KEY SUCCESS FACTORS
Key success factors are variables that can significantly “affect the overall competitive positions of companies within any particular industry” (Wheelen, p113). Airlines are in part service businesses. To be successful, an airline must be effective in four general areas: 1) attracting customers; 2) managing its fleet; 3) managing its people, and 4) managing its finances.
Attracting customers
One of the biggest challenge in the airline industry is to attract customers. There are so many domestic airlines that other same service, getting the customer from point A to point B, and the customer has to decide which airline they will chose for their trip. One of the ways of attracting customers is a lower ticket price per
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A story like that never happened at Southwest airline, rather it has more positive stories involving its customers. Southwest Airlines did something pretty amazing for one of its passengers after learning her son was in a coma. Passenger Peggy Uhle was on a flight ready for take-off from Chicago, Illinois, to Columbus, Ohio, when the plane turned back to the gate unexpectedly. The flight attendant approached Uhle and asked her to get off the plane. Uhle learned from her husband that her son, who lives in Denver, Colorado, was in a coma after suffering a head injury. Before Uhle had even disembarked her scheduled flight or spoken to customer service, Southwest had handled her situation. They had booked her on a direct flight to Denver that was leaving in the next two hours, and the airline did not charge Uhle any additional fees or service charges for the flight. Stories like that are pretty common when it comes to Southwest, and that made them very appreciated by its customers.
Managing its fleet
Overbooking was a recent subject in news, mainly because of the incident happened on the overbook United flight. Overbooking a flight means that airlines will accept a few additional
The airline industry has long attempted to segment the air travel market in order to effectively target its constituents. The classic airline model consists of First Class, Business Class and Economy, and the demographics that make up the classes have both similarities and differences to the other classes. For instance there may be similarities between business class travellers on a particular flight, but they will not all be travelling for the same reason. An almost-universal characteristic of air travel is that customers do not fly for the sake of flying; the destination is the important element and the travel is a by-product, a means-to-an-end that involves the necessity of an aircraft that gets the customer from point A to point B.
CW3 Smith keen operational knowledge, as a critical thinker were continually sought by USARCENT, 1TSC, CJTF in support of tenant organizations to effectively define logistical requirements and efficiently match capability. CW3 Smith went above and beyond the scope of her duties and responsibilities by influencing lines of efforts, yielding 65% of cost savings to the government. She was selected to brief the ARCENT Commanding General CENTCOM initiative of a logistical Common Operating Picture objective for the Army 2020
Spirit Airlines, the leading ultra-low-cost, no-frills carrier; the worst all round Carrier charges for every service besides the basic fare. For this purpose, this paper will discuss the Carrier ticket distribution channels, pricing strategy and product promotion.
American airline industry is steadily growing at an extremely strong rate. This growth comes with a number economic and social advantage. This contributes a great deal to the international inventory. The US airline industry is a major economic aspect in both the outcome on other related industries like tourism and manufacturing of aircraft and its own terms of operation. The airline industry is receiving massive media attention unlike other industries through participating and making of government policies. As Hoffman and Bateson (2011) show the major competitors include Southwest Airlines, Delta Airline, and United Airline.
1) Q: You are starting to notice that Preslee's crying is rhythmic and moderately loud when she is hungry, wet, or cold. If she is startled, there is a sudden intake of breath and a loud wail, followed by more deep breaths and loud wails. A: You try to respond to the different types of crying by changing, feeding, or soothing little Preslee.
6. What are the factors driving change in the airline industry? How are they likely to impact the future attractiveness of the industry?
The Airline companies now a day are mainly depending on marketing to attract new customers and to maintain sustainable relationships with them by promotions, Rewards and Loyalty programs.
Five major passenger airlines dominate their industry by size (Grant, 2013, p. 479). But their size, legacy costs and hub and spoke business model created significant exit barriers (Grahm & Vowles, 2006, p. 108). New competitors not only started with no entry barriers but also few if any exit barriers. Legacy carriers had to identify new innovative strategies to augment their core business models to profitably compete.
Southwest Airlines has a culture unlike any other airline there is. They focus on being warm, lovable, inviting, sociable, and making each and every flight a true experience. Colleen Barrett, President Emeritus for Southwest Airlines, could not have phrased it any better when she said “our corporate culture is, I think, the number one reason behind our success…we are in the customer service business. We happen to provide airline transportation” UT McCombs School of Business (2011, April 25) A Loving Culture: Access McCombs with Southwest Airlines. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wIWKh-VlFU. When I watched the rest of the video of Colleen and Herb, I couldn’t help but think if Southwest’s
Founded in 1971, Southwest Airlines is a low cost carrier that last year celebrated 41 consecutive years of profitability by posting record earnings in 2014 (PRNewswire, 2014). While its main competitive advantage is being able to provide service at a lower cost than other airlines, it also is able to differentiate itself from competitors through excellent customer service and through response in the form of rapid airport turn-around times and a larger number of flight options than its competitors. There are two main constants that have been critical to its success. From a corporate culture standpoint, the company values and empowers employees at all levels, creating a favorable labor relations climate. From an operations standpoint, the company has maintained the same strategic focus in four key areas that have kept the profits rolling in despite external upheavals, such as spikes in fuel prices, mega-mergers that solidified competition, and even the financial meltdown of 2008 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which saw drastic cutbacks in both business and leisure discretionary travel (Mutzabaugh, 2014). This paper will provide an overview of the company’s operating philosophy and explain how those four key areas relate to its overall strategy.
Since deregulation, the most influential driver of profit in the airline industry has been the control of ticket distribution (Shaw, 2013). Spirit Airlines, the leading ultra-low-cost, no-frills carrier; the worst all-around carrier charges for every ancillary product. Consequently, this paper will discuss the carrier ticket distribution channels, pricing strategy and product promotion. Direct and Indirect marketing channels. Spirit airlines distribute tickets through both Direct and Indirect channels to exploit profitability.
The Airline Industry is in an interesting situation. Simply adding a low cost alternative is not enough in the industry. The Internet has made the power of buyers grow with the transparency of ticket prices. This is not something that will change any time soon. Because of this profitability is predominately reserved for low-cost yet distinctive carriers. No consumer wants to ride what they consider a “lesser” airline. Airlines need a way to distinguish themselves from one another while also acknowledging the increased power of buyers.
Airlines use a formula of combining their yield and inventory costs to determine ticket prices. While it is imperative to focus on the idea of being profitable, the focus is to maximize the cost of the flight revenue. One huge factor that encourages an increase in the cost of tickets relates to a customer ordering a ticket close to the departing date, define this as a risk factor because they need to make up for all unsold seats. A high percentage of the revenue is dedicated to overhead costs such as fuel and labor. When a ticket price is higher with one airline than the other, the customer interprets this as being an excessive cost. The demand is greatly affected by the external market
*One method of adjusting the demand is that the airline company can reduce the price or offer promotions during the low peak season to attract
In 2014, it had a record $465 million quarterly net income. Most airlines charge the customer for anything and everything extra. Southwest Airlines still maintains its loyalty to the customer by offering low fares and free amenities. It is the only major U.S. carrier that does not charge baggage fees and change fees. Another perk Southwest offers is that there is no assigned seating. Some passengers may look at this as a negative because they may get stuck in seating that is not ideal for them. Also, in 2014, Southwest changed its look and now has a heart emblem on the aircraft as a symbol of its dedication to connect with customers (Southwest, Corporate).