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Customers of Australia by Air are thrilled to receive an A4 colour photograph to commemorate their journey within minutes of touching down, thanks to a solution from Canon Australia played host to 4.8 million visitors aged 15 years and over in 2004, with one of the key reasons many of them made the long journey 'down under' being a holiday to see the country's unique sights. This figure is expected to grow to 5.6 million visitors in 2005, representing 5.9 per cent growth*. As many visitors to Australia will know, however, many of the country's leading sights are outside the capital cities and, in many cases, due to the time constraints of busy travellers are only accessible by air. It's with an eye on this market that Ben Bowley, a former Managing Director of Apple Computer Australia, decided in 2003 to combine his passion of flying with a business acumen accumulated in some of Australia's most high-powered boardrooms to create Australia by Air - a boutique airline which flies tourists to numerous destinations around the country, but with a great majority of business being done within NSW, starting with 60 minute scenic flights. "I'd been flying for 10 years when the inspiration struck to leave corporate life far behind and to start taking visitors to Australia on flights they need to experience to believe," said Mr Bowley. "Australia is such a naturally beautiful country, I know that I can thrill someone whether it's a 60 minute scenic flight over Sydney, a day on an outback sheep station - or a 13 day tour taking in four different states." Keenly aware that customer service is the key to success with both his customers and also within the tourism industry in general, one process Mr Bowley instituted with Australia by Air was taking photographs of his passengers and the plane with a digital camera, printing it and presenting it to them to commemorate their flight before they bade farewell at the end of the day. Initially this work was done with a basic digital camera and printer package. Aware of the time it was taking for the images to print, not to mention recent upgrades in the picture quality of digital cameras in general, Mr Bowley recently upgraded to a Canon G6 camera and PIXMA iP6000D photo printer on the recommendation of a friend. "I always knew there would be an incremental increase in quality from our original set-up to the new equipment - that's a given when you install any kind of new hardware," said Mr Bowley. "I probably wasn't quite prepared, however, for the radical increase in speed, efficiency and overall quality the Canon solution brought me." The PIXMA iP6000D, for example, can create a photo-quality A4 print in under two minutes. The Canon G6, meanwhile, is a seven megapixel camera - one of the most powerful semi-professional cameras on the market today. Anyone who flies with Australia by Air is now presented with a beautifully framed image within minutes of touching down. Even if they're going direct from Mr Bowley's plane to a connecting flight without leaving the airport from where Australia by Air operates, there's still time - thanks to the speed of the Canon solution - for the image to be in their hands. "Our customers are just thrilled when we touch down at the end of the trip - they're just buzzing with excitement - and when we can produce a beautiful A4 colour photo, in a frame, in less than five minutes, they are often astounded," said Mr Bowley. "I was never a one-brand man when it came to digital photography and printing in the past, but I think Canon's competitors would have to come up with something absolutely extraordinary to replace this combination of camera and printer in my business." "In addition to the great customer experience we provide to our customers, we can also photograph and produce our own promotional material." Bowley says "Using Canon's technology, we can personalise professional quality marketing documents for the travel trade in next to no time, in a very cost efficient manner." * "Inbound tourism trends" by Tourism Australia Related Links
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