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History of airline deregulation in the global market
Airline deregulation outline
Airline deregulation outline
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Lufthansa Case Study
I. External Analysis: 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.
a. Environmental Analysis: The international war on terror, with its attendant rising cost of oil has created havoc in a number of ways (Lufthansa Annual Report, 2004). Rising costs have resulted from the increase in fuel prices. Customer check-in wait times and flight time delays have resulted from new regulations designed to ensure passenger and plane safety, including more rigorous bag searches, more extensive passenger screening, and the like. This has resulted in customers paying higher prices and a less enjoyable flight experience.
Additionally, deregulation and liberalization has accompanied the globalization of the airline industry, so that companies have had to compete against each other in new markets, as well as to gain entry into new territories. The rise of low cost local and regional airlines has made the competitive environment difficult to maneuver for large, formerly-state-subsidized national carriers. This has resulted in the need for strategic alliances between airlines in order to attempt to protect market shares and profits (Friehe and Curti, n.d.).
b. Opportunities and Threats: The increase in fuel prices is likely to continue into the distant future, requiring either reduced services to control costs or new technologies to accommodate. The threat of low cost, flexible companies entering the markets in a variety of places, cutting into market share in numerous small areas, taken as a whole, threatens to harm larger c...
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...essary for the foreseeable future.
Works Cited
Friehe, T., and Curti, H. (n.d.) Overrated remedies, weak competition: An analysis of the Lufthansa/Austrian Airlines alliances in Germany-to-Austria air traffic market. Retrieved 26 November 2006 from www2.jura.uni-hamburg.de/le/Overrated%20Remedies%20and%20Weak%20Competition.pdf.
Lufthansa Annual Report. (2004). Retrieved 25 November 2006 at http://www.lufthansa-financials.de/servlet/PB/menu/1016861_l2/index.html.
Moody’s Investors Service. Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Retrieved 26 November 2006 from www.lufthansa-financials.de/servlet/PB/show/1019581/Moodys%20Analysis%20LH%20092005.pdf.
Standard and Poor. (2006) Research update: Deutsche Lufthansa outlook to stable on improved trading prospects. Retrieved 25 November 2006 from www.lufthansa-financials.de/servlet/PB/show/1019578/RatingStandardandPoors102006.pdf.
The Lufthansa Heist was a robbery that took place at the John F. Kennedy International Airport; the people (players) robbed five million dollars at the time of the robbery. The total amount of money robbed to todays’ date is estimated to be around eighteen million dollars and three million dollars in jewelry. The heist was planned by Jimmy Burke and carried out by a number of people. A van would be used to transport the cash and another car would accompany the van to run interference should something happen.
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.
After September 11th, 2001, the airline industry experienced a significant drop in travel. The reasons for the airline industry downfalls also included a weak U.S and global economy, a tremendous increase in fuel costs, fears of terrorist's attacks, and a decrease in both business and vacation travel.
"Problems" in the airline industry have not risen due to too much competition within the industry. To the contrary, Washington regulators should turn the industry loose in any more ways that it can. Lowering restrictions to enter the market place, emphasizing private ownership of aviation matters, and encouraging open and free competition within the scope of anti-trust law should be the goals of the Clinton Administration. Instead of heading towards re-regulation, Washington should get out of the airline business for good.
According to the International Air Transport Association, 2001 was only the second year in the history of civil aviation in which international traffic declined. Overall, it is believed that the IATA membership of airlines collectively lost more than US$12 billion during this time (Dixon, 2002).
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
...leader. Certainly, it has to take into account the implications of completion from both the direct and the indirect competitors. That is why EasyJet centers on the cost management strategy and the differentiation strategy (Hanlon, 2007). Through an analysis of EasyJet Airplane company strategies and performance, it is clear that they are ambitious and strive for the best. They not only survive in an industry that is intensely competitive, as shown through the analysis by Porter's Five Forces, but also succeed in terms of offering their customers the best that they have to offer in terms of value for money. The advantage this airline gains over its oligopolistic competitors stems from flexible ticketing and complete access to all primary routes. However, in keeping airline industry, there is room for improvement and growth as the analysis using Ansoff Matrix reveals.
Before we discuss government intervention and its affect on an industry’s competition we must first seek to understand the five forces framework. The theory, discussed in 1979 by Micheal Porter seeks to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry. Throughout this essay I will explore the theory and then relate government action and its well-documented affects on the airline industry.
As aviation matured, airlines, aircraft manufacturers and airport operators merged into giant corporations. When cries of "monopoly" arose, the conglomerates dismantled.
In my discussion I will use the Australian airline industry to present how oligopolies operate, and to show the different behaviours and strategies that arise from the interdependence of firms. I will mainly concentrate on the domestic airline market in Australia. The domestic airline market consists of a duopoly of two firms, Qantas and Virgin Blue. Since Qantas and Virgin are the only two Airlines supplying domestically in Australia, they account for all of the profits in the market and consequently they are in direct competition with each other. Because only two firms are competing, each firm must carefully consider how its actions will affect the other, and how its rival is likely to react. Thus, strategic considerations regarding the behaviour of competitors in this duopoly are essential in order for Qantas and Virgin to set prices.
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).
With only a few large companies across the globe (Boeing, MD, and Airbus), the commercial aircraft industry essentially exhibits the qualities of an oligopolistic competition with intense rivalry. Here is an analysis of competition in the commercial aircraft business using Porter’s Five Forces.
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.
When an airline does not have a sustainable competitive advantage, it does not have any properties of differences from there competitor and turns to a dangerous price war. The sustainable ...
The airline industry is very susceptible to changes in the political environment as it has a great bearing on the travel habits of its customers. An unstable political environment causes uncertainty in the minds of the air travellers, regarding travelling to a particular country.