On the eve of the publication of the Government’s consultation to kickstart the new UK Aviation Strategy, guests from across the aviation industry, parliamentarians and Aviation Club UK members attended the Aviation Club UK’s annual reception at the House of Lords, hosted by Lord Clarke of Hampstead CBE, British trade unionist and Labour peer.

Jane Middleton, Immediate past chairman and chair of Airlines UK, thanked and introduced host Lord Clarke.  Special guest Bob ‘the cat’ Bevan MBE, after dinner speaker, Crystal Palace supporter and raconteur entertained the guests with his sparkling wit and jokes..

Heathrow Airport sponsored the event and Flybe Chief Executive Christine Ourmieres-Widener donated flights.  

Amongst some 130 guests were Geraldine Wilmot of Boeing, who flew in from Seattle specifically to attend the Reception, Orbis UK Chief Executive, Rebecca Cronin and Paul Morris, Senior Manager, Aircraft Field Line Maintenance, FedEx (who donated the current aircraft to Orbis) along with Charity Partnership Manager, Kathryn Sweet. They were delighted to join members at this special event and enjoyed to opportunity to network with guests, including long term Orbis supporter Irena Badelska.

Michael Huerta, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, USA, pictured with Jane Johnston, Chairman of the Aviation Cub UK during his address to members and guests at a Club luncheon yesterday in London.

One of the most important regulators in the world is set to speak at the Aviation Club UK next month on Thursday 15 June 2017.

Michael Huerta runs the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA, and is responsible for the safety and efficiency of the largest aerospace system in the world with more than 47,000 employees who provide aircraft and airport safety oversight and air traffic services to more than 50,000 commercial and private flights each day…

Download the full media release HERE.

Pieter Elbers addressed Aviation Club UK members and guests at their Club luncheon on Wednesday 5 April.  Elbers confirmed the importance of the UK market to KLM quoting the following key messages:

‘The UK is KLM’s single most important market out of the Netherlands. In three years’ time we have increased the number of seats to the UK by 20%. Last year, we opened three new UK destinations (Inverness, Southampton and London City). This is proof of our commitment to the UK and our faith in the further development of this market.

‘Currently, with 17 destinations and 71 frequencies a day we welcome on board as many as 4.2 million passengers per year. This means almost 1 out of 6 KLM passengers flying through Schiphol enter via one of our UK routes. With our network we offer services to the world from more cities in the UK than any other airline, we are UK’s regional “home carrier”!  

‘What sets us apart from the competition? Most of all, we want to offer our passengers a memorable experience. KLM will not be the most luxurious, nor have the lowest cost, but instead we have made a choice for customer intimacy. This is in our DNA.

‘Digital enables large scale customer intimacy. We have now rolled out over 14.000 iPads for frontline staff. This will enable them to personalize their service to customers and to solve problems more directly.  Ever since the ash cloud in 2009 when we evolved our social media response KLM has been a frontrunner in digital and social media. Since then a lot has happened. The world around us evolved. And so did we.

‘With 100,000 incoming messages a week that are answered within the hour, we still excel in social media. But also on digital we have a good track record:

–      Over 130 million visits per year on klm.com

–      Selling 1 out of 3 tickets via our website

–      Almost half of all online visits are on mobile

–      70% online check-ins

‘Recently Citibank published a thorough and interesting update on digitization in the airline industry, where KLM was ranked as the number one digital scoring European airline. At KLM with over 18 million followers we have more social media presence than IAG Group and Lufthansa Group combined. And we continue to invest in our leading digital position.

‘We believe we should be where our customers are.  I can honestly say that we at KLM feel at home in the UK and we wish to make UK customers feel at home with KLM.

To view the Bloomberg news article CLICK HERE

Pieter Elbers, President and CEO of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will speak at the Aviation Club UK on Wednesday 5 April 2017.  An Airline industry veteran, Pieter has over 25 years of experience in KLM, managing KLM Group’s overall strategy and performance with £9 billion in revenues and 32,000 staff.

Read more …. to download the full media release CLICK HERE.

BTN reports Aeromexico CEO Andrés Conesa was in London talking to the aviation industry at the Institute of Directors within days of Delta Air Lines announcing it had taken its interest in the carrier up to 49%.

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The Aviation Club UK welcomes its first speaker from Latin America next week when Aeromexico CEO, Dr Andres Conesa, joins the Club’s second lunch of the year on Wednesday 8 March 2017 in central London ..

To download the full release click here

The Aviation Club UK has chosen Orbis, the ‘Flying Eye Hospital’ dedicated to treating and preventing avoidable blindness, as its charity for the next twelve months.

To download full media release click here.