Europe's low-cost airlines once mocked the air miles programs run by flag carriers as expensive relics of a bygone era. But after watching wide-eyed as customer databases were valued at billions of dollars, they are scrambling to catch up. Europe's two largest low-cost carriers, Ryanair and easyJet have both swallowed their pride in the past year and launched customer loyalty schemes and both have announced significant investments in data analytics. Their aim is to ape retailers like Amazon.com and Tesco in driving profits by leveraging data from vast online customer bases to create highly personalized offers and adapt services to customer preferences more quickly. "This has transformed retail and it's going to transform airlines," said Kenny Jacobs, a former Tesco executive spearheading Ryanair's digital drive as CMO. He has overseen the hiring of 150 IT specialists since he was appointed two and a half years ago. "Airlines are not good at this. We're still crap compared to what retailers do." easyJet CE Carolyn McCall, who last year appointed the company's first head of data science to oversee a team of 25 data analytics specialists, has described data as "incredibly important" for the airline. A spokesman for easyJet described the potential benefits from digitization and data analytics as "exponential". Both airlines have promised a detailed breakdown of their digital data drives and the financial returns in the autumn. Ryanair and easyJet are taking different approaches, with Ryanair focusing squarely on selling optional extras while easyJet sees ticket pricing at the heart of its data drive.<br/>
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August 19, is not only Orville Wright’s birthday, it's National Aviation Day, established in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to celebrate and commemorate the history and development of aviation in America. NASA has some ideas on how you can mark the day, as do the people who will be gathering at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in North Carolina, at the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Ohio, and at the many other national parks around the country with aviation connections. On Friday there will be also be activities honoring National Aviation Day in a number of airports around the country.<br/>
Experts in the aviation sector say increase in the price of aviation fuel from N105 to N220 per litre in Nigeria may soon cause airlines operating in the country to move to Ghana where aviation fuel is sold for N110 per litre. Two days ago, Emirates airline for the first time flew to Ghana to buy fuel for its Abuja flight. A source said that British Airways also buys fuel from Ghana. The source said more airlines will soon leave for Ghana to buy fuel since it is cheaper to buy from the country. Similarly, Air France last week announced that from 2017, the airline will commence three weekly flights to Accra in Ghana from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. These flights will be operated by Airbus A330 with a capacity of 208 seats until 27 March 2017, then by Boeing 777-200 with 312 seats. “The aviation fuel cartel causing a 100% increase in fuel price has forced Emirates airlines to go to Accra to buy fuel. This is making Nigeria lose businesses and revenues,” Nogie Meggison, president, Airline Operators of Nigeria, said.<br/>