Are route development managers
Tony Griffin, SVP consulting and product development at ASM, reveals how an airport can develop a strong route development team.
lthough airlines make informed choices about where to operate their aircraft, airports and
superheroes? A
destinations can influence that decision making. Otherwise, those unlikely routes would never be operated and studying traffic growth would be an unsurprising read. Referring to route development managers as superheroes is not far from the truth when considering the diversity of the route development task and the skills required to deliver new air services.
The route development process starts with the formulation of the network strategy and route target plan. Once the strategy and targets are identified, each individual route target campaign usually begins with a route forecast and business case.
A discussion with airlines follows and when a level of interest is established with a target carrier, other stakeholders can get involved. Ultimately a contract is signed and, hey presto, the route begins. Be warned though – this may not be a quick process and is fraught with challenges along the way.
Unique abilities
Each part of the route development process requires different skills. Producing business cases and traffic forecasts requires specialist skills and know how, for example. Traffic forecasts can involve the manipulation of large data sets and market research techniques. And to identify targets and understand the customer, the route
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development manager must initially reach out to the airlines to start the “journey” of selling, persuading and ultimately negotiating a deal – the latter an area perhaps most often neglected by route development managers. The final hurdle is formulating a contract within the relevant legal
framework. Some route development managers will need to defer to an in-house lawyer or even seek the help of a specialist aviation competition lawyer. So a route development manager must be an analyst, salesperson, marketer, politician, fundraiser, accountant, negotiator and lawyer.
Routes News 1, 2016
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