Alsatian From France, joined May 2005, 229 posts, RR: 0 Posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 12509 times:
Hello,
As a reminder, the 3 Air France commuters Brit Air, Regional and Airlinair will merge their activities and keep a unique brand. According to Brit Air trade union, the future name of the "pole regional francais" will be HOP, and the slogan would be "Rendre l'Europe plus petite" : Make Europe smaller. The official announcement of the new brand, the new pricing policy and the new schedules will take place on january 28th.
Azure From France, joined Dec 2012, 232 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 12280 times:
Thanks for the info, Alsatian !
This looks like a clever branding from Havas & co
I assume the "cheap" logo is supposed to suggest the fares will be cheap too...
Any chance Transavia and this future Hop! merge one day ? It would result in a more coherent offer for short haul with AF ...
usdcaguy From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 764 posts, RR: 2 Reply 11, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 11144 times:
They should have run the name of the AF regional carriers by some native English speakers before they used it. This seems to happen a lot in countries that do not have English as their native language; they use English words in a name and then it ends up sounding strange to people who are used to the nuances of their own tongue. It's like DL calling a regional carrier "Saute" meaning "Jump" which is close to the French "sotte" (adj., fem.) meaning "stupid", but most Americans would never know the difference.
okAY From Finland, joined Dec 2006, 554 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 11037 times:
I just don't understand these re-branding strategies of airlines. I wonder how many millions it cost them to come up with this quite ridiculous name HOP which carries no reference to the parent company, thus they need spend even more money to build that connection in the minds of consumers. As stated above, what was wrong with AF Regional? If the operations need streamlining, do it, but why it almost always need re-branding and renaming?
gothamspotter From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 586 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 10061 times:
Quoting okAY (Reply 13): I just don't understand these re-branding strategies of airlines. I wonder how many millions it cost them to come up with this quite ridiculous name HOP which carries no reference to the parent company, thus they need spend even more money to build that connection in the minds of consumers. As stated above, what was wrong with AF Regional? If the operations need streamlining, do it, but why it almost always need re-branding and renaming?
They most likely plan to degrade service to the point that they don't want it associated with their main brand.
BA0197 From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 8944 times:
Oh my, as a French speaker that is a very difficult word to pronounce. More like "up" with an accent francais. Poor AF, the never seem to get it right.
My two pence, we will see a reduction in services from the regions. Move more towards an BA stance. That would be a smart thing to do in my opinion. This could be the first signs of this. Or maybe they will introduce a LCC service from the regions (comme BA Connect) with the new brand. Unlike the UK, I think this would work great from La France.
AA Agent-IAH: My comments and opinions do not necessarily represent my employer.
Alsatian From France, joined May 2005, 229 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 8105 times:
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 20): Air France Regional is unbeatable, why change it?
Because this concerns AF by Regional + AF by BritAir + AF by Airlinair. The parent company finally decided to rationalize the activies of the 3 carriers which are not profitable since a long time, not hard to believe especially when you operate 8 types of aircraft. The first step is to coordinate schedules and create a new brand as if you keep a current one, the the two other will feel wrong (remember we are French). That's why the three headquarters will be kept, Morlaix for BritAir, Nantes for Regional and Orly for Airlinair... Nevertheless if I am also sceptical about HOP! I wish them success.
I said a hip HOP! the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip HOP!, a you dont stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
BOACCunard From United States of America, joined Dec 2009, 795 posts, RR: 0 Reply 22, posted (5 months 2 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 8083 times:
What an awful name, especially for a French airline. As has already been pointed out, Hop is pretty nearly unpronounceable in French.
There have been so many airlines-within-airlines with cute "monosyllabic" names like this: Buzz, Go, Jetz, Scoot, Song, Ted, Zip... Of the 7 I immediately thought of, 6 are no longer with us... Hmm...
airproxx From France, joined Jun 2008, 555 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (5 months 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 6926 times:
Well, to say the least, I'm quiet sceptical too about this all...
It becomes more and more obvious that the merger between these three airlines, and the whole strategy adopted by AF executives is going nowhere, rather than presenting a real industrial project that could save the all AF group (I'm not including KLM here because KLM has always been the runner up).
AF strategy is definitely missing, and nobody from this french crappy bunch of so called executives, from De Juniac to Guerin, will make anything go better, until they're all replaced, soon.
We've seen the same management during years now, acting nonsense, with no clear decision, no clear project for the airline. Just the good old cost-cutting frenzy driving everyone's mind, but for what extend?
The main problem @ AF is very very very simple: years and years of mergers leaded to an extraordinary amount of useless people in administrative staff, sticking everything with the velocity of a Soviet era administration (no arm here).... Thousands of people have no more utility here, and probably never had...
And now? AF management comes with this stupid, silly branding name (HOP?? Really??) made cheap and sold expensive by Guerin's Havas friends.....!!
I'm just disgusted and hopeless.
If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same
MillwallSean From Brunei, joined Apr 2008, 1121 posts, RR: 5 Reply 24, posted (5 months 2 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 6452 times:
While French brands often have a distinctive french feel to them, using fonts and colours that screams out were a French company this one seems like a mix between whats bad with french and British branding.
I agree the logo and the name isn't well thought out or designed.
regional, cityjet, commuter, express whatever anything would have been better than this. However Air France Hop wouldn't be horrible if the hop was as visible as express etc usually is on American carriers.
but here they seem to have created a whole new monster brand.
Hop! doesn't make sense in many languages but English is one where it does. I assume they have been thinking about it from an English language standpoint ie Hop across the ditch or Hop card as Auckland transport integrated ticketing card is called. But that logo? I reserve judgement till I have seen what it'll look like on an actual airplane but count me in among the skeptics.
Ah where is VC10, he usually have interesting comments to the branding and the logic behind it. Id really like to hear whats good with this brand and how it will make sense.
The best of the best among language mistakes when it comes to brands was committed by one of Swedens largest property companies; Locum. As most companies do at Christmas they sent out Christmas cards to customers. In 1991 they decided to give their logo a little holiday spirit by replacing the "o" in Locum with a heart. You can see the result: I♥CUM the heart was in bright red as well hilarious, just google it and see.
A true master piece and they printed and sent thousands of these...
Viscount724 From Switzerland, joined Oct 2006, 21679 posts, RR: 23 Reply 25, posted (5 months 2 weeks 21 hours ago) and read 6526 times:
Quoting okAY (Reply 13): I just don't understand these re-branding strategies of airlines. I wonder how many millions it cost them to come up with this quite ridiculous name HOP which carries no reference to the parent company, thus they need spend even more money to build that connection in the minds of consumers. As stated above, what was wrong with AF Regional? If the operations need streamlining, do it, but why it almost always need re-branding and renaming?
I assume flights will continue to be displayed and booked with the AF code. In that case, as with the dozens of other similar regional operations, the actual name of the regional operation isn't important in my opinion. The only place you see that name when booking is in the small print "operated by XXX" and most passengers ignore that information.
And as far as names go, short one-syllable names seem to be popular for airlines. Scoot and Peach are two other recent ones that come to mind. And where the names are actually used in advertising, websites etc., a short one-syllable name is better in my opinion than something long and boring like "Air France Regional".
I was sorry to see AC drop Jazz, another short and catchy regional brand, and replace it with Air Canada Express, but AC wanted a unified brand for all their contract regional carriers (Jazz, Sky Regional, Air Georgian, EVA). But, as mentioned, about the only place you ever see "Air Canada Express" is on the aircraft livery and 99% of passengers probably never refer to anything other than Air Canada. It's probably the same for BA and BA Connect. I'm willing to bet that if you asked passengers on BA Connect flights to LCY what airline they flew, almost all would say "British Airways"..
just7four7 From Hong Kong, joined Oct 2009, 58 posts, RR: 0 Reply 26, posted (5 months 2 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 6050 times:
What happened to the northern baltic sea on their website still under construction..?
Sweden and Finland's new ice age land mass..??
Sloppy start to le 'op..
PanHAM From Germany, joined May 2005, 7839 posts, RR: 27 Reply 27, posted (5 months 2 weeks 18 hours ago) and read 6086 times:
Quoting Alsatian (Reply 21): That's why the three headquarters will be kept, Morlaix for BritAir, Nantes for Regional and Orly for Airlinair..
so where's the point when the synergies are not used?
Next, with all the proudness in France about the language, why a "neutral" name. Allez hop, come up with something more French.
In Germany cellphones are called "Handy" and still some people think that is English. The term "Sale" is adopted meanwhile here, before Christmas C&A came up with the line "Grosser Sale" , which made me almost spit out my coffee when reading this in the morning paper. Grosser Manitou, or OMG would have been appropriate as well.
HOP can be friendly in some regions of Europe, it can be rude in others.Very seldom can a rude headline put a smile on someones face. As an old New Yorker I burst out laughing a couple of years ago when I saw a newspaper box telling me "Welcome to New York. Now get Out" . You could not better put the charming rudeness of that city into a single line.
But "Hop" is connected to a kick into the behind in some parts of Europe, or a rude remark to take your behind and get going.
The worst thing AF did here is giving up the brand name. Air France is a brand name and should be in lin with any subsidiary bthey have. AF regional would work as well. Hop will be a flop.
The question here is: Will AF introduce a new brand that will be displayed on the side of the AC. There are two options available to them.
Option 1: Take the " operated by" approach: aka BA Cityflyer (not BA Connect... that was BA's last ditch attempt at making the regions profitable.... but that's for another thread) Services or ExpressJet services from UA where as the brand of the mainline carrier appears on the side of the aircraft with small "operated by..." marking signifying the actual operator of the aircraft.
Option 2: Create a new brand associated with the mainline carrier: aka Scoot, Jazz, Ted etc. all these airlines are "sponsored" by the mainline carrier although are different in logos, slogans, liveries, on-board service etc.
It was my impression after reading the French article that AF has picked option 2, I could be wrong in my interpretation though. I think they will introduce HOP as a LCC sponsored by AF (like the later days of BA Connect). I draw one conclusion: France's regions will soon loose out on mainline AF service.
AA Agent-IAH: My comments and opinions do not necessarily represent my employer.
BA0197 From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 175 posts, RR: 0 Reply 29, posted (5 months 2 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 6074 times:
Quoting PanHAM (Reply 27): The worst thing AF did here is giving up the brand name. Air France is a brand name and should be in lin with any subsidiary bthey have. AF regional would work as well. Hop will be a flop.
I agree. I think this was a last ditch attempt from AF management to make its regions profitable. I think this HOP (still cannot get over that terrible name) idea will fail miserably and ultimetly lead to the closure of the AF regions.
For me this is a direct copy of BA and the situation if was in 6 or so years ago with its regions (MAN, GLA, EDI). If BA can't get MAN to work out (and for that matter BA Connect) how can AF make TLS or LYS work?
BA Connect=Hop
BA Connect=end of service to regions from non-hubs
Hop=?
AA Agent-IAH: My comments and opinions do not necessarily represent my employer.
aerokiwi From New Zealand, joined Jul 2000, 2442 posts, RR: 4 Reply 30, posted (5 months 2 weeks 14 hours ago) and read 5273 times:
Quoting BA0197 (Reply 29): I agree. I think this was a last ditch attempt from AF management to make its regions profitable. I think this HOP (still cannot get over that terrible name) idea will fail miserably and ultimetly lead to the closure of the AF regions.
For me this is a direct copy of BA and the situation if was in 6 or so years ago with its regions (MAN, GLA, EDI). If BA can't get MAN to work out (and for that matter BA Connect) how can AF make TLS or LYS work?
BA Connect=Hop
BA Connect=end of service to regions from non-hubs
Hop=?
I don't think you could've misread the situation anymore than you have.
This is not a direct copy of BA's situation - BA was never that strong outside of London, whereas AF's has been outside of Paris through its regional carriers. And you've confused AF's secondary city mainline flying with the regional a/c flying by BritAir, Regional and Airlinair. Not to mention the political elements - AF won't be ditching a swathe of secondary routes anytime soon.
Hop isn't such a bad brand - it describes pretty accurately these regional carriers do - short hops. But don't let that stop you from hyperventilating.
skipness1E From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2007, 2426 posts, RR: 0 Reply 31, posted (5 months 2 weeks 13 hours ago) and read 5102 times:
Quoting okAY (Reply 13): I just don't understand these re-branding strategies of airlines.
When a company is in a tricky place and there are no easy ways out, the mantra "Something must be done!" is heard every day. Hence this is something that management can point to and say "Look what we did." Alas
I understand this, but then again the legacies have been doing this for years now, down grading their services without changing their names. Free drinks and hot meals are a rarity in Economy on any airline nowadays. The legacies have of course disguised these changes under such topics as "so we can serve you better..." (unfrotunately, AY seems to be the leader in this!). If the flying public have accepted the changes in mainline airlines, what is the difference in Regional airlines downgrading even more without changing their names, I wonder. Save the money of re-branding, downgrade and use the saved up money more wisely.
r2rho From Germany, joined Feb 2007, 2278 posts, RR: 1 Reply 34, posted (5 months 1 week 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4182 times:
I agree with the general idea to merge the regional subsidiaries, with the goal to create synergies and cost rationalization. As for the name however... I would have used on of the already existing, perfectly suitable and well-known brands - Cityjet or Cityhopper (if KL regional is eventually merged into it as well) would have been great names for the consolidated regional subsidiary IMO.
I wonder if this "hop" idea will only concern the regional feeders or also the non-hub flying (Transavia) as part of a larger strategy - such as how LH is integrating Eurowings with 4U.
I agree, there does not seem to be a clear strategy or way forward at AF. The regional base strategy may barely last a year if rumors are true, in TLS and NCE it lasted barely an IATA season. The again, AF is not the only EU legacy carrier who doesn't have a clue what to do with its loss-making short-haul network. LH will now experiment with 4U, IB is trying to push IB Express but unions are blocking it at the courts, etc...
Aesma From France, joined Nov 2009, 4934 posts, RR: 9 Reply 35, posted (5 months 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 3907 times:
Quoting Alsatian (Reply 21): Because this concerns AF by Regional + AF by BritAir + AF by Airlinair.
As a half Breton from near Morlaix I like BritAir and in fact have flown more than half all my flights on them, but I feel Régional or some variation would be fine, hop is a terrible name. I'm seriously wondering if this is a joke to let us enjoy the real name when it's revealed.
Besides, Nantes is also in Brittany !
New Technology is the name we give to stuff that doesn't work yet. Douglas Adams
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