Air travelers in the United States are already paying for sandwiches and drinks, pillows and headsets. So, as airlines look for more ways to help their bottom lines, they have started asking the next logical question: Why not sell limousine services or even tickets to Broadway shows?
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Other airlines declined to talk on the record about their plans, but nearly all the major carriers acknowledged that they were working on expanding retail offerings.
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“Look at what’s going on in airports,” he said. “Anytime you have customers who are captive, who have nothing better to do, they’ll shop.”The technology making the onboard sales possible is being provided by GuestLogix, a Canadian company that sells the credit card readers and sales software to the airline industry. A brochure promoting its products describes onboard retail as unique because “operators are able to lock their doors with their shoppers still inside.”
In an interview, Brett Proud executive vice president of global sales and client support for GuestLogix, described the jetliner as “a retail space that is probably the biggest retail opportunity ever uncovered,” adding, “It’s huge.”
