The idea to enter the world of the full cost carriers by low prices isn’t a new one. Already in 1977 Laker Airways founded the “Sky Train” between London and New York. Even if this service was never successful, more and more low cost carriers were founded during the progress of deregulation and the development of an own low cost strategy began. When we today have a look at the homepages of low cost carriers we cannot but state that nearly all of them are operating successful despite the issues of September 11th in 2001, SARS in 2002 and the war in Iraq in 2003. Southwest for example has shown a positive net income for the period of 1990 to 2002 (Appendix A) and is nr. 5 of America’s most admired companies in 2005 (Homepage). Also Ryan Air was able to enhance its number of passengers transported from 5000 in 1985 to 24,635,000 in 2004 (Appendix B). The success of the low cost carriers had major competitive effects on the mainstream full cost airlines of whom many reacted to the new competitor by founding their own “low cost carrier”, namely Shuttle by United, Continental Lite, Delta Express, Germanwings and so on. But what is it that makes low cost carriers such unbeaten? In this essay I would like to demonstrate some of the key success factors that have made carriers like easyJet, Ryan Air and Southwest so successful. First it has to be mentioned that no unique low cost strategy exists, it is more that every airline has its own concept, so that the service offered varies between No Frills-Airlines and “quality airlines with lower prices”. Moreover the idea of differentiation has also entered the low cost carrier market in resent times as the competition in this market grows. Nevertheless there are some basic characteristics every low cost carrier has: similar destinations to the full cost airlines similar cost structures to charter airlines a new product- and service concept concentration on the factor price (Pompl, 2002) The main purpose of low cost carriers with this characteristics is to gain a significant cost advantage to be able to undercut the ticket prices of the full cost carriers by nearly 50%. Therefore it is necessary to introduce several new concepts in the route management, operations, distribution and service management. Lets have a closer look to the concepts and therefore to the key success factors of the low cost carriers: Flight Plan: Low cost carriers fly mainly in the short-haul to medium-haul market.
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 basic marketing strategy of Song Airlines was to reduce cost and increase volume through operational efficiencies and hence increase profits.
a. The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the Marketing low-cost airline services to business travellers. Journal of Air Transport Management, 7(2): 103-109.
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.
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).
The Economist, (2013), “Legacy vs low-cost carriers: Spot the difference”, The Economist, (author not named) http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2013/03/legacy-vs-low-cost-carriers
Having a low cost of operations is one of the contributing factors to Southwest Airlines’ financial success. Such low cost model of the corporation is brought about by an effective strategy. Southwest uses only one type of aircraft – the fuel-efficient Boeing 737. This tactic keeps training and maintenance costs down. Moreover, the no-frills approach to customer service contributed to the low cost of operations for Southwest.
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.
Before to select the proper alternative, three alternatives were analysed and evaluated under four decisions criteria: customer experience, cost, growth rate / market penetration and ease to implementation (See Exhibit 2: Factor Analysis). Between all the alternatives, it was suggested that Southwest Airlines enters to New York City by bidding the slots and gates at the LGA (See Exhibit 3: Alternatives Analysis). This alternative sustains the challenge of changing the customer experience which means adding more flights from and to the East; furthermore, entering to new markets will reinforce “the power of the network” through LGA. At the same time, this decision will allow signing more code-sharing agreements with other airlines flying to international destinations and offer new products and services to LUV customers as loyalty rewards, in-flight internet, onboard duty-free purchases, etc.; as a result of this, it will increase passenger’s insights and experiences by flying with Southwest Airlines. Nevertheless, there is potential risk by selecting this alternative, in the recent years the energy prices has had a huge increase affecting costs, fares and even capacity needed, however Southwest Airlines has been able to hedge fuel for decad...
Kathleen Hanser, `The Secret Behind High Profits at Low-fare Airlines'. http://www.boeing.com/commercial/news/feature/profit.html [accessed 15 May 2003]
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).
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first, Southwest has found the key to success in the airline business. A happy worker is a more productive one as well as a better service provider. Southwest will continue to reserve their growth in the future by entering select markets only after careful market research.
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 ...
This concept was challenged by Southwest Airlines by marketing itself as a cost leader. Their entire growth curve in the industry has been attributed to its cost effective strategies which has made it more efficient and successful than traditional airlines.
Within the airline industry currently the airlines can be divided into low cost airlines and full service airlines. The low cost airlines targets customers that are seeking no frills connectivity between cities at low ticket prices. The full service airlines provide several add-ons like free meals, on plane entertainment, and communication facilities. The target market for full service airlines are customers who are willing to spend extra for the services that the airlines provides.