Travel has become even more of a luxury for some, during these days of rising gas prices and scolding the hand anxious to dig into our wallets. So for an airline to expand its service during this time of extreme conservatism would seem crazy. After the Air One Blogger’s Meeting in Boston last Thursday, I can say that air travel is not dead!
Edelman agency, held a meeting for 25 bloggers to discuss where online communication is going – all over panini, pizza, and pinot grigio. Special guests included Giorgio De Roni, head of network and marketing for Air One, one of the newest airlines to come out of Italy. After a quick Italian lesson to stuff our minds with romantic ideas, we were all ears.
Giorgio told us about Air One, a privately owned airline that originally consisted of only one aircraft, which has conservatively expanded by a few. Just this week, Air One has expanded smartly to fill a need, picking up AlItalia’s dropped routes – two direct flights to Milan; one from Boston, and one from Chicago.
With budget airlines suffering in this current climate, Air One, not to mention all us avid globetrotters, certainly want to stay in the air. They keep prices low, mostly only noting the flux in gasoline changes, and focusing on the service they can give their customers. They vow never to have hidden fees, and keep gasoline taxes as low as possible. This then actually puts them in the range of competition with other budget airlines, while providing much better service for only a few extra dollars.
I was also interested to learn that Air One is one of the most environmentally aware airlines. They were the first airline to install engines on their A320 Airbus fleet that noticeably reduce hazardous emissions – stuff like this is important to increasingly environmentally aware consumers.
So, fellow travelers, I suppose this meeting gave me some more hope for traveling by air. Air One starts with Italy, one of the most popular vacation spots in the world. Perhaps this shows that air travel is moving towards a more private and personal approach, in which accuracy and service can only improve.
Here’s to the birds!
Adena Harford/tripwolf
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[...] is new budget Italian airline Air One picking up some of Alitalia’s slack, they’re also being pretty environmentally progressive (especially for an [...]