Aer Lingus 2014 Annual Report Download - page 18

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16
Booking experience: In 2014 we took several initiatives to improve our customer’s booking experience. This includes the re-design of
our new website and app. These will both be completed in 2015.
Pre-flight experience: Our customers’ pre-flight experience ranges from check-in through to boarding and we are continually seeking to
improve our processes in this regard. As noted earlier, in July 2014 we moved from London Heathrow Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. The
new terminal constitutes a major improvement for our customers at one of our most important destination airports and we continue to
receive positive feedback on the benefits of this move. We also opened a new lounge in this terminal. Our new lounge in JFK will open
in Q1 2015.
A key performance measure we use to assess our operations is On-Time Performance (“OTP”). In 2014, we achieved an OTP of 81%.
This was slightly behind that reported in 2013. We strived to ensure passenger disruption was minimised and any such impacted
passengers were appropriately accommodated. A priority for 2015 is to improve OTP levels.
According to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) punctuality statistics prepared for ten UK airports (including London Heathrow,
Birmingham and London Gatwick) indicates that Aer Lingus ranks ahead of carriers such as Ryanair and British Airways in respect of
OTP on services to/from UK airports.
UK CAA Punctuality Statistics (Jan 2014- Dec 2014)
Aer Lingus
Ryanair
British Airways
Departures < 15 minutes
86%
80%
77%
Arrivals < 15 minutes
81%
79%
74%
Our 2015 priorities are:
In-flight experience: A key aspect of improving our customer’s in-flight experience includes the upgrade of our existing long haul
business class service to a fully “lie flat” capability on all of A330 fleet flying between Dublin and the US for summer 2015.
Post-flight experience: 2015 will also see the introduction of a new customer loyalty programme which will replace the current Gold
Circle programme. We expect this to be operational in 2016. Finally, in addition to the reconfigured business class offering, we will
also open a new arrivals lounge at Dublin airport offering our customers the opportunity to refresh following their transatlantic journey.
We recognise there are certain improvements which can be made across our business to drive efficiencies and achieve operational and
organisational best practices. The CORE programme is an important part of this objective. However, there are a number of other initiatives
which will be developed throughout 2015.
Strategic business units: The focus on cost and business process optimisation continued over the course of 2014, with the preparations
now completed to transform various support functions into strategic business units. These units will be operationally identifiable and
capable of providing services on a standalone basis both to internal parties within Aer Lingus as well as external third parties. The
rationale for establishing the SBUs are:
o Provides greater transparency over the “total cost” of providing specialist services to Aer Lingus
o Facilitates cost benchmarking with external service providers as required
o Promotes a greater degree of entrepreneurial culture and activity within Aer Lingus.
Overall, this project should assist in ensuring our support functions are in line with market comparable rates.
Asset deployment: Aer Lingus is focused on maintaining an appropriate fleet composition in terms of the mix of aircraft type and the
balance between owned and operating leased fleet. The introduction of a new B767 aircraft for the 12 week peak 2015 summer season to
facilitate additional long haul flying from Shannon to Boston and Dublin to New York is an example of our ability to optimally match
appropriately sourced capacity with demand.
Our fleet remains relatively young with an average age of 9.7 years at 31 December 2014. As a result we operate a relatively fuel
efficient fleet which helps maintain our price competitiveness.
We have recently concluded negotiations with Airbus and in the period from 2018 to 2020 we will take delivery of nine A350-900
aircraft (A350XWB or Regional variant). These aircraft will progressively replace our existing A330 fleet in addition to expanding our
capacity.
We will continue to determine the ownership proportion of our currently leased short haul aircraft in order to drive higher returns from
our asset base than is currently the case. In October 2014 we were informed by Virgin Atlantic of its intention to cease its “Little Red”
operations on a phased basis over the period to September 2015. Our short haul fleet ownership model is sufficiently flexible to
successfully absorb the return of the aircraft used to operate “Little Red” services. In addition one of our mainline long haul aircraft is
deployed on a damp lease arrangement during the winter season with the tour operator Novair. The agreement with Novair started in
December 2013 and will cease operating in winter 2015.
Objective 6: Achieve operational and organisational best practice