Introduction
British Airways used to be Britain’s national airline until it was diversified in the 1990s. British Airways is currently a leading international airline brand and it has had to position itself strategically in an increasingly competitive global business environment.
This paper examines the strategic environment and the relevant strategic factors that relates to British Airways. It will focus on features and factors of the aviation industry and how it affects British Airways. From there, the paper critically evaluates the strategic choices that were made by British Airways and the results that were attained from the strategic choices made by the airline.
Background of British Airways
British Airways is part of the International Airline Group (IAG) which is incorporated in Spain and has in its portfolio Iberian Airlines (Gray and Gray, 2011). British Airways however remains an entity that the British government has significant investments in and a strong influence within (Gray and Gray, 2011). The slogans of British Airways include “To Fly, To Serve” and “The World’s Favorite Airline; Upgrade to British Airways” (Gray and Gray, 2011).
British Airways is positioned as a premium airline that targets the upper middle and the middle class members of societies (Barrett, 2010). They therefore offer premium services that targets young and old professionals, business executives and managers. These are operation are launched and conducted in richer and upmarket sections of societies around the world.
The airline also seeks to target passengers who prefer comfort and reliable services (Barrett, 2010). They have corporate customers and seek to acquire premium service seekers who want a flying experience that includes a high ...
... middle of paper ...
... with the fall in market share by presenting themselves as a partner in the development of nations and communities around the world. This helped them to enhance their services and their offerings in the nations and communities within which they operated.
Conclusion
The strategic environment within which British Airways operated posed a major challenge to the organization. This includes the credit crunch, competition and other matters that made British Airways look less efficient. In response to this, British Airways set up a system through which they aligned their operations and affairs to segment their operations and respond to the main challenges and the main differences in the external environment. British Airways also concentrated on entering new markets like the Asia Pacific region and also concentrating on the local UK markets by acquiring other aircrafts.
One of the many influences that affect Qantas is the presence of globalisation, which has heavily affected the airline both positively and negatively. Globalisation is a process which refers to the increased integration between different countries and economies as well as the increased impact of international influences on all aspects of life and economic activity. Globalisation is responsible for the removal of many trade barriers and the increased level of competition that Qantas has been exposed to. The increased levels of competition has increased consumer sovereignty and forced Qantas to implement strategies to gain a competitive advantage in order to redirect consumers towards their business. Qantas has implemented a cost leadership strategy as a response to globalisation and the influence of cost based competition. One way that Qantas achieved this was by using Globalisation itself to the business’ advantage. Globalisation ha...
“To be the best airlines in whole world and providing excellent customer experience in our flights with full entertainment and loads of satisfaction.”
It has stayed relevant to the market through its propelled philosophy of relationships to generate profits in the business. Since its establishment in Monroe, Louisiana the once tiny airline has stretched to greater heights serving in 6 continents. It has also established a distinguishable name among its competitors with a reputation of leading customer services. However, even as an established venture, the company needs to maximize its profits in order to stay in business and expand in to new territories beyond its conquered boundaries. A strategic analysis was carried out by our team to establish the company’s current situation. A SWOT analysis was performed to come up with three referenced, strategic alternatives. This alternatives are meant to act as a strategic guidance to the company in order to enhance growth. The strategic recommendation provided will improve and enable the business to cope with the competitors while the implementation of the strategy section will outline the way to go about achieving these alternatives in the business setting. Lastly, we put up a discussion on the evaluation procedures and necessary controls for the
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...
Airline of choice: Remain the top choice for international flights for premium customers as well a...
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.
EasyJet’s provision of low cost flights and it basis of “the earlier you book the ticket, the less you pay“ gives it opportunity to target its customers. EasyJet also provides a number of aircrafts in various airports thus easily accessibility of their services; this acts as it drivers in the market control and competitive advantage. It also has the advantage of providing other services such as car hiring, internet services and restaurants (Saleem, 2010). The ‘Europe by easy jet’ established a resounding brand positioning that is effective across all the main markets and enhanced visits to easyJet.com. EasyJet targets the consumers through various channels that help them to reduce marketing cost per sales. In 2001, EasyJet launched ‘easy Jet mobile app” which was downloaded by over six million people which accounted for 5% of overall sales. Mobile boarding cards are available through the app and make it easy for cust...
The airline industry has long attempted to segment the air travel market in order to effectively target its constituents. The classic airline model consists of First Class, Business Class and Economy, and the demographics that make up the classes have both similarities and differences to the other classes. For instance, there may be similarities between business class travellers on a particular flight, but they will not all be travelling for the same reason. An almost-universal characteristic of air travel is that customers do not fly for the sake of flying; the destination is the important element and the travel is a by-product, a means-to-an-end that involves the necessity of an aircraft that gets the customer from point A to point B. Because the reasons can differ greatly in the motivations for a customer wanting to fly, it can be difficult to divide the market into discrete segments, that is, there is always going to be overlap in the preferences and characteristics of any given segment. With that in mind, the commonalities that are shared between the clientele that make up the respective classes can easily withstand analysis.
Before we discuss government intervention and its affect on an industry’s competition we must first seek to understand the five forces framework. The theory, discussed in 1979 by Micheal Porter seeks to evaluate the attractiveness of an industry. Throughout this essay I will explore the theory and then relate government action and its well-documented affects on the airline industry.
The aim of this report is to carry out a strategic analysis of Ryanair. This will involve investigating the organisation’s external environment, to identify opportunities and threats it might face, and its strategic capability, to isolate key strengths and any weaknesses that need dealing with. Finally, a SWOT analysis will be carried out to assess the extent to which Ryanair’s strategies are suitable to what is happening in its task environment.
British Airways (BA) is the main and largest carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It’s headquarter is located in Waterside. The British Airways Group was established in 1972. It included British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). In 1974 British Airways was formed after the dissolution of BOAC and BEA (British Airways, 2015).
Product Strategy of the British Airways 1.1 Introduction to product strategy Product is the most important component in an organization. Without a product there is no place, no price, no promotion, and no business. Product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or a need. It is the core ingredient of the marketing mix and is everything favorable and unfavorable, tangible and intangible received in the exchange of an idea, service or good (Kotler 11th edition, 2003). British Airways is a business offering service products, flights across destinations, in the transportation industry.
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.
Emirates (Fly Emirates) is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. It is one of the fastest growing airlines and is known for consistently turning a profit. Though Emirates is owned by the UAE government, is has “evolved into a globally influential travel and tourism conglomerate known for its commitment to the highest standards of quality in every aspect of the business” (The Emirates Story).
The Singapore Airlines needs to thoroughly understand the plans being pursued by the British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Virign Atlantic in improving the comfort and quality of service it provides to its customers. The Singapore Airlines needs to continue differentiate itself by examining the strengths/weaknesses, and key points of these and other competitive airlines.