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Countdown Sign at IGA office (2014) I joined IGA , the company behind the Istanbul New Airport Project, as one of its first employees back in 2014. Then the project land was full of mining lakes, hills, and beautiful trees. When I first heard the targeted inauguration date, 29th of October 2017, I told my colleagues that this was simply impossible. Before IGA, I worked for Abu Dhabi Airports Co. ( ADAC ) and aware of tricks and possible delays in an airport/terminal construction project. I am a marketing and communication professional, not an engineer or developer, but there is /was common sense. Abu Dhabi Airport Midfield Terminal was supposed to be built in 3 years and inaugurated in 2014-15. It is still not operational. Groundbreaking ceremony area (2015) Back in 2015, I told my colleagues at IGA that President Erdoğan may cut the ribbon as early as 29th of October, 2018, earliest, but probably this would be a soft opening, and realistically the new airport would be fully o...

"We monitor thousands of flights a day to help you make that all-important connection" Star Alliance promotes its new connection service at Frankfurt Airport with a focus on speed.

Well, here it is... AI by Google. Follow the below link to read the story on the official Google AI Blog. There are voice call examples too, but my favorite is the picture of Yaniv Leviathan, Google Duplex lead, and Matan Kalman, engineering manager on the project, enjoying a meal booked through a call from Duplex. Too much on their plate? Link:  https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/duplex-ai-system-for-natural-conversation.html Enjoy the ride!

My longest flight was about 13 hours, from Istanbul to Sao Paolo on a Turkish Airlines A340. It was not an easy one. You have roughly 10 hours of free time when you exclude meal services. If you are not lucky enough to fly in a premium cabin,  flying in the economy can be a painful experience. After the first meal service, a movie, and a book, I slept for a while, and when I woke up, I realized that I have another 7 hours to arrive. Since that journey, I promised myself to save my miles for long-haul upgrades. Ultra Long Haul Era This week, Qantas, the Australian carrier, launched a 14.500km direct route from Perth to London. This is the first direct air link between Australia and Europe, and it took 17 hours. The Economist has recently published a 'daily chart' covering this hot topic. Here is the list of 10 ULR flights of the world and their approximate routes. All these flights are 15+ hours. There are already some studies going on about these flights' healthiness and ...

Lufthansa to revise “new” livery after only three weeks according to the news on aviation websites .  This is quite unusual for a German company, and it looks like the debate is going on inside the airline HDQ in Frankfurt. I think that this rebranding is not a successful one. I read and watched everything on LH's dedicated site for this rebrand; Explore the New. Have a look >>> Still not convinced! Removing the famous LH Yellow from the logo (and tail), and decrease its use to as low as %10 (just a small yellow area next to the front door) was not the best decision. Dark blue color and its shape on livery was another problem, which LH is tackling now. I support rebrandings in principal as someone who has rebranded an airline 10 years ago. However, I know that this has to be done very carefully, especially if you are a global brand. Sometimes a brand refresh is better than a complete rebranding. There are good examples, though. Etihad did a fantastic job several years ago....

At Delta Air Lines , marketing executives have a phrase to describe customers and potential customers younger than 35 — and it’s not “millennial traveler.” They prefer to call them “Emerging High-Value Customers” or eHVCs. Click here to read the article on Skift.com. I believe that defining a new segment among millennials is important as different parts of the travel and hospitality industries have more or less the same approach to millennials. However, this group of people may trigger changes and development of new products and services based on better segmentation and understanding of their needs. Not all millennials want to fly low-cost, rent a room through Airbnb, and discover a city or country like the others.

As someone born in the mid-70s, I have never identified myself as a Generation X. The main reason behind this was the situation in Turkey during the 70s and 80s. Turkey was an isolated country from the rest of the world in terms of art, music, and popular culture in general, like so many other areas thanks to two coup d'etat we had. All those definitions about 'generations' in the US and Europe were not matching with the reality of us. For the first time in the late 80s in a hotel room, I have watched MTV, where foreign channels were available. Then we had only two channels in the country run by the state broadcasting company. We were simply detached from the world. Along with that, I had my first email account in 1993 through a dial-up connection due to liberalization led by Turgut Özal, then president of Turkey. The huge gap between Turkey and the rest of the world had narrowed during the 90s, and we became more integrated. However, it was too late for us to become a Gen-...

PSFK is a New York-based business intelligence platform that inspires creative professionals. It is in my bookmarks for a long time, and I regularly, not frequently, check their website for useful picks and ideas. Here is an interesting one; Consumer 2020. According to PSFK, this report, developed in partnership with Cisco, explores questions and discusses how brands can adapt to a new collective of empowered consumers. The democratization of technology has allowed these individuals to access creation tools typically limited to retailers and brands. Click here to have a look at Summary Presentation and download the free report. Save Save

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and the most prominent public face of the search giant; " We can't guarantee it, but we can get pretty close " Schmidt conceded the point during an interview on Fox Business Network Thursday in response to a growing advertiser boycott against the company. More than 250 brands have pulled ads after reports that they appeared near YouTube videos from terrorists, Nazis, and other hate-mongers. I believe that this boycott and response of Google, along with other platforms, will define the future of online advertisement. Have a look at Mashable to read the full article by Patrick Kulp.

No, it is not wine; it is coffee! Nespresso has launched a new Limited Edition coffee called Selection Vintage 2014. It is not just another limited edition like Tanim de Chiapas - Mexico or Cafezinho - Brazil. It is not exotic or has a colorful capsule like others. It is all about the story behind it. Have a look at the below video; Nespresso Brand OK, I am a Nespresso customer, and I like both the product and the brand. I even upcycle used capsules of mine and my friends to make decorative items; Capsules and Light . Categorically, it falls under capsule art, another developing thing among fans, which is also under Nespresso's radar. Check the website of Second Life Project  by Nespresso or just google it. Check out their  Ecolaboration Program . A comprehensive one covering sustainability, social, and environmental impacts of the business while improving the lives of coffee farmers and their communities. They do whatever has to be done. I believe that Nespresso is ...

Have a look at NG story about vintage maps of airlines in the early days of the 20th century and compare it with Martin Grandjean's below work to see how the industry has developed in terms of the network. Today we have more than 3.000 airports and 60.000 routes. Don't you think that it is amazing? Click here to read the full story of NG. If you like to buy the book Mapping the Airways, curated by Paul Jarvis, visit the Amberley Publishing website . Have a nice flight!

I had a few flights on board of Emirates A380s, both in Economy and Business. Yes, it is a huge aircraft, but there is nothing unusual except the bar for premium pax in terms of passenger comfort. Have a look at the video news by Jeremy Howell of BBC;

Before we get into details, please have a look at these two links; Skift - Airbnb Is Really Building A Flight Search Engine  Bloomberg - News about intentions of Airbnb Skift Take by Dennis Schaal; Turns out it is more than a trial balloon, after the announcement of possible flight search at Airbnb Open last month. The margins are tiny in flight search, not sure why it would be better than any other OTA, other than it has lots of traffic coming to Airbnb. How has Airbnb changed the way we travel? Simple. They offered a new, different, and genuine way to stay in the cities we visit. We loved this from host to guest concept. If you go for a room, it is far less expensive than a hotel room. This may not be suitable for all, but if you go for an entire apartment, it is a better option than any hotel, especially if you are traveling with more than two people. I traveled to Amsterdam this month with my friends, and we stayed in a nice, centrally located apartment. It cost ...

Such a good example for a low-cost airline ads... just on time, savvy and funny.

I remember the Concorde Era and the last campaign of British Airways to experience a supersonic flight with the legendary Concorde from London to New York. I worked for Swissair and was entitled to have a discounted ticket, but not enough budget as a young marketing executive. Since then, I have thought about the length of flight times and supersonic flights' reintroduction by using advanced technology. The introduction of new generation aircrafts such as B787 and A350 brought some improvements to the cabin and passenger comfort, significantly reducing fuel consumption and operational efficiency but time. My latest long-haul flights from Istanbul were to Sao Paolo and Johannesburg. Each of them was more than 10 hours. Personally, I can manage flights up to 6 hours, but longer flights are a waste of time, even if you fly in Business Class. New Era Finally, a company called Boom announced the return of supersonic flights. In an interview, Blake Scholl, the founder and chief...

It is better to compare it with the previous year's results, which I published in this blog; Digital in Turkey . From my point of view, the most important one is the 50% equal share of laptops/desktops and mobile devices/tablets. Social media usage and habits are also indicative both in Turkey and the rest of the world. In two years, the company I work for will inaugurate the world's biggest hub; Istanbul New Airport. The question is, are we going to have a traditional airport website for our further passengers or what? Anyway, here is the chart for the main indicators. The full report can be viewed through slideshows of @wearesocialsg on LinkedIn.

I was one of them for almost 7 years... first 5 years with the legendary Swissair , which was a unique and priceless experience. The below video is such a nice one that brings you on a journey through the successor  SWISS .

I was wondering about the real reason for a long time. Why they name them as 7X7? Forget all stories and conspiracy theories you heard about the model numbering of Boeing airplanes. There is a logical reason which makes sense, at least at the organizational level... After World War II, Boeing President William Allen set about an ambitious restructuring of the company, dividing each new department by three-digit numbers. The 300 and 400 departments continued to focus on the company’s propeller aircraft offerings, while 500 came to denote the company's part focused on turbine engine development. The 600s were reserved for rocket and missile products. And finally, the burgeoning jet aircraft division of the company was assigned the number 700. As the company prepared its Model 700 jet for commercial sales, Boeing’s marketing department swept in and rightfully suggested that the name didn’t exactly roll of f the tongue. Instead, the 700 was renamed as the alliterative 707. The 71...