Julian Ugochukwu Anugom, In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity Development head at Delta Air Line, in this interview with WOLE SHADARE at the airline’s head office in Atlanta, Georgia, speaks on how the carrier is changing the face of air travel with innovation
You have changed the face of Delta Air Lines in terms of Inflight Communication and Entertainment. How has it been with Delta?
I lead in-flight entertainment and connectivity development here at Delta. If you have heard about the internet system on aeroplanes, my team is responsible for the development of the platforms that go on the aircraft, whether it is the software the hardware or a combination, which is the entire system of the platform.
Our development work ranges include things like the Delta Sync Wi-Fi, which I talked about at the CES, and the Delta Sync SITBAC, which is taking the SITBAC screens and making them smart.
We are working actively as we’re speaking on the internet system on the regional aeroplane.
Are you looking at the Lagos routes?
As you know, our CEO Ed Bastian has announced that we are going to be free all over with the Delta system. There are specific peak routes, especially international routes, that we are continuously optimising and enhancing, hence the reason why we haven’t made it free yet.
Atlanta to Lagos is one of them. We have made good improvements, but not completely where we want to be. For instance, when I flew last December, I could tell that the system was significantly improved, but the last hour, an hour and a half to Lagos, we did not have connectivity.
We are working on all those. Once we close that gap and we’ve gotten it to where we need it to be, then the next thing we’ll be making it free. And all these things will happen in a few months.
You talked about having Nigerian movies. How far have you gone with that?
The last time I told you about the former guy who ran for governorship in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo, who said the same thing. He said he flew and there was only one Nigerian Nollywood movie on board, and he was wondering how Delta does not have more.
I had a conversation with the leadership in that space, and we were able to add additional movies, which I am pretty sure you saw.
But as my sister here has communicated, she is still not satisfied. She doesn’t want five movies.
What you do is specific to the different routes that you operate. Do you also do that for other destinations?
Yes. Delta does a lot of research and spends a lot of money towards its customer base. For instance, you flew to Nigeria and you ate Jollof rice, right? There is a huge amount of money that goes into all that analysis to make sure we please our passengers.
To answer your question directly, the answer is yes, Delta does a lot of that, and we try to get towards our passengers and make them happy and make them feel at home.
A lot of international airlines are still selling their internet service. What prompted Delta to make it free? What do you hope to gain from that?
The biggest thing everyone talks about with Ed, our CEO, is customer-focused, right? Customer experience is his biggest thing.
I have worked in multiple industries, but when I came to Delta, it was just amazing to me how much it focuses on people and the customer experience.
And the first thing he said was, that we must give our passengers what they want and what they need. The biggest thing was the internet system being free on the airplane.
Could you let us into the investment that has gone into what you have done?
In-flight entertainment and connectivity cost Delta over a billion dollars. This is the belief of our CEO in that space. I mean, no airline in the world has as many screens as Delta has.
None. We have 165,000 screens in the Delta airplanes. No airline even comes anywhere close to that. And it is because of the belief in that same customer experience.
Yes, we spend a lot of money. It is a lot of cost to Delta. Like I said earlier, our CEO Ed, strongly believes that customer experience makes customers happy, and happy customers will always fly your airplane.
I know one of the things that I understood from this trip was Delta is big on connecting cultures. How do you feel about the Nigerian culture?
I think it poses back to what we talked about yesterday as well, too. We have been in the market for 17 years now, and we have learnt over the years as well, too. Sometimes we are on the hard way, what to do and what not to do.
Those lessons have been learnt. I can’t come back to the mantra we talked about yesterday, either or what to do with them. And at least being in global sales, that is what we live by every day.
We talked yesterday about who has the biggest GDP in Ghana and Africa, Nigeria. You know, who has a nice mix of corporate oil and gas traffic, a couple of his new friends and relatives traffic, Nigeria?
So that is the good thing about the Nigeria market is that we have tried and sometimes failed in other international markets where it’s just you’ve got one channel to sell to, and if something happens geopolitically or with interest rates going up and impacts leisure consumers’ ability to travel, that can make it difficult to make a profit fast.
The Nigeria market, too, we didn’t talk too much yesterday, but we’re diversified, too, as far as our point of sale. You know, not all the traffic is being sold in the U.S., not all of it’s being sold point of sale in Nigeria.
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