The "X-for-hotels" or "Y-for-airlines" idea, when a modern consumer brand is used as a reference point, has become fairly common in the travel industry.
But the reality of introducing a new model or business that reflects that reference point is a lot harder than it seems.
This is particularly difficult when trying to replicate a practice that is popular and well-known in the digital consumer world.
Brands such as Spotify, Amazon Prime, HBO Go or Google Play are held in high esteem in e-commerce circles because they have tapped into a consumer mindset that says subscribing to a digital service can reap rewards for the customer and, more importantly for the brand, loyalty and engagement.
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Mexico-based low-cost carrier Volaris spent some time recently trying to figure out how it can increase ancillary revenues whilst boosting seat volumes on its network.
The airline serves 69 destinations throughout through Mexico, the United States and elsewhere in Central America.
Its model of low base fares which in turn leads to high demand has worked well so far, giving it an expanding network (it signed a codeshare deal with Frontier Airlines, for example) and high, profitable growth.
The Netflix model
The carrier created and launched V.Pass, a subscription service to generate repeat business and increase ancillary revenue.
The idea is that it would also lock in long-term loyal customers and increase the number of times its passengers would fly (a large proportion of its customer base will travel to visit friends and family).
V.Pass works by asking customers to sign up to a monthly package where they can travel to a destination of their choice with a price and flight guaranteed.
For example, for $15 per month, users can fly anywhere on the domestic network, or pay $30 for a guaranteed return ticket.
It is similar to a service known as FlightPass that is being piloted by Lufthansa Innovation Hub on EuroWings.
Juliana Ramirez, business development senior manager at Volaris, says the V.Pass service gives the airline predictable cash flow as well as an ability to introduce cluster pricing and offload distressed inventory.
It is not without its issues when working alongside other elements of flight operations, such as yield management, she concedes, speaking at the recent Aviation Festival in London.
"Revenue management is a key part of this project. The team has defined the right price point and they continue to be open to testing things out. Our approach with V.pass has been rather flexible and we have opened it up for learning purposes.
"Once we start understanding our subscribers' booking patterns, we’ll probably adjust our yield management strategy without restricting the product too much."
Does it work?
So far the V.Pass service has been bought by 3,000 individuals, many of whom have figured out that a monthly subscription can give long-term benefits over the course of year, rather than forcing themselves to fly once every four-week period.
The airline estimates that the average V.Pass customer will likely travel between four and six times a year - a figure that is higher than the two or three occasions flown by its regular passengers and V.Club members, respectively.
Mexicans, Ramirez, says, will travel on average 0.3 times per year, so the idea is to encourage flying to friends and family via what it believes is an affordable model ($30 for a return ticket).