It comes to a surprise that US Airways Group is capable of doing so well despite the low quality of service they seem to provide. US Airways Group has recently merged with a competitor within the airline industry, American Airlines, and the two companies are expected to do very well as a team. The airline industry is one of a kind, as it does not have very much competition within the industry. As US Airways Group has shown; the little amount of competition makes it easy to do well even with poor service. The airline continues to grow and keep companies like US Airways Group in business mainly due to the rapidly growth of the industry.
JetBlue Airways incorporates several methods for success; high quality customer service, low-cost flights as well an excellent product which focuses on customer needs. By providing their customers a superior level of customer service that seems to be almost non-existent in this day and age, JetBlue Airways provides services to those areas that were not receiving the attention that they could use as well as tapping into those markets that were offering higher priced flights “We focus on serving markets that previously were underserved and large metropolitan areas that have had high average fares” (JetBlue, 2004). By doing this, they are able to capitalize on a market that is not being utilized by other travel businesses. There are a number of risks that JetBlue seems to have regarding this 10K/A 1. Highly competitive industry 2.
JetBlue has an economy of scale for cost on a seat per mile basis, even surpassing Southwest airlines. Southwest’s cost per seat/mile is 6.53 and JetBlue is now at 6.08. JetBlue has a cost advantage because its competitors cannot match their low costs of seats/mile basis. JetBlue prides them-self in keeping their flights on time and
* Service:Southwest Airline added “Family Fun” that includes playing games with passengers and hiring people who are fun that can translate to friendly into its customer service and employment, which makes passengers and employees like a big family. This service let passengers feel comfortable to choose SW and attract more people to join SW family. * Operations:Southwest insisted flew only Boeing 737 jets to support its short-haul andreduce jets maintenance costs. It also only operates a point-to-point route system to eliminate the need for connection and reduce the travel time. Moreover, Southwest flew into uncongested airports of small cities or smaller, less congested airports of large cities and didn’t transfer baggage directly to other airlines in order to keep fewest delays and fewest mishandled bags.
• Offers reasonably priced travel packages with low frills and excellent customer service. • Low cost approach to flights that has drawn consumers to their services. • Excellent employee relations leads to higher ticket sales as they all work as a team. • Purchased only Boeing airplanes to reduce costs in repairs and get a bulk discount on the purchase. Weaknesses of Southwest Airlines Swot Analysis • Does not offer segmented seating options.
Containers are can be easily transferred from one transport to a different form. This saves time and money as now only 2% of the price of the product is transport costs. Containerisation and the increase in affordable planes has affected globalisation, as now products can be shipped from china to the U.K which would still be cheaper than producing them in the U.K. and people are now more interconnected which has increased the growth of TNC as materials and people can be moved quicker. Communication has connected and linked the globe by using email and Skype. It is now accessible to talk to anyone around the world for free, which the connected families, cultures and the growth of business.
Due to Because of the growth in the low-cost segment of the airline industry, Southwest has tomust continue to innovate and differentiate itself from others to perpetuate its success and popularity. An evaluation of the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats served as the foundation for this strategic analysis and marketing plan. The plan centers on Southwest’s growth strategy by , suggesting ways in which it can build on existing customer relationships and on theby developingment of new services targeted to specific customer niches. (Pride & Ferrel, 1995) SITUATION ANALYSIS Southwest Airlines provides low-fare air transport among 58 cities within the United States. According to the company, “Southwest is dedicated to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and company spirit.” As of December 31, 2007, Southwest served 411 non-stop city pairs.
Boeing is the largest exporter by value in the United States. The manufacturing process experienced a major change and there was less production delays than before which not only helped in keeping an efficient flow when it came to their supply chain but also helped in better customer service which of course helped them hold on to crucial market share. Gaining market share of course hugely elevated their problems of losing customers or market share to Airbus (who in order to turn away customers from Boeing had initially adopted the strategy to lower prices of their products). Of course the customers were airline companies. Boeing’s success depended directly on the success of those airline companies.
Their service strategy is based on short-haul, point-to-point direct flights that are accomplished with amazingly short turnaround times. With their strategy, Southwest has a strong majority of the market share in the point-to-point market. Southwest’s goal is to make air travel affordable to all, both the time-sensitive business traveler and the price-sensitive leisure traveler. They are able to offer their low ticket fare because of good management-labor relations, fast turnaround time at the gate, faster speed of operations offered with smaller airports, and lower maintenance costs due to flying only one model of airplane. The strong leadership, strategy and culture that were built and are supported by Herb Kelleher, the former CEO of Southwest, support all these items that keep ticket fares low.
Discuss the socio-economic impact of the invention of the aeroplane during the second great transition (2008) Capable of crossing any mountain and ocean within a day, the airplane is the definition of today’s modern, easy travel. The idea was nonexistent to the normal civilian in the early days, with travel from one city to another taking days of hard work on foot or a good amount of money for trains or ships. International travel was excessively slow and expensive. The invention of the aeroplane changed the scenario completely, allowing for fast, secure but still relatively costly access anywhere within a country and beyond for mankind. As a result of one of the most significant inventions of the 20th century, the long time dream of steered flying was finally made plausible by the aeroplane.