Window or aisle? These days, if you’re at the front of the plane, you don’t have to choose: “Everything is about having direct aisle access from every seat,” says Steve Saxon, coleader of McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure Practice. And that’s just one of the many ways airlines are reinventing the premium experience for a burgeoning customer segment: the affluent vacationers now occupying seats once dominated by corporate road warriors. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Saxon talks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about why premium leisure travel is on the rise, what that means for airline economics, and how it’s prompting carriers to rethink everything from pricing to service to cabin design and product innovation.

 

The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.

 

Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: TheMcKinseyPodcast@mckinsey.com

 

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

Window or aisle? These days, if you&rsquo;re at the front of the plane, you don&rsquo;t have to choose: &ldquo;Everything is about having direct aisle access from every seat,&rdquo; says <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/steve-saxon">Steve Saxon</a>, coleader of McKinsey&rsquo;s Travel, Logistics &amp; Infrastructure Practice. And that&rsquo;s just one of the many ways airlines are reinventing the premium experience for a burgeoning customer segment: the affluent vacationers now occupying seats once dominated by corporate road warriors. In this episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a>, Saxon talks with Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly about why premium leisure travel is on the rise, what that means for airline economics, and how it&rsquo;s prompting carriers to rethink everything from pricing to service to cabin design and product innovation.
&nbsp;
The McKinsey Podcast&nbsp;is cohosted by Lucia Rahilly and Roberta Fusaro.
&nbsp;
Any unanswered questions about this episode? Send them our way at: <a href="mailto:TheMcKinseyPodcast@mckinsey.com">TheMcKinseyPodcast@mckinsey.com</a>
&nbsp;
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

The McKinsey Podcast, our new flagship podcast series, takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

The McKinsey Podcast features conversations with experts from global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, focusing on the issues that matter most in business and management.

The McKinsey Podcast

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey &amp; Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.