Airports can attract airlines and gain new routes by illustrating their local knowledge of the market through social media tools, delegates at World Routes in Berlin were told today.

Twitter, facebook and YouTube are important tools which airports can use to attract a wide following of passengers and the local community and also communicate effectively to airlines considering launching a new route, Mark Scourse, business development director at 3Sixty, stated during a dedicated social media briefing.

“When you get a new airline in you can communicate this to your local community, I think airlines are really attracted by that, they are looking for local knowledge of that particular market, airlines are already very good at marketing themselves because by their very essence they are a step closer to the customer, but if you can offer them that asset its of high value,” he said

Good examples of airports using social media include Liverpool Airport, which realised that many of its passengers were not aware that they could fly with KLM to Amsterdam and connect to its long-haul network, so it used facebook to communicate this.

Another was the use of YouTube by Doncaster Sheffield Airport, where a number of airlines were considering opening routes but often became distracted by the idea of choosing Manchester Airport as it was only 40 miles away.

“Doncaster videoed the road journey over the Pennines which showed it to be a pig of a journey to cross the mountains…I think that’s a great example of using local knowledge.”

Scourse said an airport’s social media followers were a: “Marketing asset for business that you can invest in and in the long-term use as a tool to promote your business.”

But he warned that social media can also present a risk, as it involves the airport opening itself up to potentially negative as well as positive comments.

(reporting by Oliver Clark, Editor - Routes News)