Innovation and entrepreneurs, subjects that offer some of them most fascinating stories around. And although they often merge to form new business, there is plenty of innovation inside existing companies, too.

I have four such stories for you today, all on wheels.

On the high end we have two airlines, Air New Zealand and AirAsia.

Coach innovations helped Air New Zealand win the Air Transport World Global Airline Awards, AKA the airline Oscars. Innovations include Premium Plus Economy with more inches of legroom, special dinning options, in-flight concierges; completely re-designed coach seats, including eleven rows of three seats on each side of the cabin dubbed “Skycouches”, Snacks on Demand, three course meals, onboard events, such as wine tasting, a destination seminar or kids story time using the 23″ mounted galley monitor.

Once upon a little boy told his father, “One day I will own an airline.” The boy grew up to be Tony Fernandes, CEO of the Malaysia based budget airline, with 80 aircraft that fly to 122 destinations. AirAsia is growing, primarily because, as Fernandes says, “Each growth spurt has always come at a time of calamity for the airline business. I think the best time to build a brand is in times of recession.”

The next wheels are far smaller. They belong to Vickie Nolting, a hair salon manager who, in 1999, found work/life balance by creating a successful business called Hair On Wheels, providing on-site haircuts to such companies as DigitalGlobe, Intrado, Seagate and the U.S. Department of Commerce in Boulder, Colorado. These days Nolting has a staff of 15 part-time stylists, four vans and a PT Cruiser.

Our final look at innovation is also focused on cars, but they are parked. Parking lots take enormous space, but that’s not necessary. Using technology, their size can be cut 80% and still create a far more safe and friendly user experience. Just watch.

Image credit: pedroCarvalho on flickr

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 1:30 am and is filed under Business info, Expand Your Mind, Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: creativity, entrepreneur, innovate, Southwest Air Lines
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