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Delta Song Case Executive Summary U.S. Airlines face many issues today that ultimately will lower profits. Heightened Security in airports, less people willing to fly and a slumping economy have put the airline industry at a disadvantage. Delta Airlines has reported recently a $2 billon dollar second quarter loss. Delta has been losing ground to smaller airlines that fly the same routes that supply Delta with approximately 70% of its revenue. Delta Airlines will attempt to become the first major carrier to successfully launch a long term, low cost competitor. In the past year alone, low-cost carriers such as Jet Blue have claimed over 80% of the market share in New York to Florida flights. The new airline will be call Delta Song, and will cost $75 million The Delta Song Concept will use only one type of plane, the Boeing 757, that will be outfitted with leather seats, interactive monitors that will allow users to watch pay per view movies, play interactive games and online shopping. Song flights will fly between selected cities. Song planes will feature faster turnaround times of 50 minutes between landing and take off. Flight time is expected to be approximately 13 hours a day, which is 23% higher than the Delta main line. The goal of Delta Song is to compete with smaller airlines that will push Delta away from chapter 11 and return to profitability and future success. Analysis Delta will need to shift ticket sales operations away from travel agents or Delta representatives and toward the internet. Online ticket sales accounted for 13% of all sales in 2003. The average ticket purchased online can save Delta $8 to $10; due to fewer expenses on employees or call centers that are responsible for booking tickets. Creating a marketing plan to promote using Delta’s website for tickets or incentives such as in-flight amenities could increase the overall number of online ticket sales. The nervous system already gives Delta a competitive advantage, but it might also be able to assist online operations that would allow Delta to create a simple online interface to allow users to purchase tickets with ease. This system would allow Delta to cut back on labor expenses that occur from excess calls to customer service and company representatives. As Delta plans to move away from the Apollo reservation system, it will be able to cut cost that would provide travel agents with their commissions from flight ticket sales.
Song airline was a low cost carrier subsidiary of Delta airlines that started in 2003. It was formed to compete with JetBlue and other low cost airlines for the Florida market. The market environment at the time of the case was extremely difficult with the rising costs of fuel, increasing security requirements after 9/11 and customers' expectations of lower fares. It has forced many big players in the airline industry into bankruptcy. The operational costs which include gate fees, ground operational costs etc. were increasing causing even more problems for the airlines. The fares in the Florida route were decreasing while the costs were ever increasing making it difficult to remain operational in that space.
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).
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.
Having a low amount of cost in their operations is one of the contributing factors in 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. The airline does not serve meals on board, and there are no luxurious or first class seats offered. Services like these have been seen by the airline as unnecessary for an airline that provides a short-haul trip from city to city. By these, Southwest were able to offer low price tickets to customers, which was good for the company because most people would prefer to fly without those services mentioned if it meant for cheaper ticket price.
Flying across the globe can be a scary journey, but with Delta consumer feel the inviting, caring, and great quality that Delta stands for. When a customer enters onto a Delta plane the customer can start to feel the inviting atmosphere almost immediately. The customer sits down in the seat personally selected by the customer, as soon as the plane is in the air, beverages and snacks are being dispersed amongst the cabin. Delta Airlines has flights to over 326 destinations in 59
Southwest Airlines is competing with "Shuttle by United" head to head in about 9 routes. United has just announced that it is discontinuing its Oakland - Ontario route and hiking the fares in all the 14 routes by $10, which calculated to be 14.5% increase in the fare. Southwest has to respond effectively to these unexpected developments and has to act accordingly while maintaining their current low fare image and increasing their daily operating profits. We have considered the elasticity of the market to be 1.15.
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...
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).
Delta Airlines has been a vibrant company in the airline industry, with great success over the years. Delta airlines started as a crops dusting company to serving more than 572 destinations, in 65 countries on six continents (Allan, H., David. H. ,2012). Delta airline moved its headquarters from Monroe, Louisiana to the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The great management strategies have portrayed from time to time to be fruitful even in the verge of a recession. With these consistency in delivery of services, it is clear that the company is out to outdo its competitors and turn out to be the greatest airline in the world.
In addition to e-commerce, the company still runs television ads, puts up billboards, and occasionally displays ads in magazine spreads. They have cut budget spending for these items because the company does not feel they are as popular and they are not reaching their main customer target (Newsroom, 2015). For instance, if a customer wants to read a magazine or a newspaper article, many times the customer is using their smartphone, tablet, or computer to view these types of sources. Delta has taken advantage of this new trend for their advertising techniques. According to Tnooz (2013), “85% of Delta Airlines flight check-in globally take place via “preferred channels”--- Facebook, mobile apps, Delta.com, and airport kiosks, or any venue that doesn’t involve standing in line at a counter.” As an example, to show what percentage of frequent fliers carry smart phones, figure 1 displays a pie chart to show the
The perennial crisis in the airline industry: Deregulation and innovation. Order No. 3351230, Claremont Graduate University). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses,, 662-n/a. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304861508?accountid=8364.
Southwest Airlines has come from an underdog to being one of the best airlines in the industry. This reputation translates from its strategic management of resources. The Co-founder and former CEO, Herb Kelleher, established a unique corporate culture that leads to high customer satisfaction, employees’ morale, and one of the most profitable airlines in the industry (Jackson et al., 2012). The corporate culture concentrates on empowerment the workforce. It shows through Southwest Airlines core values that “happy employees lead to happy customers, which create happy shareholders” (Jackson et al., 2012). Since its first grand opening in 1971, Southwest Airlines has shown steady growth, and now carries more passengers than any other low-cost carrier in the world (Wharton, 2010). To expand the business operations, Southwest Airlines took over AirTran in 2010 as a strategy to gain more market share for the Southeast region and international flights. However, the acquisition of AirTran brought upcoming challenges both internally and externally for Southwest Airlines. In this case analysis, the objectives are focusing on the change process post the merger with AirTran, and evaluating alternatives to address the impacts of the merger.
Several weaknesses in airline operations were identified as the causes of the RM1.3 billion loss. These included esclating fuel prices, increased maintenance and repair costs, staff costs, low yield per available seat kilometer ("ASK") via poor yield management and an inefficient route network.
With regard to Product, JetBlue is cornering the marketplace with its productivity, in-flight features, and customer service. Due to the fact that the company only purchases new planes of a single type, maintenance downtime is reduced and it is able to keep its planes in the air. In fact, JetBlue maintains the highest in-air average in the industry. Additionally, JetBlue employs an "operational recovery tool" technology that allows planners to minimize flight cancellations and delays. On board, JetBlue prides itself on treating all customers as equals and providing more comfort than other airlines. Features that draw customers in include assigned seating (contrary to its competitor, Southwest Airlines), leather seats, more leg room, and superior on-board service. Furthermore, JetBlue is one only a few airlines that offers each passenger free Direct TV and XM satellite radio entertainment. Finally, with regard to customer service, JetBlue focuses intently on attracting and motivating a talented workforce. The company gives each employee a sense of ownership in the operations. This value and respect bestowed on each employee translates into a motivated, productive workforce that focuses on customer satisfaction and exceeds consumer expectations.