Pre-order opportunities bolster airline's in-flight sales

In-flight retail sales onboard My Travel Airways Scandin­avia topped a record-breaking US$100 million last year with spirits and wine retaining its position as the charter airline's most important category.

The sector took a commanding 40 per cent share of the airline's in-flight retail turnover as Swedish and Norwegian passengers took advantage of the airline's long-standing pre-order service in greater numbers than before. Wine and spirit sales rose 7 per cent over 2006 with rum and New World wines proving the fastest-growing sub-categories.

The highest total spend across all categories on any one flight was reached on a flight from Oslo, Norway, to Phuket, Thailand, where sales topped US$76,000.

My Travel's popular pre-order service has been running for many years. Customers pre-order before flying and buy at the lower duty and VAT rates of their typically southern European destinations before picking up their purchase on arrival.

"We continue to benefit from the high domestic prices at the Norwegian and Swedish wine and spirit monopolies," commented My Travel Airways Scandinavia purchasing manager Lars Hjartbo. "The reason for last year's success was primarily the use of e-mail and SMS text messaging that allowed us to remind passengers to pre-order before departure ."

Last year My Travel Airways Scandinavia handled 1 million passengers.