Australian airline Qantas gathered supporters on Sydney's Bondi Beach to hold up an 800 metre-long scarf containing messages of support the country's soccer team, the Socceroos. Photo: James Morgan/Qantas.As the World Cup draws to a close, much stands out in terms of the countries that did and did not make it to the finals.
But from an aviation perspective (and specifically from the press releases sent to my inbox) one thing is clear: the industry rode the World Cup's coattails to promote itself. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the efforts were humorous. Here are my top three favourite examples.
First up is Thales, who announced that thanks to "Flowcat", the company's air traffic management system, "the Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS) organisation of South Africa will have the world's most comprehensive tools to anticipate flow and optimise aircraft trajectories". Thales also plugged its technological involvement with Durban's new airport, and also found room to mention its role in the Jo'burg subway's fare collection as well as satellite broadcast.
Next Oman Air announced it would be the sponsor of its home's first-ever "World Cup village". The airline explains the "World Cup village will offer the country's many football fans the chance to watch every match in fully air-conditioned comfort, live from South Africa on the largest screen ever seen in Oman. A high-tech sound and lighting system, together with a stadium-style seating layout, will add to the atmosphere and refreshments will be available throughout. DJs and freestyle football demonstrations will provide entertainment between matches in the 1,500-capacity tent, which is located in the beautiful grounds of the InterContinental Muscat Hotel."
Finally in this triumvirate collection, Qantas gathered on Sydney's Bondi Beach supporters of Australia's Socceroos to hold an 800 metre scarf containing 10 cm-long messages of support fans submitted via the web. And, of course, there was a massive photo shoot for the event, with the airline hiring a helicopter to fly over the beach for that Kodak moment.
In the interest of full disclosure, here at Flightglobal we also had fun with the World Cup by way of calculating a fictitious ladder of teams likely to win based on how their home country airlines have performed.
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