Lets face it. Every day you read in the newspaper about another airline folding up their bags or filing for bankruptcy or another airline stock taking a dive down south because of poor performance. These airline executives blame it on the cost of fuel or pilots strikes or union problems or any one of the million reasons why the airline industry has a tough time competing and making money. Do these airline executives think that the other businesses have got it made easy and are riding the easy horse to financial well-being? Every business that succeeds whether it be in the manufacturing sector, retail or internet business, does so by excellence in management. The air travel industry is no different. In place of bickering and trying to identify excuses for bad performance quarter after quarter, airlines and the air travel industry needs to take a hard look at the basics of their business and get to work trying to fix the problems just like the rest of us in other areas of trade and industry.
A cardinal advantage that airlines have, which is seldom brought forth is the fact that in today's day and age as people find significant demands on their time, people prefer to fly rather than use other modes of transportation for long distance journeys and this means that there IS a continued market demand. Now, if you mess it up by unreasonable pricing strategies and lose a solid and eager customer base, then that is bad management. The best product in the world is sure to pull in poor sales figures if priced incorrectly. Price what the market will bear and increase your margins by operating efficiently. Most airlines that go under have had pricing issues. Developing an accurate cost per mile of flight is an imperative in developing cost reduction strategies.
A second factor is the on-time arrival and departure record. Customers that have been burnt because of non-performance of an airline as far as timing is concerned will opt to fly with a different carrier the next time around. Once you miss a business meeting or show up late for Thanksgiving dinner with your family, because your plane landed late or got out of the gate two hours later than it was supposed to, regardless of the reason, you are liable to blacklist that airline in your future plans. Once an airline loses more and more of its customer base, it is guaranteed to go down the tubes in revenue generation. On-time arrival and departure can be accomplished only if the planes are maintained properly, the loading and unloading of passengers and cargo is carried out efficiently and effective airports are chosen for routes and destinations. All this is part of management and there is no excuse for fouling up these tasks.
A third factor that losing airlines almost always are associated with is lost or misdirected luggage. Nothing infuriates travelers more than reaching their destination and finding that their bags did not make it with them. This may seem like a trivial reason in the chain of events leading to poor revenues, but in all reality, every time that customer loyalty is placed in jeopardy so is revenue generation. So, if airline executives watch what they are doing and do what every other successful business does, then they too have a chance in warding off the bad omen of bankruptcy.
About the Author:
The author invites you to visit his article 'What can you learn from Southwest Airlines' in the business section of http://articlewonders.com in continuation of the same thought.
