This year, British Airways awarded 100 Business Opportunity Grants to small and medium sized businesses. The grants included free business class airfare to London and connecting cities, and $1000 to spend on a hotel stay.
Those Brits are pretty smart.
The grants were awarded to companies looking to meet face-to-face with clients and partners overseas. The airline is banking on those connections to turn into long-term relationships and for the grant recipients to turn into long-term paying customers. They even commissioned a Harvard Business Review study to prove the value of face-to-face communications.
It was a smart move by British Airways because their potential upside is far greater than the costs of the program. They had to build an online system to accept grant applications, hire someone to review them, and find an empty seat on a plane. And since the plane was already making the flight, and fewer people are flying business class because of the economy, the seat was probably empty anyway. And the cost to the hotel was negligible assuming they had empty rooms as well, and they’ll get first consideration for any return trips. If even a small percentage of the winners create long-term business relationships, British will reap the rewards for many years to come.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship, flying
