Over the last 20 years, airlines have distributed ticket sales through online tickets sales, via individual airline websites, through online travel sites, or through travel agencies. This has changed the way that individuals can purchase airline tickets, rather than the antiquated methods of going to the airport counter to book a flight.
Advantages to ticket distribution control
The global distribution services are indirect channels that provide distribution of ticket sales to travel sites, which in return charge the individual airlines for each ticket sold through these outlets. This is rather costly to each individual airline, as the airline is charged nearly $12 (Quora 2011), for each individual ticket sold through these outlets. If every passenger that flew during the year of 2015 with airlines that served the United States (895.5 million passengers USDOT, 2016), airlines would have been charged $1.07 billion by the global distribution services. Travel agencies are also paid commissions by the airlines as well. Indirectly,
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In addition to the Delta website, consumers are able to purchase tickets off of global distribution services and online travel agencies; this method is commonly used by larger airlines. It is advantageous for consumers to purchase tickets directly from the airline for acquiring a higher tier of frequent flyer miles and typically a lower baggage fee, as well as no additional fees that are placed by the travel agency or distribution service. Low-cost airlines, such as Southwest Airlines, however offer online ticket purchasing only through their website. Because low-cost carriers try to keep distribution costs and operational overhead to a minimum, keeping the ticket sales internally helps keep ticket sales lower. Also, internal ticket sales prevent travel agencies from receiving a commission from the airline, and also drives more traffic to their
Executive summary Delta Airlines has been a vibrant company in the airline industry, with great success over the years. Delta Airlines started as a crop dusting company serving more than 572 destinations, in 65 countries on six continents (Allan, H., David. H.,2012). The. Delta Airlines moved its headquarters from Monroe, Louisiana, to the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Great management strategies have been portrayed from time to time to be fruitful, even on the verge of a recession.
The U.S. airline industry experienced year-over-year growth in passenger revenues, in 2013, driven by strong demand for air travel.2 Additionally, on average, fuel costs were down in 2013 as compared to 2012.2 The U.S. airline industry is also a very competitive market. Due to government deregulation in 1978 there are few regulatory barriers to new entrants in the market, although there are other barriers to consider. Starting a new airline is very capital intensive. Purchasing a commercial airplane from Boeing can cost anywhere from $76million to over $300million.4 Another barrier to entry is risk in the industry. Airlines tend to experience volatile costs such as fuel prices, which can be difficult to predict in the long run. A regu...
The airline industry not only transports passengers across the country and world but it also moves cargo from location to location. The largest segment for the airlines is general commercial passengers and business travelers. In 2004, there were 15 major airlines with 12 of those being mainly passenger carriers, the remaining three being cargo carriers. In addition to the large airlines (Delta, United, American, Southwest, Northwest), there are numerous low-cost regional carriers that have tapped into the larger carriers’ customer base. These smaller companies generally fly from smaller airports and serve a smaller amount of destination cities. Calling them a no-frills air carrier would not be far from the truth. Their goal is to move customers f...
Due to the increased use of the internet, it is becoming more and more easier to book online. This allows customers to book flights easier and increase Jet2’s revenue. Revenue is increased through not having to deliver or post tickets out to its customers, in comparison with other non-internet based airlines. It is believed that over 97% of Jet2’s customers book online, which further highlights Jet2’s emphasis on online bookings.
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).
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.
More than 37 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right. What began as a small Texas airline has grown to become one of the largest airlines in America. Today, Southwest Airlines flies over 104 million passengers a year to 64 great cities all across the country, and we do it more than 3,400 times a day.
service allows for direct nonstop routing by minimizing connections, delays and total trip time. As a result, approximately 71% of Southwest Airlines’ cust...
Distribution. Unlike other airlines in the industry, Southwest Airlines does not use third party booking reservation systems. They are unique in such a way that they operate ticket sales directly through their company. By limiting third party booking reservation systems, Southwest can keep their sales distribution in
For example, the company would exclusively use the Boeing 737 aircraft, reducing maintenance costs and training. Southwest also departed from the traditional “Hub-and-spoke” method of scheduling flights, a method that would commonly create irregular traffic patterns. Instead, Southwest scheduled flights to reduce the time aircraft spent idle at gates, using a method known as “Point-to-point” flight scheduling.
The low cost and no frills strategy is make travel affordable at low cost. The company only operates one type of aircraft which is Boeing 737 to help maintenance cost low. Southwest was the first airline to use E-ticketing in this way customer can reserve spot and buy ticket on their web and allow less expense in printing tickets. Medium measured airports which allowed them to produce better time performance and less fuel costs so plane do not have to wait in the line at the runway. The core value of the company of “LUV and fun” makes the company great place to work that gives customer with a great experience.
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...
Southwest Airlines has always proudly identified themselves as a low cost airline. They have successfully been able to incorporate Human Resource management, merger and acquisitions, financial performance and allocation of resources as part of their corporate strategy. When it comes to the meat and potatoes, Southwest Airlines has implemented a corporate value-creating strategy. Ultimately, because of this strategy, Southwest is surpassing its competitors and gaining a larger share of the market. Furthermore, this strategy is adding perceived value to its products and services by taking advantage of the economies of scope (Bradley, 2016). The airline’s business units can take advantage of their differentiation by lowering their cost structure. For example, Southwest Airlines 714 fleet consist of only one type of aircraft, the Boeing 737. The advantage of having one type of aircraft is extremely cost efficient as the airline only has to train mechanics to repair one type of aircraft and they only have to store parts for one type of aircraft therefore lowering overhead and human resources expenses which translates into lower fares to its passengers (Southwest,
Although Southwest Airlines Co. takes only the sixth place in the ranking of Forbes magazine[1], SWA is the world 's largest low-cost carrier, has become the biggest domestic airline in the United States, by number of travelers carried. More than 70 million passengers fly SWA ewery year to over 60 destinations around the continental United States. Passengers have found that Southwest 's affordable tickets create almost a new type of transportation, more in competition with the automobile than other airlines. The potential customers are ready to refuse in-board meals, baggage transfers, and other traditional additions for economically affordable tickets.
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.