MyTravel Airways Scandinavia can envisage a time when the airline carries no inflight sales brochures onboard, despite generating sales of around $80m from its programme in 2006.

MyTravel Airways Scandinavia Manager of Purchasing, Lars Hjartbo believes that day is not that far away: ‘Our long-term plan is to come to a point where we no longer will have to print catalogues and only collect passenger orders through the internet for delivery inflight. Today, 40% of pre-order comes from our website www.mytravelairshop.dk. When this figure reaches 80% I believe there will no economy in printing and mailing catalogues to get the last 20% of orders.’

Such is the strength of the airline's pre-order service and Hjartbo says that the average transaction value is still very healthy: ‘2006 was quite a good year for MyTravel Airways Scandinavia in terms of average transaction value.

However, due to a season with extraordinary hot weather in Scandinavia, many trips were sold as last minute. This had a direct negative influence on the pre-order sales because many passengers did not get the pre-order catalogue before departure.

‘2006 was also the year where the illegal internet border trade – where Swedes could order alcohol on the internet delivered to their homes – came to an end. This competition was a challenge in 2006.’

Hjartbo says that the airline's pre-order catalogue currently contains 750 listings and accounts for 90% of sales: ‘In the trolley we carry 50 listings accounting for 10% of sales. In the pre-order system we do not have any space/weight constraints, so we can list as many products as we find commercially relevant. I would like to see more electronics in the catalogue, but we are working on that for May 2007 issue.’

At the same time, Hjartbo says he is determined to maintain good savings levels to passengers and he expressed some disappointment that some suppliers needed reminding of the same: ‘It seems to have become modern among manufacturers to want to reduce savings. I think that many suppliers have forgotten where this business came from in the first place.

‘Too few passengers react on small savings of 20/25%. It is amazing to see what volumes you can move with the right retail price and the right saving. Would you imagine that our second best-selling whisky (out of 29 whisky listings) carries a 80 Euro duty-free price tag? It offers a 134 Euro saving on the High Street price (214 Euro) and totally outsells famous brands like Glenfiddich, Bells and Johnnie Walker.’

(A more detailed interview with Lars Hjartbo appears in the February/March issue of The Travel Retail Business' Top 10 Airlines' report, which is published this week).