Aviation News, Boeing, Airbus

Everybody that has something to sell is eager to tell the world all about it. All too often, they do not take the time to listen to customer input, which can have a profound impact on the success of the product or service being sold. Whatever you have to sell may seem the greatest thing since indoor plumbing to you, but if it is missing key elements that your customers expect, it is not likely to sell very well.

Back in the early 1990’s, the Boeing Company decided to make some radical changes in how they designed and built their airplanes by involving their customers in the design process. The first product developed along these lines was the 777. Back then; I was assigned to the Flight Test Instrumentation crew responsible for the instrumentation and data collection to support the program. I had the additional privilege of working on the very first 777 to fly, WA001. It seemed that everywhere we went, we were followed by a film crew - maybe because we were. BBC did a documentary of the entire test program and we were regularly visited by VIP’s from all over the world representing various airline customers. They did not come to see what we came up with when we built the 777 because they already knew all about it; they were a big part of the design. They came to see the success of a collective effort.

The process of involving customers in the definition and design of the 777 has made it one of the most successful airplanes in aviation history. It did not happen because Boeing arbitrarily built something their customers liked, it happened because Boeing listened to their customers and built an airplane that met the needs of their customers.

This is not a philosophy that is restricted to large companies, you can use it too. I did, and it has resulted in some very happy customers. In my case, I had published a book that my customers really liked, but they wanted a way to continue a dialog to help them establish their own businesses. This led me to publishing a blog on my website, but I wanted to share some information with my customers without posting it for the world on my website. The next logical step seemed to be a newsletter to my customers that went out monthly. This too was a hit, but it was very time consuming for me and I wasn’t getting enough customer input and really wanted a means for them to share their experiences, ask questions, and in general interact with each other.

I do not want to convey that a newsletter is not a good thing, it was really appreciated by my customers, but did not allow them to interact with each other and this was something that several of them expressed an interest in doing. Then a really strange thing happened, I listened to what my customers were telling me they wanted and the solution provided a great way to satisfy everyone - start a restricted access forum.

Why restricted? Because I wanted to be able to share information with my customers that would help them in their businesses without sharing it with the world. I also wanted them to feel comfortable posting things in the forum without concern of harassment or intimidation that even I experienced in some other forums.

Since launching the forum, I have been told many times how much it is appreciated and how useful my customers are finding it. The concept was not something I pulled out of the air, it was the result of a direct question from one of my customers that asked, “Have you ever considered hosting a forum so that I can chat with other booksellers and we can learn from each other too?”

Some students in business and economic classes at major Colleges and Universities are doing research on outsourcing. Very smart thing to study indeed. Outsourcing is not a bad thing as many Unions believe. It means efficiency and is good to bring the world closer together in this way. One very interesting case study is Sara Lee, which sold all its factories and then contracted others to make their product.

Bill Ford CEO of Ford Motor Company is releasing the reigns to a former Boeing Executive in hopes the profits will fly again? But, what will happen at Ford? There is talk that the company wishes to go private, cut down its size and even sell off some of its other brands like Austin Martin, Range Rover, Jaguar, etc. Yet what is really going on there? Is Bill Ford going to let the new CEO be the bad guy and battle the Unions laying off huge numbers of people? Could be, we shall see.

As India increases its economic growth the population is taking to the air in travel and more and more are flying. Commercial Aviation traffic has increased ten fold in te last five years and is expected to do so again. India will need to set up the latest in air traffic control to handle the crowed skies. Additionally India’s private aircraft markets are increasing too along with a brand new general aviation manufacturing sector.

Many of India’s smaller airports are dirt strips and in need of upgrade. There are major infrastructure projects needed to help these airports. Meanwhile aviation experts warn of air-traffic snarls and eminent safety issues. There are 100 civil airports in India and twelve are international airports. Meanwhile India’s airline passenger traffic is expected to exceed 50 million in less than five years and that is at the current growth rates. One industry insider stated in a major Indian newspaper; ‘’We won’t be able to handle all passenger traffic in coming years as is being envisaged now.”

One consulting firm determined that it would take over 20 billion in capital investment to bring the airports into normal safety compliance of other countries in the next decade, some think much more as things progress. Thirty Billion in new airline aircraft have already been ordered from Boeing and Airbus and more are expected in the next two-years. Some industry analysts believe the number of new jets ordered of 490 is less than a third of what will be needed. This of course is great news for Boeing and Airbus.

India is also well located for the international traveler as a hub city to the Middle East, Europe and Asia as it sits along most direct routes and perfect for the World’s traveling business crowds. But can the airports handle the demand as the airlines buy more and more jets and the demand for air travel increases? Parking alone is a huge issue, as the number of automobiles in the country is also skyrocketing as citizens gain access to the middle class.

In financial year 2003-4 Air bus started a new advertising campaign. In an industry, like aircraft, so much matured, there was a tendency in aircraft producers to target the big and medium airlines and governments of countries for their big contract running in billion of dollar. Most of second half of 20th century was dominated by Boeing. Its 747 has just no parallel, the biggest monster flying in the sky. People were happy to see 747. Air Bus was challenger to Boeing. She turned the table. ‘Air Bus started thinking about one level down, the Airlines’ customers. They started targeting the fliers. By highlighting comfort and security issues of an aircraft and launching the next biggest flying machine, A380.

Does anyone take notice?

You bet. They did. Air Bus wanted people to ask their airlines, which aircraft they are using whether it is A380 or not. And succeed they did.