AIRLINES & ALLIANCES

GLO WAF 2024 Interview: Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam (Full Interview)

00:00 On the recent developments at SkyTeam • 02:39 On the role as the alliance umbrella to enhance CX • 05:41 On SkyTeam's future plans for lounges • 08:14 On intermodal partnerships • 11:18 On sustainability • 12:52 On key priorities and key challenges • 15:47 Magic wand question

GLO

• 00:00 On the recent developments at SkyTeam
• 02:39 On the role as the alliance umbrella to enhance CX
• 05:41 On SkyTeam’s future plans for lounges
• 08:14 On intermodal partnerships
• 11:18 On sustainability
• 12:52 On key priorities and key challenges
• 15:47 Magic wand question

Transcript

0:05

GLO: Evgenia, it is a real pleasure to see you at the World Aviation Festival this year. Congratulations on your appointment as SkyTeam’s Head of Sustainability and Marketing.

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Thank you, it’s a pleasure.

0:16

GLO: You made a big announcement about SAS joining the Alliance as the 20th airline. You also made a few announcements on the digital transformation and improvement. Can you fill us in on the latest happenings at Sky team?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Well, we have done quite a lot of work this year. This year has been very focused on lifting off. Post-COVID, all the airlines had a lot of renovation uplifting to do, and that’s what we had to do at Sky team as well.

Part of our work was dedicated to looking at the existing infrastructure. That’s what we call our digital spine, the digital hub to which all airlines are connected and which supports all the interactions that we have between the airlines. When it comes to loyalty, we’re doing the same. We have several loyalty systems, and we’re asking ourselves, “Is everything up to scratch? What do we need to develop? How do we enhance that?” We also look at the difference between the loyalty programs being launched. We see a lot of developments in the airline business in general. So, how do we at Sky team support that?

And then, of course, this year is also a year of looking forward. This year, we have been working very hard on developing our strategy for loyalty, where we want to ensure that not only is our proposition solid so that we don’t have too many gaps in the system but also that we have something to look forward to, some new features, some innovations, both on the technical side, as well as in the proposition. I think loyalty, in general, is a very innovative, creative space. But in the airline world, things cannot move that fast because it’s a very big operation. When it comes to innovation, sometimes it’s a matter of matching the expectation of the customer who is inspired by, let’s say, loyalty programs across other domains, whether that’s hotels or other parts of the travel industry, or even something completely different. So, there is much catching up to do for the industry in general, but also for SkyTeam, and it’s very exciting.

2:39

GLO: I couldn’t agree with you more. The latest technologies now offer opportunities to provide the seamless experience you had. The recent launch of the Sky Priority feature allows customers to do priority check-in, luggage check-in, and a few other features across airlines. How do you see your role as the Alliance umbrella to enhance the experience of the customers while each of the airlines has a separate loyalty program?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Yes, it’s a good question. Sky Priorities is one of our flagship products. It has been there for over 10 years. But the beauty of it is that it was something new on the market when we rolled it out, and it took the industry by storm. It took everyone’s attention, and the introduction of this very complex product went quite smoothly. Partly because the appetite was there, both on the airline side – They really needed it. They wanted it. They introduced it. – as well as on the customer side. Sky Priority is a product that is both digital and physical. When you check-in, your status is immediately recognised. As you go through your journey, you experience various moments of feeling prioritised. It’s a beautiful product, requiring a lot of maintenance at all times. So, we never let it sit by itself. To ensure that the priority experience is maintained, you need to make sure that all of those seams are maintained correctly as well, so all the agents are trained, all the airlines know exactly what to do, what the processes are, and what the policies are. And when situations change, a new airport or a change in the airport terminal or whatever, you just have to ensure everything is back on track. You can see that in the joining of SAS to SkyTeam how smoothly this product works. There was even an article on one of the travel blogs about a person who reported taking off in New York or another destination in the United States and landing in Copenhagen, where, during the flight, the Alliance for SAS changed. So, taking off with one Alliance and landing in Copenhagen, already experiencing the whole SkyTeam features, and barely noticing any seams in that process. That attests to the quality of the Sky Priority product and how onboarding a new partner into this whole ecosystem is a very doable thing for us to do.

5:41

GLO: One of the key benefits that we hear the customers desire is lounge access. As the customers return to travel, airports and lounges are quite busy. How do you at SkyTeam complement the individual airline’s lounges experience? Do the airlines operate their own lounges? Are you looking to open more? What’s your strategy in that space?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Lounges are, of course, a very important part of the customer experience. At SkyTeam, what we do is we try to support our airlines in the spaces where there is a disconnect or where the customer sort of falls between the cracks, and that’s exactly the space that we operate in. Lounges can be one of those spaces – in all the international airports, there is an alliance-wide agreement that airlines have reciprocal recognition of elite customers. I think that’s a common practice, a standard practice in aviation today. We maintain it, we develop it, we enhance it. SkyTeam also has six unique lounges, separate SkyTeam branded lounges, which are positioned in non-hub airports, but where we see a lot of SkyTeam traffic coming in. Again, this is in support of the strategy, not just SkyTeam strategy, but that of our member airlines.

What is going to happen in the future lounges? We are working on some enhancements. We’re not ready to announce them yet, but it’s important to mention that all of those enhancements are clustered into two parts. Firstly, to enhance the customer experience. How can we make it better? How can we make the proposition deeper and better, not just in terms of quality but also in terms of reach? And the second part is addressing the issue of our crowding. How do we ensure that the customer still has the great experience they’re used to? We are trying to figure out what we know about the customers’ behaviour that can help us. Maybe adjust the proposition in such a way that will also help with the overcrowding, and we will. We’re working on it, and we hope that some news will be coming out, maybe next year, maybe a year from now.

8:14

GLO: One of the key trends we saw in the loyalty industry and covered in our Global Predictions 2024 report was the rise of partnerships and the focus on intermodal travel. I think today you announced a new partnership with Train Italia, where the loyalty programs will be acknowledged, and there will be reciprocal status. How do you approach this? Are you planning to go into other sectors, maybe? We just saw Air France announcing the partnership with Uber. What’s your strategy in the space?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Well, thank you for the question. Intermodality is an important component of our sustainability strategy. It’s also an important component of our loyalty strategy because intermodality helps us to bridge the gap between what the airlines are doing and how that translates into the evolving customer experience and customer expectations as well. We are looking at the trends in the customer’s behaviour, and we’re trying to match it now. At SkyTeam, our role on an alliance level is not to offer something that the airlines are not or member airlines are not already working on or are interested in. KLM, for example, already has an agreement with Eurostar. We also now have a memorandum of understanding with Eurostar and Train Italia. We’re looking at an existing dynamic already. I wouldn’t say we are inventing something that’s not asked for by the market. This ask from the passenger to have this convenient connection is translated into our strategy. Let’s put it that way. What can we expect from that? It’s too early to talk about the exact specifics of our cooperation, but where we definitely see a connection and a lot of possibilities is the loyalty domain. Whether that’s on the accrual side or the redemption side is all to be seen. But that potentially also includes Elite Customer recognition. Specific benefits for members of various loyalty programs within the SkyTeam network, taking or being recognised as Elite Customers on their intermodal journey. It’s very important because we notice that the Sky Priority, for example, as one of those benefits, is sometimes acting almost like a guiding star. They’re like, “Okay, this is where we’re going. This is Sky Priority. I know I feel comfortable. I know exactly what to expect.” This is especially important when you’re abroad or outside of your home market. So, we’re trying to see what these possibilities are. The possibilities are endless, and it’s early days, but I think that we’ll see some exciting developments there in the next couple of years as well.

11:18

GLO: You touched upon sustainability. Especially within loyalty and sustainability, there are a lot of synergies to be explored. Do you think this quest for a greener future is led by the companies, or is it the customers who are demanding the companies to be more green and actually are willing to put the money behind their words?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: It’s so complex. This is a puzzle that we, at this point, do not know how to put together, but clusters of the puzzle are starting to be formed. I don’t think it’s either or, honestly, it’s all at once, and the companies have to play their role and acknowledge the fact that they have to. The consumer needs to be both, on the one hand, expecting and demanding a certain level of commitment to sustainability, assume some of the cost for it, and be educated. Not all consumers are educated on the right choices and the role that they play in this kind of domain, but also governments have to play a role.

It’s a very big ecosystem that is still nascent and is being formed, but we see a lot of consolidation on thought and the direction that we’re having, but that we need to develop. But the work is ahead of us. There’s so much to be done on that in that domain, and I would not want to put the responsibility on any of the players. Everyone has to take that responsibility and play their part in it.

12:52

GLO: Sustainability was one of the main topics at this year’s World Aviation Festival. The other key themes were the use of big data, AI, and technology’s influence on the customer experience, as well as providing the delight and surprise moment. If you look at 2025, what do you think are the key priorities or key challenges SkyTeam faces, and what do you think about big data and how it can be used to improve the customer experience and loyalty programs?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: So if we look at the overall customer proposition again, just back to the basics, we are trying to improve and ensure that the seams are as close as possible to each other, that we do not have gaps in the experience, whether you’re an elite customer or not.

Big data, or in general data, and understanding data and being able to translate it into action is a big job to be done. And we at SkyTeam have a lot of data. We have a lot of opportunities to work with it and affect the specific area for which we carry responsibility in the customer journey. But a lot of the data and a lot of that experience sits with the airlines, and again, it’s not our role to replace that. Where we can also play a big role is in bringing the airlines together and enable a certain amount of knowledge sharing. It’s not very easy for airlines to just say, “Well, I have an issue. Let me just brainstorm with my colleagues from all 20 airlines or even three.” Everyone is very busy. Everyone has a big amount of work to do, but also doesn’t always have the right channels to figure out how to create that cooperation.

At SkyTeam, we do that a lot, and actually, we do that a lot in our sustainability work. We have a program called Deviation Challenge, and it’s a big initiative where airlines participate to scale their sustainability solutions, and they compete to win a prize or to be the best in in certain categories that we set out to do. And we see that much of the improvement and lift takes place when this collaboration cooperation happens and it’s enabled by technology. So not just cooperation, everyone sitting around the table and talking to each other, but really allowing access to information and allowing this kind of cross-pollination of ideas and innovations to happen. It sounds simple. It’s not as simple to organise, but even more difficult to maintain and ensure that this community, this collaboration actually continues and evolves and grows and becomes productive. But so far, it’s quite successful. And I think when it comes to data and technology, there is a similar mechanism.

15:47

GLO: 2025 will present a new set of challenges. If you had the magic wand and you could invent one feature, either in the loyalty or customer experience domain or in the sustainability domain, what would it be?

Evgenia Starkova, SkyTeam: Wow. I would want to have it in the loyalty domain because that’s what we’re talking about. I think it would be wonderful to have just on the policy side, a complete adherence of all the airports and all the agents and all the and sort of a pure understanding of all the different complexity of what it takes to roll out, for example, Sky Priority product, and for this to just exist in a perfect, seamless way, so that the customer has no gaps in the experience at all. It’s very difficult to achieve. I think it’s an absolutely magical scenario, but it’s also our daily work, so we’ll continue to do so.

Source: GLO