Fraport strikes partnership with Beijing Capital International and Air China

GERMANY/CHINA. Fraport AG, Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd. and Air China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand flight frequencies and to develop customised airport services for passengers from Germany and China. The deal was formally agreed on 21 September in Beijing.

Fraport Senior Vice President of Sales and Customer Service Winfried Hartmann said: “This cooperation agreement underscores the growing importance of Frankfurt as a preferred gateway to Germany and Europe for Chinese leisure and business travellers.

“In the future, we will be able to expand traffic connections to and from China which is vital for Germany’s export economy and tourism industry. At the same time, both airports will be able to match their service offerings to the specialised needs and wishes of passengers at the corresponding airports.”

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Hand in hand: (Left to right) Beijing Capital International Airport,Vice President Du Qiang, Air China Vice President Wang Mingyuan and Fraport Senior Vice President, Customer Sales and Service Winfried Hartmann

In spring 2016, Fraport began cooperating with the VIP Service company of Beijing Capital International Airport to offer standardised product offerings at both airports.

“The choice of Frankfurt as the first European airport for this type of cooperation can be attributed to the excellent facilities and processes for transfer passengers and the large number of flight connections available at the Frankfurt hub. We look forward to future cooperation with our partners in China,” stressed Hartmann.

Fraport has fast become a pioneer in delivering new services to travellers, notably in the digital arena. At last week’s Trinity Forum, Executive Vice President Multi-Channel Kai Schmidhuber outlined how the company has been trialling an ‘Inflight Shopping’ service in partnership with national carrier Lufthansa and airport travel retailer Gebr Heinemann.

He linked the initiative with a move to connect better with Chinese travellers.

Schmidhuber said: “It was for us about being the first mover in that concept before others come. We have some serious issues with, for example Alibaba and Alipay. Most of our Chinese passengers pay for their airline tickets with Alipay. So Alipay knows much further in advance than us when their customers are arriving at Frankfurt Airport. And Alibaba and Alipay send them offers, working together with some other retail partners outside the airport.

“So we started having a really good conversation with Lufthansa, saying ‘What do you want to achieve? What do we want to achieve? How can we combine the strength of Fraport’s very strong ground logistics with the connection to the passenger, with whom the airline is obviously closer than the airport?’ So we came up with this idea.”

For the full story, click here. More on this initiative and Schmidhuber’s presentation will appear in The Moodie Davitt Report Print Edition for October.

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