The commercial aviation industry has been a booming industry since the first airlines were established, and in today’s world of growing demand for air travel, Airbus is looking to gain market share of the VLA, or Very Large Aircraft, market. Airbus’ main opponent in terms of the manufacture and sale of jet aircraft has been Boeing, with its importance to the U.S. economy over the past 50 years in supplying the military with defense aircraft, commercial airlines with aviation aircraft, and even NASA with space shuttles. Until now, the start of the 21st century, Airbus has not been able to produce a product to compete with Boeing’s 747 in the VLA market; Boeing has held monopoly in VLA market in terms of its 747-xxx airplanes. In order to attain greater market share in commercial aviation, Airbus, reputed for innovative design and technology, began exploring the possibility of creating a jumbo jet in 1990. Now, 10 years later, Airbus has developed and finalized the basic design of their first VLA air plane: the A3XX.
ENTRANCE INTO VLA SEGMENT
Airbus’ market research has predicted that the VLA segment will have unprecedented growth due to increased demand of air-travel and growing traffic at major airports on a global scale. This rise in passenger and cargo traffic would only be achieved by higher capacity aircrafts. Among major national contributors to the demand for VLAs in the future, Airbus predicted that China and other Asian economies would endure the highest annual growth. Airbus also believed that a larger aircraft operating over long distance flights had a better operating economy; it only costs 12% more to operate the flight as compared to a 747, but provides 35% more space which is effectively a source of revenue. VLA Air...
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...emand, but Boeing believes that congestion at the largest airports will become a major issue.
BOEING’s RESPONSE
Boeing has 3 main options in terms of responding to the VLA market emergence of Airbus. First, Boeing could develop and produce a competing super jumbo jet. Coming up with a new super jumbo jet would require considerable development costs. The market for these planes is not enough to sustain and earn positive NPV for 2 players in the VLA segment. Another option would be to establish price cuts of 747 airplanes. Cutting price is not a preferred solution as it might only divert sales, and margins for Boeing might also reduce. Another response Boeing could employ is to ignore the potential threat posed by Airbus and maintain status quo. Maintaining status quo would probably be the best option as Boeing could continue to capitalize on their existing products.
April 16th 1907, Joseph-Armand Bombardier, a Canadian inventor and entrepreneur was born. Bombardier grew up in the eastern Quebec village of Valcourt. The ambitious young bombardier wanted to come up with a solution to make it much easier to travel through the snow-covered roads. Through Bombardier’s earlier years, he started his own garage where he worked and honed his mechanical craft. In his spare time, Bombardier worked hard to create an automobile that could travel easily on snow.
It's expected that in the first few years, Boeing will incur more expenses than income. Revenues will come at a later date when the 7E7 planes are delivered. The project will have to be evaluated periodically and management will have to make changes to ensure that the company is profitable based on current and future conditions. The board's prerogative is not to give Airbus a profit sanctuary' by not accepting the project, but rather to maintain or increase its market in the industry even if it's not profitable in the short-run. Boeing has deep pockets and should be willing to challenge its competitors.
Right now these are just small threats to Boeing. But as things advance, there is no telling what the new market trends will be and what new directions a company like Boeing must take. It is important to continually perform SWOT analysis and stay nimble. Overall, the Boeing Company has stayed strong in the aircraft field and with record profits for the past two years it looks like they are achieving their goals. Boeing has had to change their business direction over the past 100 years in order to stay on top of the aircraft industry.
As airline industry is a competitive marketplace, the airline companies use new technologies to improve their efficiency and decrease the overhead costs, including ‘advanced aircraft engine technology, IT solutions, and mobile technology’ (Cederholm 2014). The technology changes including technology improvement, new innovation and disruptive technology. The disruptive technology need to meet the characteristics of ‘simplicity, convenience, accessibility and affordability’ (Christensen 1995). The technology changes would bring both opportunities and threats to airline companies. Since Labour cost and fuel costs occupy 50% of most airlines operating cost (Groot 2014). Therefore, if new technologies could be disruptive in the two aspects, there will be important changes to current airline
The Boeing Corporation is one of the largest manufacturers in the world. Rivaled only by European giant Airbus in the aerospace industry, Boeing is a leader in research, design and manufacture of commercial jet airliners, for commercial, industrial and military customers. Despite enjoying immense success in its market and dominating an industry that solely recognizes engineering excellence, it is crucial for Boeing to ensure continued growth through consistent strategy formulation and execution to avoid falling behind in market share to close and coming rivals.
This paper focuses on the impact of Management of Information Systems (MIS) on Boeing. In this endeavor, it highlights the new technologies that will most likely impact on the organization and structure. In addition, the paper discusses possible impacts of new technological advancement on the company, to remain competitive in the face of the new technological developments. In this regard, the paper reflects on the possible strategies that Boeing is likely to adapt so that it remains competitive that is, by introducing new technological developments. Finally, with such a move of adapting or not adapting the new technology, this research paper looks at risks that are associated with both moves that the company might opt for.
...gainst all odds, it has become the companies greatest asset. In order to protect their asset, Boeing is not becoming complacent, and is instead striving to make a wide variety of aerodynamic improvements.This has cemented the 737 as a market leader, and it will retain its lead for decades to come.
The new entry is likely from rich Gulf nations, China, and India of low budget planes around the globe. The airlines from the Gulf nations have placed orders with Airbus and Boeing that are valued in the billions. The deliveries are expected in the next decade. The demand will grow in the production of advanced narrow-body airplanes, such as Airbus, A321 and Boeing, B737 Max. The growth that is expected in the next decade, more consumers will be flying to their destinations. The airlines in the United States are expected to have a profit margin over the next decade. Resulting, from economic growth, and the demand for aircraft service. Buyers are expected to have a lot of power in the next decade, resulting in bargain prices for buyers. The competition will increase with intense rivalry in the aviation industry. The contracts for the aircrafts are totally from airplane
Government Support: - Boeing might seek government intervention in preventing Airbus from being able to sell to American airline companies thereby reducing the market availability for Airbus. But this could prove counter productive for Boeing as EC governments may retaliate in a similar manner
Lufthansa, one of the world’s biggest airliners, has divisions handing maintenance, catering and air cargo. Since the World War II the airline industry has never earned its cost of capital over the business cycle (Hitt, 2010). Most of the airline companies have either filed for bankruptcy or are being bailed out by their government. Lufthansa had also gone through these tough times, but had resurfaced to become one of the worlds most profitable airline company. The company adapted a transnational strategy, seeking to achieve both global efficiency and local responsiveness. Lufthansa’s monopoly in Germany came to a halt with the creating of the European Union. All the EU member countries become one regional and therefore the European competition became, an increasingly a local competition. Lufthansa created its regional Hubs, to cater for its domestic market. But the availability of substitutes such as bullet trains and the Euro tunnel, made is necessary for Lufthansa to create short traveling time, customizations and quality standards in the region to achieve a competitive advantage. But outside the EU there are no substitute to air travels as such all the flag carriers are competing in the market, the international airline industry is a highly competitive environment. A new force has also emerged in the world of air travel, in the form of three Gulf airlines with jumbo ambitions. Within a decade Dubai’s Emirates, Qatar Airways and Eithad from Abu Dhabi have between them carried the capacity of two hundred million passengers (Micheal, 2010). The company had to go global and therefore adopted the international corporate-level strategy, where Lufthansa will ope...
The main threats to the industry over the next five years are the rise in oil prices, legislation, the TSA, and labor costs. Each of these threats affects the scheduled air transportation industry, not only endangers Delta Airlines, but the entire industry. As the price of labor increases for ground operations and pilots, this creates a burden on the industry by causing them to spend more to satisfy their labor requirements. The price of fuel increasing leads to the price of fuel increasing, which not only affects a single airline, but every airline. With each time that the crude oil price rises, the prices associated with the costs of refining the jet fuel as well as transporting it.
Several large scale, interrelated conditions have affected the airline industry over the past several years in such a manner that every carrier has had to respond in order to remain viable and competitive.
1. Issues 2. American Airlines’ objectives 3. The airline industry 4. Market 5. Consumer needs 6. Brand image 7. Distribution system 8. Pricing 9. Marketing related strategies 10. Assumptions and risks
The 777 would be manufactured differently than previous Boeing aircraft. Various efforts would be undertaken to increase demand and reduce manufacturing costs of the 777 in an attempt to create positive cash flows sooner. To increase demand, the 777 would be the first fly-by-wire Boeing aircraft, a feature Boeing’s competitors already added to their aircraft. Boeing also made an effort to get their large customers involved in the design process from the beginning in an effort to increase its competitive advantage and long-term demand for the 777. As a cost saving measure, the design and manufacturing teams would work together to create a detailed simulation of the manufacturing process that would reduce the cost of “improvements” that were often made during manufacturing thereby reducing the overall manufacturing cost. Furthermore, Boeing would invest in more training for its engineers on the new CAD system. This new manufacturing process would lead to large capital outflows in the short-run. The challenge for Mr. Shrontz is determining whether these capital investments will lead to an increased return on equity for Boeing.
The airline industry is an unprofitable business even with increased traffic every year (HUTCHINSON, 2011). By identifying the marco-environment factors that may have an impact on the airline will enable airlines to make better decisions and to exploit or reduce the impact of those macro forces.