Global Airlines to focus on business travel as it muscles in on UK-US route
A new airline has said it will focus on business travel, offering more perks and products, as it looks to muscle in on the transatlantic travel market.
“As far as I see it I don’t think that anyone’s really offering the complete package to a corporate traveller, who would be going across the pond,” James Asquith, Global Airlines’ CEO, told City PM
The transatlantic market has proven extremely tough to break into, felling many challenger airlines who have sought to break the dominance of its two mainstays, Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, with Zoom Airlines and Norwegian Air the most recent to go bust.
But Global – whose emergence onto the transatlantic scene was first reported in City PM – believes that offering a more premium product, as well as perks and a loyalty programme, rather than prioritising flight frequency, will be the key to success.
“I think that there’s too many offerings at the moment that don’t give the level of service that such a premium route such as London to New York should do for the corporate traveller, the business traveller as well,” he said. “I think that too many incumbents still think it’s [about] frequency.”
Asquith also said that it hopes to offer more “social space” on its aircrafts, in a bid to appeal to the City’s corporate customers.
“If I’m coming out of the office and going on a red eye flight to connect between the two, personally, one day I might want to go straight to sleep, the next I might want to have a meal and do some work on my laptop… And then another one, I might want to go and socialise,” he said.
The airline is set to launch its first flight in 2024, flying between London and New York, with an eye on a route to Los Angeles after that.