Airlines have brought an immense amount of positive changes to the world. They make the world a much smaller place and allow people to reach any part of the world in less than twenty-four hours. However, even with these positive impacts, airlines are “one of the fastest growing contributors of greenhouse gases” (Virgin Group, 2010 p.17). Critics everywhere continue to hate on airlines and their inability to care for the environment. They claim that they are “not doing enough to adequately confront issues such as climate change and resource scarcity” (Confino, 2018). Virgin Atlantic Airlines has taken this problem to heart and are constantly looking for ways to be a more sustainable and environmentally conscious airline. They have set themselves …show more content…
They were a founding “member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group” (Virgin Group, 2010 p.20). This group focuses on the increased use of biofuels and the ability to be able to use existing fuel in a more efficient way. Even with these things that Virgin Atlantic is doing to reduce their carbon footprint, there are more things to be done. A main suggestion for them would be to “invest in modern fleets that operate as efficiently as possible” (Virgin Group, 2010 p.22). The days where airlines want the most powerful engines are in the past. It is time for airlines to start to focus on fleets that are fuel efficient and aerodynamic. With the sheer number of flights that occur in a day, it is the only way to make a dynamic impact in regards to sustainability. Another main suggestion for Virgin Atlantic would be to invest in projects that are built to help clean up the environment. It is no secret, that airlines are looked down upon by environmental agencies. With increased focus on the environment, Virgin Atlantic will “have a chance to establish a positive image for themselves in the eyes of society” (United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development,
The following value chain, which focuses on Spirit Airlines, is representative of most of the firms in the Ultra Low-Cost Airline industry. Spirit is the industry leader in many areas such as operational efficiencies/cost structure, aircraft fleet management, brand/network and growth. The firm, however, trails industry foes in areas such as customer service and operational reliability and recoverability. While most in this segment pursue the cost-leader competitive strategy, Spirit has demonstrated the most effective model to date – whether the model is the most sustainable remains to be seen.
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. Because the reasons can differ greatly in the motivations for a customer wanting to fly, it can be difficult to divide the market into discrete segments, that is, there is always going to be overlap in the preferences and characteristics of any given segment. With that in mind, the commonalities that are shared between the clientele that make up the respective classes can easily withstand analysis.
The Airline Industry is a fascinating market. It has been one of the few industries to reach astounding milestones. For example, over 200 airlines have gone out of business since deregulation occurred in 1978. Currently, more than 50% of the airlines in the industry are operating under Chapter 11 regulations. Since 9/11, four of the six large carriers have filed for and are currently under bankruptcy court protection. Since 9/11 the industry has lost over $30 billion dollars, and this loss continues to increase. Despite the fact that the airline industry is in a state of despair, JetBlue has become the golden example, a glimpse of what the industry could be.
JetBlue's mission is "to bring humanity back to air travel". Its low-cost strategy is second-to-none, not even to Southwest. Utilizing Southwest as a model and benchmark early in Neeleman's career in the industry, he's managed to copy the Southwest model and expand upon it with his ability to find more innovative ways to cut costs along the organization's value-chain, while utilizing technology to increase productivity and further add to operational efficiencies. JetBlue's value chain demonstrates its ability to successfully compete in several key areas relative to the bases of competition within the industry and creates processes that focus on reducing costs, for the specific purpose of continuously creating value for its customers, i.e. fare pricing, customer service, routes served, flight schedules, types of aircraft, safety record and reputation, in-flight entertainment systems and frequent flyer programs.
Many elements of Delta Airlines are described in detail, within this paper. There is a breakdown of the external and internal factors, using external and internal analysis. Porter’s Five forces are used to create the external analysis, and the key factors for Delta are power of buyers, and rivalry. Delta’s competitive advantages are identified as customer service, sustainability, brand image, strong strategic alliances, and corporate travel. Delta’s main issues are the low expansion in international markets, continuous changing of incentive program, and glitches within technology. Delta should expand more into the Chinese and African markets in order to gain market share within the airline 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
One of the major facets of tourism is transportation. The ability for people and equipment to be able to move from one place to another smoothly is not only a convenience but a necessity. Air transportation is one of the largest and fastest growing industries associated with tourism. From passenger travel to food and supply transport there are seemingly ever increasing numbers of flights occurring to help meet the demand. With the increase in flights, comes the increase of pollutants into the air, water, and soil. These emissions, as well as those from the electricity production are linked to acid rain, chemical pollution and global warming. These pollutants have effects not only in populated cities, but also in isolated natural environments as well. S...
Airline and travel industry profitability has been strapped by a series of events starting with a recession in business travel after the dotcom bust, followed by 9/11, the SARS epidemic, the Iraq wars, rising aviation turbine fuel prices, and the challenge from low-cost carriers. (Narayan Pandit, 2005) The fallout from rising fuel prices has been so extreme that any efficiency gains that airlines attempted to make could not make up for structural problems where labor costs remained high and low cost competition had continued to drive down yields or average fares at leading hub airports. In the last decade, US airlines alone had a yearly average of net losses of $9.1 billion (Coombs, 2011).
It has stayed relevant to the market through its propelled philosophy of relationships to generate profits in the business. Since its establishment in Monroe, Louisiana the once tiny airline has stretched to greater heights serving in 6 continents. It has also established a distinguishable name among its competitors with a reputation of leading customer services. However, even as an established venture, the company needs to maximize its profits in order to stay in business and expand in to new territories beyond its conquered boundaries. A strategic analysis was carried out by our team to establish the company’s current situation. A SWOT analysis was performed to come up with three referenced, strategic alternatives. This alternatives are meant to act as a strategic guidance to the company in order to enhance growth. The strategic recommendation provided will improve and enable the business to cope with the competitors while the implementation of the strategy section will outline the way to go about achieving these alternatives in the business setting. Lastly, we put up a discussion on the evaluation procedures and necessary controls for the
This plane has changed the aviation industry. So in order for a commercial airplane to be responsible and profitable, what must it do? In order for commercial plane to be efficient, technologically advanced, and safe, it must be the Boeing 777. The Boeing 777’s efficiency changed the aviation industry by fuel conservation distance, and maintenance charge. First of all, fuel
In a dysfunctional time for the airline industry, most airlines, especially major carriers, are adapting the concept of "doing less with more." One low-cost carrier, JetBlue, is changing the domestic aviation landscape in this regard and is defying the odds. Here is a company that has examined each marketing mix elements carefully, has adapted them to its customer’s needs, and is succeeding because of this approach.
Porter stated; “for an airline to succeed in the marketplace, it must have a sustainable competitive advantage” (Porter M. E., 2008). The airline industry is the highest competitive industry, and I believe a sustainable completive advantage is essential to succeed in the future of the aviation industry. The competitive advantages that an airline embrace, needs to be based on the airlines strategy and differentiation to competitors. Emirates displays how it has a strategy and how the airline gets ahead of its competitors through how unique it is.
Air travel is a huge and tremendously flourishing industry. Globalization can be defined as the integration of national and local economics, culture and societies through a web of communication, transportation and trade. The current era considers globalization as the dominant driver of almost all business due to the influence or the international market. The emerging prosperity of the global aviation industry plays a substantial role in economic growth, tourism, global investment and world trade, which are the impacts of globalization. This essay portrays the negative and positive effects of this globalization on the airline industry.
In 1988 Swissair became the world's first airline with an all Category 3 fleet equipped for low visibility landings; once again the airline was at the forefront of technology. Then in 1991 they were the world's first airline to publish an environmental impact report which showed the effects their jets had on the environment and the noise had on communities. In 1996 they became the world's first airline to serve organic food in all classes of flights out of Switzerland. It is clear that innovation had a lot to do with what made Swissair, but it was not the only factor in the equation. They were the last European airline to change from an 8 to 9 abreast in the economy of their DC aircraft and from a 9 to 10 abreast in the economy on their Boeing 747 aircraft.
Heathrow Airport is a major international airport located in London, United Kingdom. Owned by BAA Ltd, it is one of the largest airports in the world, and the busiest airport in Europe, and is possibly the most important hub in the world, with a high number of passengers who utilise Heathrow simply as a transit point between aircraft, in addition to large numbers of passengers destined or leaving London. Associated with these large volumes are environmental issues caused by the commensurate level of aircraft movements. BAA addresses these issues on its website, in an attempt to educate the public about the actions it takes as a company to compensate. Whilst some might criticise the measures BAA takes, they are important initiatives which go a long way to combat the environmental impacts of the operation of Heathrow. Nevertheless, there are additional measures that BAA could implement to further reduce the environmental footprint of the airport.