In today’s fast-paced working culture driven by new technologies, Priority Pass says speed is of the essence for its business and leisure members. In the survey, conducted in March 2012, 91% of those questioned found slow progress through immigration ‘frustrating’. 42% alone found the experience ‘extremely frustrating’. Similarly, 91% found slow progress through security to be ‘frustrating’ overall, with 43% finding it ‘extremely’ so. 90% found slow check-in ‘frustrating’ overall, indicating that most journeys get off to a bad start.

While measures have been introduced to speed life up at the airport, 70% of the surveyed Priority Pass members found the term ‘Fast Bag Drop’ misleading. When asked what would improve travellers’ experiences at airports, a ‘fast track’ route through security was the top choice (cited by 33% of respondents), followed by free Wi-Fi (26%), friendlier staff (8%) and more seating (6%). Of those who check-in early, 35% claim they do so because of the long delays in getting through security.

Jonathan French, head of brand, Priority Pass, says: “This year marks the 20^th anniversary of Priority Pass and we have seen airports and lounges undergo significant changes during the past two decades. Everyone understands the need for greater security, but we are living amongst a generation of ‘instanity’ – we expect everything to happen right now and when it doesn’t, life, frustratingly, slows down.

“The ‘fast bag drop’ service was introduced so that fliers could check in online from their PC, or a self-service check-in desk, print their own boarding pass, then just drop their bag off at the ‘fast bag drop’ desk. Unfortunately, travellers are still experiencing long queues to do this.”

Airlines’ self-check-in machines stand out as conspicuous successes with travellers, with only 32% finding these facilities frustrating overall, while 68% overall say they are not frustrating at all.

Stripping down to the ‘bare essentials’ – having to remove shoes, belts and other items of clothing – at security was ‘frustrating’ overall for 67% of those surveyed, making the experience even more irritating than noisy families (voted for by 65%).

Lounges provide a relaxing haven

Once past check-in, security and immigration, the traveller’s lot is considerably better, the survey reveals. For 47% of the respondents, time spent in the airport lounge was their favourite aspect of their journey. The survey showed that in an airport lounge, 65% usually spend their time eating, 60% spend their time drinking non-alcoholic beverages and 49% focus on work. The quality of refreshments and comfort of seating areas were considered the most important features in an airport lounge, voted for by 24% and 23% respectively.

French continues: “Delays at airports are not going away, but new technologies and communication tools are emerging daily. In the US, trials have already begun for fast check-in for frequent business travellers. We believe that the airport lounge will continue to be an important part of people’s journeys by providing a welcome, productive, relaxing space for travellers to use.”

On the flight

Second to spending time in the airport lounge (48%), the flight itself was the next favourite aspect of frequent flyers’ journey, cited by 28% of people. According to 35% of respondents, watching in-flight movies is the best aspect of a long-haul flight, followed by time to sleep (22%) and time to read (20%). Travel to and from the airport was selected by only 5% as their favourite aspect of a journey. The idea of in-flight mobile phone usage remains largely unpopular, with only 17% saying they would be happy if fellow passengers were allowed to use mobiles in the air.

Promising travel trends

When asked about their travel frequency in the past 12 months, encouragingly, almost a third (30%) of respondents claimed their business travel had increased, while 53% said it had stayed the same. Just 17% said their business travel had decreased in the past year. Nearly a third (29%) said that their leisure travel has also increased in the period, while 59% said it had been unchanged. Only 12% said their leisure travel had decreased, a positive figure in the current economic climate.

Looking ahead, almost a third of respondents (28%) expect their business travel to increase over the next 12 months, while 29% expect an increase in their leisure travel. Supporting the view that economic recovery will be gradual, the majority of respondents (57%) expect their business travel to stay at the same level in the coming year, while 63% expect their leisure travel to remain unchanged. Pleasingly, however, only small minorities expect to see reductions in their business travel (15%) and leisure travel (8%).

Launched in 1992, Priority Pass offers frequent travellers airport lounge access, irrespective of their class of travel, airline flown or existing membership in an airline loyalty programme. Priority Pass has millions of members throughout the world and provides access to more than 600 airport lounges in 300 cities in over 100 countries.

80:20 Communications has devised a series of newsworthy projects to mark Priority Pass’s anniversary, including an international study of future trends in airport lounge design. The PR programme will target business-to-business audiences in the travel and financial services sectors, as well as individual business travellers. 80:20 Communications will also work with independent PR consultancies to help deliver Priority Pass’s messages in key international markets.

80:20 Communications’ team for Priority Pass is led by founder and managing director Marc Cornelius, reporting to Priority Pass brand director Jonathan French.

French says: “80:20 Communications offers a compelling combination of aviation and travel industry knowledge, strategic insight and international media experience. I am sure they will help us get the maximum PR benefit from this milestone event and we look forward to working with them.”

Cornelius says: “Although much of Priority Pass’s success has been based on business-to-business marketing, in today’s world it is vital to win the hearts and minds of empowered employees as well as corporate decision-makers. Priority Pass created the concept of the independent airport lounge access programme, but in the face of growing competition has recognised the need to communicate with the market in a bottom-up as well as top-down manner. It is very exciting for us to work with such a prestigious global brand at this important juncture in its development.”

Speaking at the Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE), Mike Shih, Cessna’s vice president – Strategy and Business Development, said: “With expert forecasts indicating the Chinese economy will grow by more than 8% in 2012 alone, we expect the Asian business aviation market – and China in particular – to mature at quite a rapid pace. We foresee China being one of the top 10 countries for business jet ownership globally by 2025, aided enormously by the ongoing liberalization of the country’s airspace. We are delighted to see the Chinese government understands the economic importance of general aviation and is committed to supporting the industry. We at Cessna are equally eager to play our part in helping develop Chinese business aviation from infancy to maturity as quickly as possible.”

Shih continued: “We want to work with local partners to develop all aspects of general aviation in the region. Only last week, on March 23, Cessna signed strategic agreements with Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and the Chengdu government to jointly establish a range of products and services for general and business aviation in China. The agreements pave the way for a range of light and mid-size business jets, utility single-engine turboprops and single-engine piston aircraft to be manufactured and certified in China.”

Shih added: “As well as building local partnerships, we are undertaking measures to strengthen our own direct Cessna presence in Asia and we now have, for example, more than 20 employees based in China – in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Shenyang.”

Shih concluded: “We are committed to providing our growing customer base in Asia with the best possible operations and maintenance support. We are therefore seeking to add Citation authorized service facilities to our network in Asia, and particularly China, as soon as possible and are scheduled to complete a joint service facility, with sister company Bell Helicopter, in Singapore later this year.”

Speaking at ABACE, Bill Harris, Cessna’s vice president, sales for Asia and Asia Pacific, said: “Overall demand for light and mid-size business jets in Asia is undoubtedly increasing, and we are finding customers eager for deliveries ‘now’ rather than later. We are seeing particularly high levels of interest from customers who, for example, already own or operate a mid-size Cessna Citation such as the Citation XLS+ and are planning their future purchases. The Citation Latitude represents a logical next step to a new, more advanced Citation and, like the Citation XLS+, offers a high residual value.”

Harris also noted the Asian market’s interest in the new 15% range extension for the Citation Latitude. The specifications of the Citation Latitude have been revised to increase maximum range from 2,000 to 2,300 nautical miles (3,704 to 4,259.6km). “The Latitude offers non-stop flights between many major regional and domestic city pairs in Asia, including Beijing-Haikou, Beijing-Hong Kong and Hong Kong or Shenzhen-Seoul.”

Announced in October 2011, the Citation Latitude will offer Cessna’s widest-yet passenger cabin with stand-up access throughout the aircraft’s length of more than 16 feet. The Citation Latitude combines the payload, speed and range customers want with an unmatched cabin experience at its price point ($14.9 million in 2011 USD). Designed for a crew of two plus up to eight passengers, the aircraft will have a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet (13,716 meters) and a maximum cruise speed of 442 knots (819km/h). The Citation Latitude will climb to 43,000 feet (13,106 meters) in just 23 minutes.

The Citation Latitude features the fully integrated Garmin G5000 avionics system and Clairity™, an intelligent cabin technology solution developed by Cessna in partnership with Dallas-based Heads Up Technologies. Clairity™ ties into the avionics system and integrates cabin electrical systems with data and communication sharing through a fiber-optic backbone. Cabin systems are controlled either through intuitive touch-screen user interfaces at each seat, or customers’ personal electronic devices.

For more information about the Citation Latitude, visit the links below:

Citation Latitude website

Citation Latitude images

Citation Latitude video

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