Prelims

Half Title Page

Airport Marketing Strategies

Title Page

Airport Marketing Strategies: Aviation and Tourism Perspectives

By

Lázaro Florido-Benítez

University of Málaga, Spain

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL

First edition 2024

Copyright © 2024 Lázaro Florido-Benítez.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Reprints and permissions service

Contact: www.copyright.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83608-083-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-082-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83608-084-8 (Epub)

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my mother Manuela, my two daughters Alba and Nerea and my wife Dolores for their continuous support. Finally, I would like to make a special dedication to my dog named Maddie; she is my faithful travel companion. For over 7 years, she has been accompanying me while I worked in my research projects and this special book. My wife and two daughters are happily aware of that.

Dr Lázaro Florido-Benítez

Lecturer of Tourism, Air transport, Economics and Business Administration

University of Málaga, Spain

Málaga 29013

The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs (Charles De Gaulle).

List of Figures and Tables

List of Abbreviations

3R

Restart, Rebuild and Redesign

4Cs

Customer, Cost, Communication, Convenience

4Ps

Product, Price, Promotion, Place

7Ps

Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Physical Evidence, Processes, People

ACI

Airports Council International

ACRP

Airport Cooperative Research Programme

AENA

Spanish Airport and Air Navigation

AI

Artificial Intelligence

AIF

Airport Improvement Fee

AMA

American Marketing Association

APP

Application

AR

Augmented Reality

ARFF

Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting

ASQ

Airports Service Quality

ATAG

Air Transport Action Group

B2B

Business-to-Business

B2C

Business-to-Consumer

BTME

Business Traveller Middle East Awards

CAA

Civil Aeronautics Administration

CAA

Civil Aviation Authority

CAG

Changi Airport Group

CAPEX

Capital Expenditures

CCCI

Creative Connections & Commons Inc.

CEO

Chief Executive Officer

COO

Chief Operating Officer

CTK

Global Cargo Ton-Kilometre

CWA

Clean Water Act

DDoS

Distributed Denial-of-Service

DEA

Data Envelopment Analysis

DMO

Destination Marketing Organization

DMUs

Denominated Decision-Making Units

DoS

Denial-of-Service Attacks

EASA

European Union Aviation Safety Agency

EC

European Commission

ENISA

European Union Agency for Network and Information Security

ESG

Environment Social and Governance

EU

European Union

EWOM

Electronic Word of Mouth

FAA

Federal Aviation Administration

FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

IATA

International Air Transport Association

ICAO

International Civil Aviation Organization

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

ID

Identification Document

IMF

International Monetary Fund

INE

National Statistical Institute

IoT

Internet of Things

ITA

International Trade Administration

KPI

Key Performance Indicator

LCC

Low-Cost Carrier

NAVAID

Navigation Aid

OAG

Official Airline Guide

OECD

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

OPEX

Operating Expenses

OTA

Online Travel Agency

PFC

Passenger Facility Charge

PKF

Passenger Kilometres Performed

PMR

Passenger with Reduced Mobility

PPE

Personal Protective Equipment

QR

Quick Response

ROI

Return on Investment

ROIC

Return On Invested Capital

RT PCR

Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction

SAFs

Sustainable Aviation Fuels

SITA

Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

SuM4All

Sustainable Mobility for All

SWOT

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

UK

United Kingdom

UNTWO

United Nations World Tourism Organization

US

United States of America

VIP

Very Important Person

VR

Virtual Reality

WHO

World Health Organization

WTO

World Trade Organization

WTTC

World Travel & Tourism Council

YoY

Year-over-Year

About the Author

Lázaro Florido-Benítez holds a PhD in Tourism and Marketing from the University of Malaga, Spain, and a Master's in Management of Airports–Aeronautics from the European Business School. He is a Lecturer and a Researcher in the Economics and Business Administration Department. His main research interests include tourism, digital marketing, airport marketing and air transport connectivity. In the area of tourism, he has investigated the promotion of tourist destinations, how airports and destinations promote marketing strategies through digital marketing, mobile marketing, the impact of mobile marketing at airports and the impact of airports and airlines on the tourist destination, among many others. He has published in many peer-reviewed journals on topics such as tourism, airports, marketing and cybersecurity.

Preface

This book provides an updated global vision of airport marketing strategies in the context of the aviation and tourism sectors. There are many books and articles on marketing and airport marketing, but there is not one yet that speaks directly to airport marketing strategies. This book will substantiate the academic literature regarding the role of airports and their marketing strategies in the aviation and tourism industries. One of the purposes of this book is to understand and document the nature of the airport's management and business through marketing strategies, the distinct challenges that airport and airline operators and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) currently face during these difficult times of economic, social and pandemic periods and how airport operators should try to cope with a global crisis through in coherent, well-planned, coordinated and comprehensive manner. Alone or together? Can airport and airline operators work and address this pronounced fall in passenger and freight volumes for 5 or 6 years more? What are the marketing strategies used in aviation and tourism activities? These are some of the questions we can ask ourselves, and there are probably many more that we could think of in this book.

Many studies have been conducted to examine the direct effects of marketing on tourism, international markets and human behaviour areas. However, in spite of the growing interest on airports and marketing relationships by researchers, academics and practitioners alike, there is no specific literature on airport marketing strategies, where researchers and airport operators can obtain relevant information in which to project their investigations and joint marketing strategies with other partners. To fill this gap, the purpose of this groundbreaking book is to introduce students, researchers and practitioners to the new methods of airport marketing strategies in the digital innovation era, strategies that enhance commercial revenues, promotion campaigns, the effectiveness of marketing actions and the airport's brand image. Further, this book is intended to provide some awareness and understanding of the various interactions and interdependencies between airports, DMOs, airlines, marketing tools and stakeholders.

Indeed, this book shows real examples of airport marketing strategies around the world to help airport and airline operators, marketers and DMOs improve their marketing strategies in a competitive and environmentally sustainable market, as is the case with aviation and tourism activities. Opportunities to develop mutually beneficial relationships in cities between DMOs and airports are plentiful but often largely untapped by both parties due to miscommunication and the common interests of business operators. Strategy is the art of asking, ‘Why?’ Establish and conduct a good strategy by the airport operator or company, which provides a road map for managers and indicates what must be done to survive, be profitable and grow as an organisation in an industry as competitive as the aviation sector. A good strategy must be based on clearly identified and framed challenges by airport operators. Strategy is science because it requires analytical skills, the ability to organise and analyse information and the ability to make well-informed decisions.

The marketing strategy of diversification is critical to reviving in times of economic downturn. Indeed, during the pandemic crisis, the use of digital channels to promote products and services is experimenting with an unprecedented boom in promotion and communication marketing campaigns. Airports such as Los Angeles (IATA code: LAX) in the United States, Orlando International (IATA: MCO) in the United States, Schiphol Amsterdam (IATA: AMS) in the Netherlands or Changi airport (IATA: SIN) in Singapore are pioneers and recognised experts in marketing communication and technical aspects of promotion campaigns.

The aviation industry has been a very restricted and rather endogamic sector for aeronautical engineers, operators and governments; they monopolised the aeronautical and safety activities from 1970 to 2000, and for them, the non-aeronautical and marketing operations were only residual income for airports. Fortunately, this trend is slowly changing thanks to tourism and marketing experts, who have provided a joint vision and a clearer picture of the interrelationship between the aviation and tourism industries to increase commercial revenue and passenger arrivals at airports worldwide. The management of marketing campaigns through digital channels by airport operators, marketing departments, airlines and DMOs has to be targeted with a clear, relevant and attractive message of products and services offered to users/passengers/tourists, to reach a high conversion rate and return on investment of marketing campaigns. This is one of the reasons why airport operators and the rest of their partners are turning to a range of evaluation measures for aviation and tourism promotion campaigns.

The concluding Chapter 9 tackles cybersecurity as a sociotechnical phenomenon in airport marketing activities. The cybersecurity issues at organisations marketing campaigns (e.g. phishing attacks, URL poisoning, man-in-the-middle, distributed denial of service or drone denial attacks) through digital channels are increasingly frequent and dangerous to companies and customers because of the digitisation of business (websites and apps) that has become in companies' main showcase. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) estimated a monthly average of 1,000 airport cyberattacks in 2020. For instance, the Airbus Group is hit by up to 12 cyberattacks per year, mostly in the form of ransomware and hostile actions carried out by state-sponsored attackers.

Digital development, new technologies, cybersecurity and information technologies are speeding up the transformation of airports into new business models, where they must stratify their portfolio of businesses with the aim of providing diversified and replacement revenue streams and enabling them to increase non-aeronautical revenues. These great changes at airports have created a world full of opportunities between the aviation and marketing industries, where passengers and companies operating in and around the airport will be the main beneficiaries.

The book maintains a thoroughly strategic perspective in the context and terms of marketing. Importantly, the author offers innovative perspectives on which airport marketing strategies and resulting examples and ideas might evolve in everyday practice at airports and airlines all around the world, as well as in academic research. As such, this book should be a must-read for everyone in the aviation and tourism industries.

Dr Lázaro Florido-Benítez

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Emerald's editors and reviewers for giving me this opportunity to edit this refereed book as part of the Emerald Editorial. I also thank in particular Sheena Reghunath and Thomas Felix Creighton for their helpful and constructive comments in the editorial process.

Dr Lázaro Florido-Benítez

Lecturer of Tourism, Air transport, Economics and Business Administration

University of Málaga, Spain

Málaga 29013