DFASS airline concession partners win big at this year’s ISPY event : Moodie Davitt Report

Emotionally Intelligent Teamwork Gold Award: Aimee Russell and Graham Payne, Virgin Atlantic Airways

INTERNATIONAL. DFASS is celebrating the fact that its airline concession partners took home 14 awards from this year’s Inflight Sales Person of the Year (ISPY) event.

Held at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel in London, cabin crew from 30 airlines competed for the top prizes at the five-day event. DFASS concession partner Hong Kong Airlines won the Airline of the Year award.

Airline of the Year: Hong Kong Airlines

ISPY started with pre-event online training and coaching which covered basic selling skills as well as knowledge of best practice. Crew were then exposed to a number of experts and workshops at the event, aiding their self-development and confidence as well as knowledge of the inflight retail industry as a whole.

This year’s ISPY event introduced the STM Challenge, which required cabin crew to work with their management and concessionaire as a team to select a range of products according to a predetermined brief and design an inflight retail brochure. Virgin Atlantic Airways was victorious in this category.

Overall Inflight Sales People of the Year Silver Award: Richard John Mungcal and Estelle Lim Jun Yan, JetStar Asia

As well as Hong Kong Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways, other DFASS concession partners including JetStar Asia, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, HK Express and AirAsia X were also recognised with awards. The full list of winners can be viewed here.

Additionally, a collaboration between DFASS partner airlines in Asia – AirAsia X, Hong Kong Airlines, Hong Kong Express, Indonesia AirAsia, JetStar Asia, Scoot and Singapore Airlines – was crowned the winner of this year’s ISPY Got Talent. The team was called “˜Orion’ and their act included music and dances representing their various nationalities.

DFASS Deputy Chairman John Garner said: “We have always been a big believer of motivating and engaging our cabin crew. They are the ambassadors of our products and represent the brands listed to the passengers. DFASS spends a lot of resources and training hours with our airline concession partners to ensure that crew are equipped and motivated to be selling onboard.”

TRT & ISPY Managing Director Christine Martin said: “I was very impressed with the amount of preparation that the DFASS-managed airline’s crew had obviously undertaken. Without exception and at all times, their crew conducted themselves with integrity and professionalism. Many congratulations to all of the DFASS airline winners.”

Overall Inflight Sales Person of the Year Silver Award: Richard John Mungcal, JetStar Asia

Charm Award: Aimee Russell, Virgin Atlantic Airways

Product Merchandising Team Silver Award: Oscar Cheng Chi Kit and Minerva Tam Wai Na, Hong Kong Airlines

Sales as a Service Team Silver Award: Megan Ng and Michael Wong, HK Express

ISPY Got Talent Gold Award: DFASS Asia Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Hong Kong Express, Jetstar Asia, Air Asia X, Air Asia Indonesia, Singapore Airlines and Scoot