How one airline built revenue without passengers

We’re all scared of change. And we get it. COVID-19 has brought us unseen challenges on an unprecedented scale. Airline retailing had never faced anything like this and revenue managers needed to consider new and innovative solutions to gain back market share and get going again, fast.

After Colombia closed the skies in March, Viva Air’s income halted as well as their flights. Viva Air looked to reignite passenger revenue, regardless of the situation in the skies. So after agreeing to partner, less than two months later we rolled out the Cuponera Viva Pass, proving that success was still possible and could be scaled rapidly.

Accelerating the recovery from COVID-19

We were asked, how can we start accelerating the recovery from COVID-19 and rebound sooner? We adjusted our existing platform for Viva Air, setting up certain modules for them to build a custom product. We wanted to focus on:

• stimulating customer demand
• accelerating growth
• building trust back in a broken industry.

To capture market share, Viva Air needed to launch fast and first in their market. Creating an appealing and marketable product for customers was essential too.

A customized setup to boost customer purchases and confidence

By Viva Air allowing us to innovate and take the reins, we rolled out the Cuponera Viva Pass in just 6 weeks. Part of our promise was to minimise the amount of work it would take Viva to hit the ground running, and optimise their time and resources with our ready-to-use and customizable platform.

With Cuponera Viva Pass, passengers can buy up to eight flights, saving them up to 60%. Customer satisfaction is built in by allowing travellers to book up to three days before, and use their Cuponera over a whole year. Keeping customers safe and happy is key right now, so we knew Cuponera would guarantee this by providing peace of mind and flexibility.

It was easy to lose sight of the long-term, but we knew not to be confined by the pandemic’s short-term and ever changing dynamics. Lisa Mota Pinto, Commercial Vice President of the Viva Air Group said that their main challenge was to:

“help regain passenger confidence in flying with the same or greater frequency as they did before.”

The result: five times more revenue than expected

In just one month, Viva Air beat all their expectations for a slow but sure start. Even with the skies closed, Viva Air reached their three month target in the first month. The figures showed that they had sold nearly four times as many Cuponeras as predicted, and generated over five times as much revenue as expected.

This strategic head start in purchases gave Viva Air a significant retail advantage in the region and allowed them to fast track their recovery before the ‘official’ recovery had even begun. By waiting for the skies to re-open, other airlines are losing market and customer share.

As well as gaining valuable market share, Viva Air has shown that this model truly stimulates demand and builds trust for customers who want to fly again. The fact that planes weren’t even flying at that point sent a big message to the industry that innovation needs to start now. Many passengers are already thinking ahead, like one customer who commented on Viva Air’s Facebook, “ah it looks great! For next year’s flights!”

As a natural evolution of this success, Caravelo is now setting up a recurring revenue model for Viva Air to focus on long-term market leadership. A membership subscription where customers pay monthly in return for a number of flights brings in a steady income stream. This leads to easily predictable revenue and low acquisition costs, in turn keeping your loyal customers around for longer.

More about Caravelo

At Caravelo, we give revenue managers full transparency and the autonomy to develop, test and implement new airline retailing modules. We want to give flexibility to airlines when exploring new solutions and we make it fast and easy for them from day one.

Let’s talk.