Airliners seem to have a hard time remodelling their businesses. With the rise of budget airlines (EasyJet, RyanAir and others) some conventional carries has tried to change their business to secure their continued existence – some with more luck than others. My latest travel with Maersk Air was some disappointment. I’ve been exploring Malta the past week (hence the silence at this site), and we flew with Maersk Air.
Maersk Air is one of the classic airlines which has been challenged – and has reinvented themselves. Their strategy seems to become a premium budget airliner – and their concept works for me. They offer a little more flexibility than the pure budget, more choices and clearly state what the options cost.
The flight did however bring some disappointments to the concept.
In the beginning of the flight in the welcoming speech while preparing to take-off, the crew kindly ask you to stay in your seat buckled up during the flight. No problem, but on a 3+ hour flight I would expect some minimum level of entertainment. There were nice LCD screens everywhere in the cabin, but the only entertainment during the entire trip was a map showing where the plane was. On the outbound flight there were a few radio channels available, but on the return flight there wasn’t even radio. On short flights - say less than 90 minutes – no entertainment, no problem, but on longer flights if you except people to stay in their seats you need something to busy their mind.
Maersk Air has (like true budget airlines) abolished meals during the flight. Instead they’ve opened “AirWay café” where you should be able to buy sandwiches, pasta salads and other snacks and foods. As we we’re leaving Malta at seven pm we figured we’d buy dinner on the planed. Anything which resembled real food however – despite the plane was far less than half-full – was sold out. What’s that about? They tell you in the speakers than you can choose between their many delicious meals, and yet when we wanted to buy something, they had nothing. Booh!
