AlbaStar, a IATA member airline with a Iosa certification, is a Spanish private leisure airline. It was founded in 2009 and is based at Palma de Mallorca airport. A few months ago and to cope with the Covid situation, they started operating more and more regular flights in addition to their usual charter flights. This is when they began working with CitizenPlane.
Distributing seats at no cost
AlbaStar's flights were already distributed through GDS. They came up with the idea of using the CitizenPlane platform in order to sell more tickets online. The cost of distributing a seat through GDS is very high, whereas it is free with CitizenPlane. CitizenPlane only takes a markup if the seat is sold and we require no technical integration whatsoever. Since at CitizenPlane, our seats are distributed on more than 120 OTAs and metasearches worldwide, this meant possibly a huge quantity of extra sales for AlbaStar.
The test was a success and we quickly sold thousands of tickets on OTAs. In a time when you most need to be flexible, our agile platform also enabled AlbaStar to run effective pricing tests, get immediate sales results and optimize their revenue. When you load a new flight, update your flight price or your seat availability on CitizenPlane, it immediately takes effect on OTAs and metasearches.
"The cooperation with CitizenPlane helped in a better OTA distribution."
- Antonio Contardi, AlbasStar's Scheduled Services Route Manager
Generating extra revenue out of distressed inventory
CitizenPlane can also be used other ways to test new prices on your flights.
As an airline, you already have your distribution through GDS or NDC; but at CitizenPlane, we offer you to distribute your distressed inventory online, under our own name. As a fully virtual airline, we have an IATA code (1L).
That way, we act as a marketing carrier to sell airlines' distressed inventory under a different brand. Put simply, that allows airlines to have a second pricing for the same seat when they need a solution for leftover inventory. This means that an airline can continue selling their seats under their name at their normal price, while re-marketing the same seats at a lower price under the CitizenPlane brand when needed, on competitive routes.
We allow you to publish at a cheaper price under the CitizenPlane brand in order to be the cheapest solution and attract some extra passengers who will not fly with you if they are not the cheapest. All passengers who are brand sensitive, business travelers, groups, mile-collectors, all the GDS sales, travel agents, etc – will continue purchasing your normal prices under normal conditions. This means no dilution on your existing direct sales.
What are you waiting for? Contact us at welcome@citizenplane.com to know more!