Ryanair airlines low fare concept was conceived by three Irish businessmen in 1984 who wanted to break up the duopoly of the major airlines between Ireland and England. The strategy was simple in nature; offer lower prices than any competitor on the same route. Ryanair began operations in 1985 with a single 15 seat turboprop aircraft operating one route between Waterford, Ireland to London, England. The fare was only €99 ($138), less than 50% of the two competitors at the time. Ryanair carried 5000 passengers during the first year. In 2012, the airline carried more than 79 million passengers. Ryanair has demonstrated consistent growth and profit with the exception of 1991 and 2001(Ryanair, 2013). Ryanair was founded with the intent of breaking up the air travel duopoly held by British Airways and Aer Lingus at the time (Ryanair, 2013). There isn’t a doubt that the goal was accomplished and continues to evolve. However, a new competitor has entered the market and threatens their “lowest fare anywhere” motto. EasyJet, founded in 1995 (Spotlight falls on, 2013) has emerged as another low cost carrier (Wensveen, 2011) and is keeping competition fierce as they try to exceed Ryanair customer service by providing “speedy boarding”, more flexible fares, guaranteed seats and better food service (Low cost airlines, 2013). In my opinion, the marketing strategy used by Ryanair is working very well. In 2012, an increase of more than 13% in profit was announced by the airline (Ryanair, 2013). Ryanair is Europe’s leading low cost carrier and continues growth in the number of passengers, routes, and aircraft. An in-depth review of how Ryanair utilizes the four P’s of product, price, promotion and place (Wensveen, 2011) will yield a b... ... middle of paper ... ...te was opened in January 2000. Since that time, virtually all ticket counters have been closed and the internet accounts for a majority of the ticket sales. Ticket purchases made by any means other than the internet website incur additional fees to cover costs (Ryanair, 2013). Works Cited Wensveen, J. G. (2011). Air transportation. (7th edition). Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company. Ryanair. (n. d.). About us. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.ryanair.com MSN Money (2013 November 16). Spotlight falls on easyJet profits. Retrieved from http://money.uk.msn.com/news/spotlight-falls-on-easyjet-profits Thomas, N. (2013 November 16). Low-cost airlines have come a long way. But who will win the battle? Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10454522/Low-cost-airlines-have-come-a-long-way.-But-who-will-win-the-battle.html
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.
Spirit addresses “price” by attempting to get the lowest possible fair for their potential customers. They have instituted their “unbundling” strategy that essentially removes all the conveniences that other airlines afford. Fees for checked bags, fees for flight changes, and no complementary in-flight beverages are just a few of the cost-trimming techniques employed. This strategy allows Spirit to come up with impossibly low fares. It also conforms to customers who just want to get from point A to point B without paying extra for services they don’t use. This strategy, coupled with an in-your-face “promotion” ploy, has made Spirit Airlines “the most profitable airline in the U.S.” (Nicas, 2012).
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.
Spirit Airlines Inc., which is primarily a smaller airline company than its competition, it is still provides the same good(s), (flights) as the other airlines. Since 2007, the company has been able to reduce its “overall ticket prices by 40 percent” (Brooks, Cox, & White, 2012, p. 45). It can be difficult to comprehend how a smaller airline company such as Spirit Airlines, Inc. could be capable
Ryanair an Irish airline founded in 1985 has seen huge growth with workforce of just 25 to now over 9000 skilled professionals, branding themselves as Europe’s only ultra-low cost airline they are always looking for new ways too save on costs and increase on profits. This essay will draw upon, at what point they become ‘un-ethical’ i.e. the extra charges they add to the total bill e.g. a £160 charge for a name change in high season (Ryanair.com 2014,a), They have even been accused of carrying less emergency fuel to improve both fuel efficiency and competiveness (The Economist, 2013). Then justify what is morally right and wrong from the views of different ethical theories and stakeholders, in particular egoism and utilitarianism because these two theories will exhibit totally different views. Which will show different perspectives of a single action can be both ethical and un-ethical at the same time depending how you look at it.
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).
We can also identify the weaknesses of Ryanair in accordance to scientific management. From what we have previously discussed in the essay we now know that there are a few points from Douglas McGregor’s theory X that can relate to scientific management. However these key points also have influences on Ryanair, which can come across as
In 1978, deregulation removed government control over fares and domestic routes. A slew of new entrants entered the market, but within 10 years, all but one airline (America West), had failed and ceased to exist. With long-term growth estimates of 4 percent for air travel, it's attractive for new firms to service the demand. It was as simple as having enough capital to lease a plane and passengers willing to pay for a seat on the plane. In recent news, the story about an 18-yr British...
Clark, P. (2010, June 8).Europe airlines struggle for take-off as rivals gain speed. Financial Times, p.15.
Malighetti, P., Paleari, S., Redondi, R., 2009. Pricing Strategies of low-cost airlines: The Ryanair case study. Journal of Air Transport Management, 15, 195-203.
To buttress the implication of the model, Porter explained why the airline industry is the least profitable amongst industries owing to the high threat of the competitive forces. The airline industry players compete heavily on price. Most custom...
Marketing is that broad area of business activity that directs the flow of services provided by the carrier to the customer in order to satisfy customers’ needs and wants and to achieve company objectives. Marketing is more than selling: it involves a number of business activities, including forecasting, market research and analysis, product research and development, price setting, and promotion, including advertising. Marketing also involves the finance activities such as credit and collection that are associated with ticket sales. Marketing is customer oriented…Without marketing and sales, there would be no airlines. (p. 274)
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 ...
Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-fares, no-frills short-haul carrier. The organisation was founded in 1985 as a conventional airline but re-launched itself in 1990/1991 as a low-cost carrier, replicating American Southwest Airlines’ business model. Since then Ryanair has grown substantially and successfully. The company currently has 146 routes to 84 destinations in 16 countries, and carries more than 15 million customers annually. Ryanair aims to be Europe’s largest airline in 8 years (www.ryanair.com).
Ryanair is an Irish low fare airline which was founded and named by Ryan family in year 1984 with bases at Dublin and Stansted airports. Ryanair was bought into operations in the year 1985. From a small company, it has grown to a big carrier company across Europe. At first, the aircraft used to carry 15 seats from Waterford to Gatwick airport and back again for short distances. Passengers began to increase and they expanded their business from one country to another thus spreading across the whole Europe. In 1987, Michael O’Leary was appointed as tax and financial advisor of the company. In 1991, the company faced a lot of losses even when the passengers for their airlines were increasing. So the work was given to Michael O’Leary