Airline Airlines : Business Strategy Course Theories And Concepts Based On The Business Industry Of The Budget Service Providers

Ryanair was established in the year 1985 by the RYAN family and has grown from a small airline flying a short hop from Waterford to London, into one of the Europe’s largest carriers. The company expanded and within 4 years it had 350 employees, 14 aircraft, and carried 600,000 passengers a year. It is currently serving to 26 European Countries with 148 destinations. It operates on 794 different routes daily serving by more than 1050 flights in a day. It has totally 169 aircrafts running for different routes with 5986number of employees working in it However, Ryanair’s costs rose drastically and it recorded losses of £20 Million sover four years despite its growth. Although consumers were continuing to fly Ryanair

The multitude percentage growth of Ryanair, an ultra low cost Irish airline established in 1985 & operating to 185 destinations within the European Union depicts the above quote perfectly. In the last 30 years of its operations, Ryanair has emerged as the largest low cost carrier across Europe and Africa. The airline has been ranked as No 1 in coverage and customer service flying to more than 10mn customers annually & across 1600+ routes through its 73 bases. The following report covers the journey of Ryanair an Irish low-cost airline headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland. Ryanair is a listed company in the Irish Stock Exchange (ISEQ), London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the NASDAQ.

The strategic plan of Ryanair has been to establish itself as Europe’s leading low-fares airline.” Ryanair aims to offer low fares that generate increased passenger traffic while maintaining a continuous focus on cost-containment and operating efficiencies.” (www.ryanair.com)

Generally speaking, the launch strategy of Ryanair was not the best one for that moment in time. They began operations between Dublin and London, in a very saturated market, which was already served by two competing and very experienced companies owned by the governments:

EasyJet EasyJet has become the European leader in a no frills frenzy for low cost, cheap air travel. This market however has since the mid nineties gone from strength to strength and we have witnessed the arrival of a number of low cost airline companies which cater for the no frills approach. In Europe the top two competitors in this market are EasyJet and Ryan Air which serve their customers from London Luton and Dublin respectively. They offer a differentiated product compared with the major traditional airlines and the key to their success has been

Ryanair was founded in 1985 with only two aircrafts and a single Dublin-London route . By 2010 Ryanair had transformed itself into Europe 's leading low cost airlines with 232 aircrafts flying to 153 destination. Ryan Air 's strategic objective has been to offer the lowest possible air fare to its passengers and strive towards becoming europe No.1 Low Cost airlines. In this paper we will explore and analyze Ryanair 's competitive position, strategic capabilities and sustainability of its strategies.

Strategic decisions define a company’s organizational structure which creates competitive advantages through developing specific capabilities. Macro environment changes challenge companies to adapt to new industries success factors

Ryanair is one of the most profitable low-cost and low-fare airlines in the world. Even though it was merely bankruptcy in 1991, it could stand up and become very successful by 1999. An issues was what led Ryanair to huge losses in 1991, how did it re-gain its position, and what lay ahead in the next century.

Set up in the year 1985 at a capital of 1 pound with a staff strength of 25, Ryanair is today the World’s favourite and most commonly used airline which operates more than 1,400 flights per day from 44 bases and 1100+ low fare routes across 27 countries, connecting 160 destinations. Ryanair operates a fleet of 250 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft and is expected to increase it by another 64 in 2 years. Ryanair currently has staff strength of more than 8,000 people. Its passenger base has been increasing

Ryanair is Europe’s largest low-fares, no-frills short-haul carrier. The organisation was founded in 1985 as a conventional airline but re-launched itself in 1990/1991 as a low-cost carrier, replicating American Southwest Airlines’ business model. Since then Ryanair has grown

The development of Ryanair’s low cost strategy comes down to Michael O’Leary. O’Leary was persistent in implementing the low cost model of Southwest Airlines and set out a long term goal for Ryanair to achieve. His philosophy was and remains to be, “ reduce cost in all operations, eliminate non-value added operations and provide the lowest possible air fare to the customer”. His use of standardization was vital in achieving the low cost strategy. Providing a basic uniform routine for the workers minimised work time and kept the cost downto a minimum allowing them to offer lower prices. The success of Michael O’Leary’s low cost strategy can clearly be seen in the statement, “Ryanair are the leading carrier in Europe with every increasing profits.”

The airline industry is a buyers market were all somebody has to do is log onto another website to access alternative flights with another company. The power of suppliers in the airline industry is very strong also, as you can see in the newspapers there is a strike at Boeing and this has halted all airplane deliveries. This has a direct knock on effect to Ryanair that they can do nothing about. Each low cost airline is offering the same basic service however Ryanair have an advantage as they are currently offering 297 routes out of 107 airports but competition is strong. Areas such as customer service and branding are key to success.

1. In-depth environmental analysis of the European Airline industry and discuss the implications for the budget sector and especially for Ryanair. 2. An integrated understanding of the functioning of a company – its human and technical operations, leadership, customer relationships and financial structure. 3. Implications of the internal functioning to create viable strategic positioning and discuss any changes to Ryanair’s approach to ensure an improved sustainability 4. Evaluate the strategic leadership style of Michael O’Leary

“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).

Ryan air, an Irish airline started in 1985 by Ryan family with a capital share of £1 and a staff of 25. Over the past few years the company has shown tremendous ontogeny. Indeed it is Europe's largest low cost carrier and fastest growing airlines. Currently it’s operating more than 1,500 flights every day from over 50 bases and around 1400 low fare routes across 28 countries which connect 165 destinations.