Brûlé Airways: The Management

"Basically You're Asking Me Why I'm No Longer the CEO of Dell"


Continuing in our series on TB´s airline, we have reached the management. Crucial, in harsh aviation times like these. In some positions there are clear stand out candidates, but an airline of this caliber requires titles that are yet to be defined. Recruiting will therefore be a challenge. We set five of the more obvious titles in our top management, with some essential criteria for success:

1. CLO – Chief Lounge Officer. We looking for someone with the hospitality of Adrian at the George V in Paris, but with experience from modern retail and property development. A tricky one.

2. CAO – Chief Apparel Officer. What could be more important in an airline cabin that what the crew are wearing? We can’t think of anything. So we would be looking at someone from Asiana, obviously.

3. CMC – Chief Maître de Cabine. No point improving perfection, so the legacy from Swiss should live on. The regular six languages and concierge knowledge of the normal top 50 cities will do.

4. CISO – Chief Inflight Service Officer.
This one is easiest, by far. We’ll just get Terence, the butler from the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong, straight away.

5. CTO – Chief Timetable Officer.
If you take your airline seriously, you take your timetables seriously. And as often as we’ve had to experience downloaded and badly designed PDF:s, instead of gripping on to a sturdy and finely printed dito – we feel that this is an issue that needs its own manager. Probably a German.

With a management like that, it would take more than a global economic depression to keep Brûlé Airways on the tarmac.

Service, and the lack of

Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 D-AIHS

My Lufthansa experience the other day was anything but TBI 100. Although I appreciate the proper cabin uniforms and the charming Mid-European accents, I would also like to add some service from the more well mannered parts of our flight origin. As my Star Alliance points regrettably belonged to another programme than Miles & More, I was treated like the rest of the Economy Class cattle – prodded to behave. Surely, there is such a word as ‘flexibility’ in German, recht?

Well on board the A340-600, I enjoyed the redesigned cabin with it’s lighter leather. Easier on the waking eye, I found. But the same awkward correctness showed itself during the service, impairing the experience. It is fine to do things the right way, but sometimes the right thing isn’t what the manual says but what the customer needs.

As you know, we like Lufthansa and they have many fine traits – the black first class service Merc is top notch, for instance. But when you can’t serve Krug with a smile, it doesn’t matter how well designed your timetables are.

What’s wrong with San Francisco? This.

San Francisco Sunset


For the last month, I’ve been spending my summer hols in San Francisco. My Med place was getting a refurbishing (Gaggenau oven, Toto toilet, etc), so I thought I´d give it a shot. After all, it is a tech savvy, liberal and generally bikeable place – steep hills aside. Even the public transport works (by North American standards). That being said, the Caltrain station is not exactly Hauptbahnhof in Zürich, if you know what I mean.

However, the city has failed to make any of the Monocle´s lists of liveability. We believe Tyler Brûlé´s response to whether SF was a decent city or not was simply: “God, no!”. Quite. Therefore we feel obliged to point out what has gone so wrong with this seismological little treat on the Pacific.

The list of possible improvements is literally endless, but let’s focus on three main areas:

1. Retail. It’s a nightmare, as is most American cities. Finding an interesting shopping route requires a patient driver, willing to whizz all over the place to get a sufficient itinerary. No Tsutaya´s either, or anything even close to it.

2. City planning. Mayor Newsom may be a celebrity favourite, but a city planner he is not. In certain areas, surprisingly central, a wrong turn on a cross street will send you straight into areas where the locals prefer malt liquor to single malt.

3. Business friendliness. The whole state of California is actually the worst American state to do business in – and has been so for four years running. And even if SF can’t be blamed for the disastrous state of the state, it certainly doesn’t seem to be working especially hard to improve it. Signs of closure are as commonly spotted as 50% sales.

So, is there any hope for San Francisco? Yes. There is a surprising amount of pet oriented stores, especially in the Hayes Valley/Haight districts. Also, to our delight, we found a top pet bakery up on Union Street. We’re glad to see that the notion of canine entrepreneurship is still thriving. If that can’t pull the city and the state out of it’s rut – nothing can.

Private jet – the new ambulance

Private Jet XA-ABA in Koh Samui

Our fellow highflyer Kristin, points out a very interesting blog post in the FT regarding Steve Jobs and his recent liver transplant. We quote:

“If you had access to a jet and had six hours to get anywhere in the country, you’d have a wide choice of programs,” said Dr. Michael Porayko, the medical director of liver transplants at Vanderbilt University, one of the Tennessee centers that has said it did not treat Mr. Jobs.

Could it be any clearer? We suggest mandatory private jets for anyone who wants to stay healthy. The reasons to buy a HondaJet HA-420 or a Pilatus PC-12 are literally stacking up.

Brûlé Airways: The Crew

Malay air flight attendants


Just as we were speculating about Brûlé Airways, the man himself writes a full column on what it would be like. Finding himself desperately needing “trans-Med connectivity” he lays out – eloquent as always – what the crew on this fictional airline would be serving and wearing:

On the crew front, my jury’s out on who I’d have in the cockpit but I’d definitely have Italians to man the on-board espresso machines and I’d hire my friend Kamal Mouzawak to be my chief catering officer and have him demonstrate why Lebanon’s mezze culture was made for in-flight meal service. Along with produce sourced in the Bekaa Valley and the Chouf Mountains, he’d also select the best reds from Spain, rosés from Provence, whites from Italy and beer from Turkey.

After food, uniforms would be the second most exciting element and I’d leave the sourcing to my Galician friend Sagra who’d have a sleepy little espadrille firm do a smart shoe for both men and women, find an emerging French designer to produce dresses and knitwear ensembles for the girls and a solid tailor from Genoa to do the designs and manufacturing for the stewards’ and pilots’ uniforms.

He does however leave us with one mystery:

Would it make more sense to crew the airline from the lower-wage Maghreb countries or leave it to the Spanish or the Lebanese to run?

Those Maghreb countries have that ever-charming sub-Med disposition, so our money is definitely on them.

Brûlé Airways – The fleet

ec-ivg airbus a320 spanair

As mentioned, Mr Brûlé has expressed interest in his own airline. And after going through what the terminal would be like, our next stop is of course the aircraft fleet.

Aviation purchases are always troublesome, as you are well aware of. A long line of factors need to be taken into account – range, fuel efficiency, seating arrangements and so forth. In cases like this we tend to always to lean towards people rather than specs. And who would you rather lean on than the “best thinker in the sky” – Robert Lafontan. As Airbus’s senior chief engineer he is the master mind behind the A380 (that we sincerely hope never will be produced in it’s 853 people economy class only configuration).

For Brûlé Airways however, we are opting for his next project in line – the A350 XWB. So we’ll go for a few of those for long haul while settling for the more lean A320 for short and medium haul trips. That should cover the basic LHR-NRT, CPH-ZRH and ARN-PMI routes.

But, as our efficient German friends Lufthansa have shown us, no airline is complete without a private jet section. So to finish off, we’ll pop in a Cessna Citation XLS+ for good measure. A pure bespoke offering for those customers that prefer a smoother debarkation.

Better people: John Morford

Park Hyatt Tokyo, Library


Recently ranked in the Monocle Travel Top Fifty as the top “man who knows his way around a room”, John Morford is definitely a better person.

The man responsible for the designing the Park Hyatt Tokyo is nothing less than an demi-god of interior design. Just look at their library shown above. As a matter of fact, the only downfall we can find about the hotel is that their club sandwich doesn’t hold as high class as their Milan sibling. But Mr Morford can hardly be blamed for this. However another Morford-designed hotel – the Masuichi Kyakuden in Obuse – serves the best hotel breakfast, full stop. It’s a slight culinary mystery.

He has a special approach to public spaces that “makes the guest feel they´re the star, not the interior”. As it should be. And this skill alone makes us title Mr Morford as a better person.

How to save SAS

props


The Airline Blog reports on the once proud Scandinavian carrier SAS´ financial troubles. They note that the A330s and A340s are flying long haul without filling up adequately with passengers, leaving these routes to account for 50% of SAS losses. The blog suggests that they should turn Copenhagen Kastrup Airport into a stronger European international hub, competing for North American flights, in order to save the company.

Although we completely agree that something needs to be done, the analysis is slightly off. The route map is fine, what needs overseeing are the inflight amenities. From Nuuk to Beirut, we’re all wondering why the glassware can’t be crisp Iittala like Finnair? Why the nightwear can’t be sharp like ANA? Don’t get us started on the pre-flight dining – have you never been to Cathay Pacific’s Wing lounge in Hong Kong?

Fix these details and you’ll have passengers queuing up to hit the skies in those SDL-designed Airbuses again.