Frantz Yvelin is the co-founder and CEO of the all-business-class, transatlantic airline La Compagnie, which celebrated its two-year anniversary in July. News editor Johanna Jainchill spoke to Yvelin, who is a licensed pilot, about the airline's success against the odds as well as the current challenges of doing business in Europe.
Q: No other all-business-class, transatlantic airline lasted very long. Why does La Compagnie have a chance?
Frantz Yvelin
A: We've carved out our niche at La Compagnie by offering a comfortable business class at affordable prices. In addition, the timing was prime when we started our service between New York and Paris because business-class fares were at an all-time high and the capacity was scarce.
Q: How is La Compagnie different from the failed all-business-class airlines, such as Eos and Silverjet?
A: From the get-go, we have controlled the essential aspects of the business in-house, while other services have been outsourced to vendors, which allowed us to keep the pricing competitive. We have always included the travel trade as one of our important distribution channels and collaborated closely by providing a commission structure as well as enabling the GDSs to provide our flights through this vital sales channel.
Q: Are you concerned about the potential impact that Brexit could have on your London-Newark service?
A: We are still determining how Brexit will impact the airline. Our operations between London and New York are directly benefitting from the single-sky agreement within the European Union and from the open-skies agreement between the EU and the U.S. We are evaluating how this regulatory framework might change and monitoring the evolution of the currency exchange rate and the impact on the market.
Q: Do you think the terror attacks in France will have any impact on the U.S.-Paris market that you serve?
A: The recent terror attacks in Nice will unfortunately have some sort of negative impact on the number of visitors to this beautiful city. How this will affect the overall traffic to France and Europe has yet to be seen. At this time, La Compagnie's daily service between Paris and New York has not been impacted.
Q: You say you don't intend to be the best business class in the sky. Why?
A: The best business class in the sky is indeed not our aim, but the best price and service business-class concept is indeed our niche. We believe, based on the positive feedback from more than 60,000 passengers that we've served, that we're delivering a singular experience.
Q: You say travel agents account for half of La Compagnie's business. How are they selling people on the airline?
A: The travel trade understands the level of comfort they can offer with La Compagnie and are aware of the difference in fares from standard economy plus to our business-class fares, or even more so, from the legacy carrier's business-class fares to our more attractive rates. With this niche product, the agents can satisfy the needs of their clients while maintaining the passenger's loyalty.
Q: How does your background as a pilot help you run an airline?
A: Knowing the art of flying and the industry allows me to understand our pilots' issues very well and permits me to find, if necessary, the correct solution.