What does the acquisition of this new aircraft, celebrated by Transavia France at the end of March, represent?
Nathalie Stubler - Picking up a new appliance is always a unique event. It is the Transavia France's 32nd Boeing. With the arrival of another aircraft in the spring, this will result in a growth of 18% in terms of available seat kilometres (ASK) for this year. Over the last 5 years, Transavia France has tripled in size!
Aren't you worried about a drop in occupancy rates?
N. S. - In 2017, with an increase in supply of 12%, we finished with an occupancy rate of 91%. We climbed to 94% in February 2018. So we've found our market and we're confident.
Who are Transavia France's customers?
N. S. - Our passengers tend to be French, 78%, although some routes attract a large number of foreign customers. This is the case on Madrid for example, where the share of Spanish passengers reached 40%.
How much of this is business travel?
Nathalie Stubler - It is difficult to give an overall percentage because the reasons for travelling vary so much from one destination to another. Some destinations are exclusively holiday and leisure destinations. But there are also many SMEs on the routes with the highest frequencies, in particular Portowhere we spend five to six flights a dayor Madrid with four flights a day. On such routes, we can attract business customers looking for the best prices with a service tailored to their needs.
Can you put a figure on the proportion of business customers?
N. S. - It ranges from 10 to 15% - sometimes even more - on the busiest routes. Flights to Porto in particular attract many SMES. Our network also includes mixed roads such as TangierThis is an area that attracts both business and leisure customers.
Le bleisure must have a particular impact on a company like yours...
N. S. - This is an underlying trend, which has become more pronounced with the new tools that encourage mobility, and which fits in well with our signature on a number of routes. More often than not, it's a question of taking advantage of free time between two meetings to visit a must-see destination, such as the Douro in Porto. Other customers even extend their business trip for a weekend.
Could you adapt your offer to target business travellers more directly?
N. S. - We have not designed a specific offer for business travel, but we remain attentive to this clientele. Our range of fares meets the needs of business travellers. We have three packages: Basic, Plus and Max. The latter makes it possible to change ticket until departure, gives access to the fast trackPriority boarding and a seat at the front of the aircraft. These are the services that business travellers are looking for. The codeshare with Air France and the fact that our customers can now collect miles as part of the loyalty programme Flying Blue are also arguments that make sense for business travellers, particularly VSEs and SMEs, who are looking for the best price with the best service.
the crew is a real differentiator
How do you win the loyalty of customers who, in the low-cost market, are by nature opportunistic?
N. S. - Of course, there's no way around it: the pricewhich has to be in the range low-cost. Our cost structure enables us to guarantee these low prices, but that's not enough. That's why we also differentiate ourselves by belonging to the Air France KLM Group. For many customers, it's a guarantee of qualitywhich provides reassurance and access to benefits in the context of your business. Flying Blue which also guarantees us a better visibility. We also promote transparency of our offer: the customer pays exactly the price quoted, there are no hidden costs. There is also an essential parameter, based on the way we look after our customers. At Transavia France, the crew is a real differentiator. It's a real plus, and all the surveys confirm it. We offer them a considerable autonomy in commercial relationsThere's even a group of ambassadors among our cabin crew, who don't hesitate to suggest ideas and initiatives. This gives rise to on-board events such as Halloween and St Patrick's Day. In the end, they are the ones who make the difference and embody our promise "we make low cost feel good".
What about digital?
N. S. - Here, too, we value proximity with the traveller. What's more, behind digital technology there are also a lot of people. We are going to continue our efforts in this area, bearing in mind that today 30% of our digital sales are already made via mobile phones. Our customer service is also very mobile-oriented, with a particular focus on WhatsApp. 60% of our customer contacts are made on social networks. For our Spanish customers, this rises to 94%.
Do you use chatbots to automate this relationship?
N. S. - Only for the simplest and most recurrent questions, such as cabin baggage size. In other cases, follow-up is handled by a subsidiary of the Air France - KLM group, which has a team dedicated to Transavia to interact with our customers on more complex issues. WhatsApp is extremely popular with customers, who want to be able to interact without phoning, and free of charge.
Aren't you worried about a lack of clarity between the Group's different airlines, particularly between Transavia France and Transavia Holland?
Nathalie Stubler - Whether it's Transavia France or Transavia Netherlands, from the customer's point of view, it's the best airline in the world. same brandThe same uniforms, just with different bases. Transavia is the low-cost airline of the Air France - KLM groupwhich serves Europe and the Mediterranean basin. So the positioning is clear.
Hasn't the launch of Joon made things more complex, still from the customer's point of view?
N. S. - No, I don't think so. On the contrary, each airline has clear objectives. Like Air France, Joon is part of a hub logic. It connects the world to the world from the airport of Paris-Charles de Gaulle. It is one of the tools that most closely resembles Air France in terms of its offer and service for customers, while at the same time being based on lower costs.
Transavia can also be a laboratory airline for other airlines in the group
As Joon is presented as a "laboratory" airline, are you already thinking of transferring some of its tests to Transavia? The wi-fi loop entertainment system, for example?
N. S. - A test has been launched at Transavia Netherlands. We are studying the feedback from Joon and our Dutch colleagues. We also launched a innovative video system via our application. It's very positive to be able to take advantage of this emulation, to share good ideas in terms of innovation, to try out different methods. It's a the strength of belonging to a large group like Air-France KLM. We are very open to all good ideas. And there is real sharing within the group. For example, Transavia and Joon have both worked with the same start-up: TravelCar. And Transavia can also be a compagnie laboratoire for other companies in the Group. We are also working on start-ups in the field of optimising fuel consumption: a subject of interest to other companies in the Group. There is no ownership of good ideas within the Group, quite the contrary.
After Orly, Nantes and Lyon, are you looking at other airports in France?
N. S. - Our growth is in line with our size, and we're already going to record very strong growth. good growth in 2018. We are based in Lyon and NantesLyon and Nantes, two cities where we are forecasting strong growth in 2018 (+25% for Lyon and +40 % for Nantes). We also wanted to be strong in Orly we are now the main low-cost airline at this airportThis is an accessible platform, which will eventually be linked to metro line 14. This is a crucial advantage.
Could Transavia launch a long-haul service?
N. S. - Jean-Marc Janaillac said it: in this competitive environment, we have to look at what's happening in the rest of the world. long-haul low-cost. It has launched strategic work, and has set a date for the summer. The deployment of Trust Togetherwhich plans to develop Transavia on departures from France, and increase to 40 aircraft by 2020We're already very busy. 2018 alone represents 18% of growth, 12 new routes, 140 new hires, four new aircraft... So our roadmap is already pretty full! It should also be emphasised that this is profitable growth. And as soon as we were profitable, we distributed profit-sharing to our employees. That motivates everyone.
