Letting locals shine: Air Tahiti Nui extends inflight content to tourism opportunities

Being the flag carrier for a small, remote country often comes with responsibilities well beyond simply providing passenger and cargo capacity to and fro. These airlines are ambassadors for their countries, helping project a national image far more broadly. Stepping on board, one is welcomed to their destination, even if it remains many hours of flight time away.

Air Tahiti Nui takes that role very seriously, and Managing Director Mathieu Bechonnet sees his company’s connection with the local population as both a source of stories to share, and a marketplace that can be supported through curated tourism experiences. And, in a modern twist, all of that will pass through the carrier’s inflight entertainment platform.

People want to see content that is relevant to the place they go. Airlines that put a little bit of attention into that can can make a big difference. So people fly to a place get to know more of the people out there… Tahiti is full of stories and there’s a lot of options available to entertain a lot of people. – Mathieu Bechonnet, Air Tahiti Nui Managing Director

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Custom Content: Front and Center

Like many airlines, Air Tahiti Nui struggles to balance the high licensing costs of new release movie content and the desires of passengers. Flights to the islands are long, meaning travelers expect a large range of content to help pass the time. But as Bechonnet explained, “We invested, to be honest, a lot on that. We were always looking at the top movies, but they cost you a lot, and we found it that the that’s not what people want. They want the top blockbusters, but added value is important. Something that we’ve been putting attention to is providing images and stories that you won’t find on other airlines, where we are different.”

That unique content comes from local producers, telling local stories, and published in flight on the airline’s custom channel, Tiare TV.

“We are partnering with a lot of people in Tahiti that can create content that is exclusive to us,” Bechonnet shares. “We are telling stories that you won’t find even on Netflix. So, so that’s that’s good for us, because we found a lot of people being very interested in the content that is related to the place they are flying to.”

For Air Tahiti Nui that could mean a story highlighting the local surfing culture. A piece on the 2024 Olympics gold medalist Kauli Vaast, a Tahitian native, is in the works.

Similarly, the efforts of the country’s coral gardeners were once very local news, but today they are celebrated on a global scale for their environmental stewardship. And soon they will be part of the Tiare TV collection on board.

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Beyond Just Content: Extending to Excursions

The significant investment Air Tahiti Nui is making in the Tiare TV content is a win on its own, at least from the perspective of highlighting the country’s culture. But Bechonnet also wants to do more with it. He anticipates, in the near future, an onboard tourism portal linked to the unique experiences the island nation can offer to visitors.

As Bechonnet explained, “When people plan their travel, not 100% is locked in. Even if they have a good traveler advisor, they have maybe 50% of their plan settled. But when they come to our islands, they still don’t know the full range of what they can do. We are thinking about bridging some of the content in the marketplace, to sell them some activities, like watching or participating into a coral restoration project.”

Selling hotel or rental car bookings was long promised as a compelling and profitable opportunity for airlines inflight. It has, however, failed to materialize anything even remotely close to the revenue projections. So why will the Air Tahiti Nui tours be any better?

Bechonnet believes the challenge is not in building a better technical solution – that will be an outsourced sales platform with content hosted on board. Rather, the carrier will succeed by taking advantage of its community connections and its position as a trusted advisor to travelers, cross-promoted with its Tiare TV content to help travelers better understand the options available.

“The problem right now is make sure the activity, the experience I will have, is really relevant. That is hard to find. There’s much more that can be done to make a visit more interactive,” Bechonnet believes.

“Tahiti is not about being locked in an hotel in Bora Bora and looking out. If that’s your choice, that’s great. But I think discerning explorers in the future, they will want to do more. And we can deliver that guidance – those insights – better than just searching the internet.”

And, yes, there are technical challenges that will need to be overcome, but Bechonnet expects those will be addressed over the next couple years, leaving plenty of time for the airline to make sure it gets this right. After all, it is putting its reputation on the line, both with locals and visitors. That’s not something it wants to rush nor ruin.

Note: A prior version of this story attributed the conversation to CEO Philippe Marie, not MD Mathieu Bechonnet. I regret the error.

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