The Allplane Podcast

Over the last quarter of a century and mainly through donations and volunteer work, the Qantas Founders Museum, which is a nonprofit that is independent from the airline, has assembled an amazing collection of historical aircraft that, at one point in time or another, have been in Qantas service: these include a Boeing 747, a Boeing 707 and a Super Constellation, miraculously salvaged from an aircraft graveyard in the Philippines.I spoke with the museum’s communication manager, Nicole Kuttner, to learn more about the museum, what visitors can find there and their current projects, as well as the ways in which they are marking the Qantas centenary and, more generally, the practicalities of getting to Longreach and exploring the surrounding region.

What perspectives are there in Africa for low cost airlines? How has the growing Chinese presence in the African economy affected route networks? Which are the favourite distribution channels for airlines in Africa?We are going to answer to these and other questions on this episode of the podcast with Tendi Mutandagayi, a consultant based in Johannesburg with many years of experience working in aviation projects involving companies such as Ethiopian, Sabre and Terrapin.Tendi knows the African aviation industry inside out and he is going to offer us a glimpse of its main trends and developments in today’s episode of the podcast.

In this episode we travel to the sunny shores of California to speak with experienced aircraft cabin experts and founders of boutique design firm ACLA Studio Victor Carlioz and Matt Cleary. We speak about innovation in aircraft cabin design, the tasks and challenges of aircraft cabin designers and whether the Covid-19 epidemic is going to have lasting effects in the way we understand the airline cabin and the passenger experience.

Things we talk about in this episode:What is the New Distribution Capability (NDC) pushed by IATAWhy NDC matters for airlines and their distribution channelsHow airlines currently distribute through Global Distribution Systems (GDS)Why adoption of the NDC standard has wide regional variancesWhat Airgateway does in the field of NDCWhy full service carriers are the primary users of NDC and it is less relevant for low cost airlines

In this podcast we talk about the research he has conducted in the field of conversion optimization for airlines as well as some underlying trends, such as the effort some airlines are doing to prop up their non-ticket business with different sorts of digital offerings and the always constant threat of disruption that airlines face from major digital platforms.If you are into digital marketing and commercial aviation, block some time and get ready to listen to this episode of the podcast!

Between 1942 and 1945, at the height of WW2, a proper air highway was established between the United States and the Soviet Union.Thousands of aircraft, coming out of America’s factories and destined for the Soviets’ European front made an arduous journey of thousands of miles over some of the most remote places on Earth. It was known as the ALSIB (Alaska-Siberia) route.

Pere Suau-Sánchez has a long track record of academic and operational research in the commercial aviation industry, he’s a Senior Lecturer in Air Transport Management, Cranfield University (UK) and an Associate Professor in Business and Economics, Open University of Catalonia (Spain), he also acts as an independent advisor to aviation industry companies and stakeholders and is a regular media host talking about aviation and transportation.I called Pere Suau-Sánchez, to learn more about his research of different scenarios that the aviation industry may be facing post-pandemic, which he has outlined in a recent paper published in the Journal of Transport Geography “An early assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on air transport: Just another crisis or the end of aviation as we know it?”

An unprecedented situation such as Covid-19 required that we gathered, here on the podcast, an unprecedented line-up of expert professionals to discuss about its consequences for the airline industry, and most particularly in everything that concerns the communication and PR side of it.So, rather than a one-to-one interview, this episode is a bit unusual in that we have a panel discussion to talk about the hottest topics in airline communications and PR in these very convoluted times.

In this episode we talk with Jay about the process through which he came up with some of the most original cabin designs in the executive jet industry, about how his previous experience in the automotive industry has influenced his work and also about new ideas Embraer is pushing, such as a personal air mobility vehicle concept and a high end office chair.If you are interested in aviation, design and, more generally, in beautiful, original things, go get your ear plugs and a calm, quiet place to listen, because you certainly will enjoy this episode!