASGOW Glasgow offers a premium car parking minutes from the terminal. It is not open to the general public but is available via airlines, including British Airways and Easyjet. The airport also runs Skylounge, open to any traveller for an £18 fee.


The withdrawal of one airline’s use of its lounges to silver card holders resulted in a 15 per cent fall in passengers recently, but Weston says this was quickly replaced as travellers using bank account, credit card or other privileges fought their way back. Servisair plans to extend the Aspire brand and already has a concierge product. It is considering parking and, more immediately, is looking at fast track, but companies are hampered with this at regulated airports like Heathrow, where there is a stipulation that this cannot be profit making.


The withdrawal of one airline’s use of its lounges to silver card holders resulted in a 15 per cent fall in passengers recently


Priority Pass is also examining brand extension. “Our customers are asking for us to look at what else we can do,” says Errol McGlothan, the company’s general manager for the EMEA region. “We’re looking at fast track and meet-and-greet services, which we are testing now. We expect to grow that in the coming months.” He says demand for the group’s services is growing at double- digit rates globally and that some companies are using ancillary packages to retain and even attract staff who baulk at having to fly economy. “People come to us for a variety of reasons,” McGlothan says. “Recently we had a pharmaceutical company sign with us, coming very much from a duty of care perspective. Equally, we have others that use it as a retention tool because they feel it differentiates them from competitors, such as one from the shipping industry that we deal with.”


The latter comment is proof,


perhaps, that when business class is taken away, some still want to travel in the style they have become accustomed to. Old habits die hard. ■


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