The American Airline Industry
The Airline Industry is a highly competitive industry with companies
operating in domestic and/or international markets. Many airlines are
stilled owned by their respective countries and have treaties between
countries to allow airlines to land there. The industry has been
taking a relatively shaky course as costs are rising and profits have
been decreasing. This was further intensified with the recent
terrorist attacks on US soil, which lead to higher costs as the need
for more security arose. Recent financial statements of major airlines
showing major losses reflect the problems that the industry is having.
Yet amidst the storm, some regional airlines such as Jet Blue Airlines
have managed to focus on specific markets and maintained or increased
their profits. It is no doubt that Porter’s 5 forces of competition
are at play in this industry. These forces are the Threat of
Substitutes, Threat of New Entrants, Competitive Rivalry, Bargaining
Power of Buyers and Bargaining Power of Suppliers.
Threat of Substitutes
The airline industry has been plagued by rising costs resulting in
poor profits. The recession adversely affected the industry during the
first half of 2001. This was intensified by the September 11th
attacks, when two airlines were crashed into the Twin Towers in New
York City by terrorists killing everyone on board and demolishing the
buildings. This lead to an immediate reduction in air travel as
customers did not feel safe about flying and an increase in the use of
other forms of transportation. Amtrak, a railway company, reported an
increase in passenger volume in the days following the attacks. Though
this has leveled off as things returned to normal, rail travel is a
substitute for air travel that will be utilized by customers if they
are looking for cheaper travel and if they are looking for a leisure
trip that would not be too time consuming. Automobiles are also a form
of travel that is a substitute for air travel. This is especially the
case when a family is traveling as the costs are minimized and
schedules coordinated on the travelers’ timetable.
Threat of New Entrants
Historically, entry into the market has been relatively easy for
airline companies. When the economy was booming, people traveled more
for leisure and companies used this opportunity to enter th...
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...aken from Hoovers Online)
Revenues (in Millions) Sept 2002 Sept 2001
US Airways 1903.0 2493.0
American 4494.0 4816.0
Southwest 1391.2 1335.1
Net Income (in Millions) Sept 2002 Sept 2001
US Airways (248.0) (24.0)
American (924.0) (414.0)
Southwest 74.9 151.0
Total Assets (in Millions) Sept 2002 Sept 2001
US Airways 7705.0 9564.0
American 31502.0 31840.0
Southwest 8954.3 7994.9
Total Debt (in Millions) Sept 2002 Sept 2001
US Airways 10808.0 10106.0
American 28991.0 25609.0
Southwest 4631.6 4045.3
EPS (in dollars) Sept 2002 Sept 2001
US Airways (3.64) (.36)
American (5.93) (2.68)
Southwest .09 .19
Revenue Passenger Miles Oct 2002 Oct 2001
US Airways 2,965,753 2,802,967
American 3,048,000 2,851,000
Southwest 3,258,017 2,590,610
Load Factor (%) Oct 2002 Oct 2001
US Airways 66.9 61.7
American 63.2 57.8
Southwest 56.8 53.4
For example, giants of the industry merged to make super-giants. Southwest Airlines decided to merge with another airline called AirTran. They formed one huge airline that became the fourth-largest airline in the United States. This allowed Southwest Airlines to pull in even more people than they had been doing separately. This was also a positive impact because if people were fans of the AirTran Airlines, it is a possibility that they will stick with their preferences and continue to buy tickets for their flights. This benefited Southwest Airlines greatly. Another example of specific tactics that Southwest Airlines implemented included the number of people that were on airplanes within the last year compared to that of 2001. In 2010, there were 720.4 million people who were on airplanes. In 2000, 719.1 million people were on airplanes, which was slightly lower than people who fly even after September 11th. After the attacks on America, airlines actually were seeing more people flying than they were in 2001. So, these special tactics that Southwest Airlines implemented increased their sales in tickets (Goldschein 2011). However, there are several influential factors that affected these
which posted half again as many revenue passenger miles in April 1996 as it did
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.
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.
It is evident that the greatest strength that Southwest Airlines has is its financial stability. As known in the US airline industry, Southwest is one of those airlines who are consistently earning profits despite the problems the industry is facing. With such stability, the corporation is able to make decisions and adjust policies, which other heavily burdened airlines may not be able to imitate.
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).
who has used only one type of airplane, and in the face of a dire
During World War II interest in Buddhism was renewed as many Asian Buddhists came to England and the U.S., and many European Buddhists came to the U.S. Zen Buddhism was particularly popular, especially in the U.S., where it became part of the Beatnik artistic and literary movement as "Beat Zen."
In today’s society, much of our evaluation of academic achievement is based on a very narrow perspective of what sort of capabilities determine a child’s intelligence. The typical mindset of today’s educational systems views students who receive high scores on standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT as high ability students; such a statement, although true, limits the opportunities of students who are, in fact, intelligent, but in different academic areas. Because of the recent focus on math and reading scores, schools are doing away with art-related programs at an aggressive and alarming rate. What many do not realize, or rather, realize, but fail to acknowledge, is that involvement in art encourages development in many different areas and has been shown to improve a child’s overall performance (Arts). Involvement in visual arts enables children to begin building important life skills at a young age. Therefore, integrating art programs into the young child’s educational curriculum will help them reach maximum potential throughout their lifetime. Visual arts should be kept in schools because it enables children to express themselves, improves academics, and provides a therapeutic outlet that encourages maximum opportunity for development.
Art can be used to raise scores in every subject, “Students who took four years of art classes scored 91 points higher on their SAT exams than those who took half a year or less. Multiple studies also confirmed that there is a correlation between art engagement and students’ other achievements.” (Valeriya Metla) Even with the research linking art and better grades some educators think that it is more worth while to only focus on the core classes because it is more important to fund what is being tested than to help raise children who are creative.
Canavan, C. (2003, December 10). Exploring Cosmetic Surgery in the Social Sciences. Drexel University - Unix Web Service. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ctc27/cosmeticsurgery.html
In the traditional Japanese setting Buddhism in itself had an important role in the development and maintenance of peace in the society. The religion occupied the position of a political entity which rivaled the unilateral force from the landowners and the traditional aristocrats. It could influence the political setting, economic activities, and the basic social tenets of life. The main force behind this influence emanated from the Buddhist priest (Kasahara, McCarthy, & Sekimori 2001).
Art Education is not always valued in school settings. Although some may see it as an unnecessary use of school funding, there are many who believe it is beneficial to students in more ways than one. There are many different studies that have been conducted to test the effects that art education has on school-aged children. Some studies have proven that art education can help students to improve in other academic areas. In a journal article from Ohio State University’s “Theory in Practice,” Karen A Hamblen states, “There are linkages between art learning and learning in other subjects areas and that art study can promote creative behaviors, critical thinking skills, and academic achievement.” It has also been found that the arts can teach children better self-regulatory strategies, and even foster more confidence and self-efficacy in school which relates to confidence in academics. Overall, art education in schools has been very beneficial and has proven to ignite creativity, confidence, critical thinking skills, and academic achievement in students.
In conclusion, when trying to understand the effects of language one will find that it can serve as the structure of a society as well as determine the ways in which individuals are viewed and valued within that society. In this case, the social construction of gender are responsible for the differences in women's linguistic behavior and how it relates to their secondary place in the male-dominated world. Because of such distinguished roles, different linguistic strategies are acquired by female and male subcultures in culture and social organization.
Beauty has always been valued in our societies for thousand years. The definition of beauty is differed from time to time among various races and cultures. Therefore, most people of each race and culture would have their own methods to be the most beautiful. It was the foot-binding of ancient Chinese or the constrictive corsets of Westerners. In the modern generation, with the development of new medical technologies, plastic surgery seems to be a miracle to help people change their physical appearances and make their life better. However, everything has its side effects; so does plastic surgery. People are aware of unexpected results but they are not big enough to stop them from getting plastic surgery. What factors make people consider and undergo plastic surgery? The answers are also a reflection of our current societies.