American Airlines Basic Economy Essay

The purpose of this study is to compare Spirit Airlines with American Airlines using the financial ratios of liquidity, activity, debt, profitability and the market, and to derive some concrete conclusions about the financial nature of Spirit Airlines. According to Spirit Airlines (2015) “Historic Stock Lookup,” from 2011 to 2014, the year-end stock prices have increased by 79.4%, which is outstanding. Thus, Spirit Airlines will be used as a benchmark in terms of comparing

American airline industry is steadily growing at an extremely strong rate. This growth comes with a number economic and social advantage. This contributes a great deal to the international inventory. The US airline industry is a major economic aspect in both the outcome on other related industries like tourism and manufacturing of aircraft and its own terms of operation. The airline industry is receiving massive media attention unlike other industries through participating and making of government policies. As Hoffman and Bateson (2011) show the major competitors include Southwest Airlines, Delta Airline, and United Airline.

Last year, I was given a complimentary upgrade to an economy plus seat on a flight from Houston to San Salvador. I was hoping to enjoy the slightly roomier seat in the front of the cabin which tends to be a little quieter.

Continental Airlines has been experiencing turbulent times in recent quarters and without material changes to the company’s operations it may have worse times ahead. Using the results from my regression analysis, as well as cost estimation, I have forecasted what Continental can expect for revenue, costs, and profit in 2009. Table 2 is shown below, which shows the financial summary of Continental Airlines, based on reduced flight capacity and the projections I have been provided with.

* Contracts with competition. Their maintenance facility in Tulsa has started receiving other company’s planes for contracted repair. This is an opportunity to increase and build another addition onto American Airlines family.

American Airlines is looking to expand its market to more wealthy consumers by offering an excusive line of aircraft consisting mostly of first class and business type seating. This new model will be labeled under the title “Elite” and would market routes to and from major city hubs during heavy business traveling hours. American Airlines will position this service as the, “Black Jet” since that would be the standout feature of the aircraft. American can take advantage of its existing market base along with its frequent fliers to sell the experience of a flight experience beyond maximizing passengers. The target motto would be a “flight redefined.” American Airlines Elite would target business, first class, and frequent flying travelers.

While analyzing AT& T a few differences are noted. As with Verizon, the current ratio did improve with an increase of five percent from 58% in 2005 to 63% in 2006. However, even though debt to equity decreased for both companies AT & T's decrease was only 4% compared to Verizon's significant decrease of 23%. The net profit margin ratio did opposite changes between the two companies while Verizon's increase not even one full percent AT &T's decreased by almost 3%. Even with these significant changes AT & T's price to earnings, as of 2006, was at 20.89 (www.hoovers.com). These variances tell us a couple of things. First, that AT& T has taken on more debt in 2006 versus 2005, but along with that debt they have been able to increase their net profit margin, helping the company in the way of earnings. The strong price to earnings ratio of 20.89 also shows that the shareholders are not faring too poorly either.

The goal of this paper is to explain the prominent success of Southwest Airline in the United States through a single case study analysis making use of the McKinsey’s 7-S framework. Developed in the early 1980s at the McKinsey & Company consulting firm by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, this framework looks at 7 internal factors (Structure, Strategy, Systems, Style, Staff, Skills, Super-ordinate goals) which, according to its authors, need to be aligned for an organization to be successful. In this paper, we will analyse each of its internal elements through the case study “Southwest Airlines in 2008, Culture, Values, and Operating Practices”.

Market structure can be defined as patterns of behaviour by enterprises in an effort to adjust to the markets in which they operate (buy or sell). Pricing strategies and collusive behaviour mergers are a few dimensions of market conduct. It is the industry norm for a legacy carrier to offer service to most popular destinations; Delta reducing routes to a similar schedule as the low-cost airlines is not an option in the multi-billion dollar industry. In order to gain market share from low-cost airlines, Delta must create a value proposition that differentiates itself from its competitors. Many customers will pay a premium if the level of service provided is higher than the low-cost, no-frills

American Airlines (American) made four fundamental changes to its rates. First, it moved to a four-tier rate structure; American offered first-class rates and three tiers of coach: full-fare, 21-day advance purchase and 7-day advance purchase. Overall, it expected to reduce coach fares by 38% and first-class fares by 20% to 50%. Though full fare coach prices dropped by about 38%, advance-purchase fares dropped by 6% when compared to the advance purchase tickets already being offered. Through this fare structure, American also eliminated deep discount tickets. Second, American eliminated the negotiated discount contracts of many large

In April 1992, American Airlines launched "Value Pricing" -- a radical simplification of the complex pricing structure that had evolved over more than a decade following deregulation of the U.S. domestic airline industry. American expected that the new pricing structure would benefit consumers and restore profitability to both American and the industry as a whole. The critical issue raised is: Would American's bold initiative work?

The United States economy has been able to grow steadily after the 200 recessionand because of this, most businesses have been able to also grow effectively. The airline should therefore invest heavily in refurbishing its aircrafts and also investing in projects that will attract employees. To fully take advantage of this project, the United airline should embrace good marketing startegies and also provide competitive prices to its customers.

Most successful low-cost carriers try to offer a modicum of additional benefits, such as better on-time performance or more legroom. AirTran Airways has been very successful with its low-fare Business Class, while Frontier and JetBlue offer live in-flight television. US Airways offers a first class product, and a very extensive route network including international destinations.

Small business customers and leisure travelers were the ones benefited the most from American’s new fare structure. Previously, small business customers who does not have the power and volume to negotiate with airline companies for discounted deals had to pay higher rates for first-class or coach tickets. American’s new cost structure reduced the full coach fares which allowed small business customers to purchase flight tickets at cheaper prices more conveniently. Leisure travelers, unlike business travelers, have more flexibility in terms of travel dates, thus allowing them to take advantage of the advance-purchase discounts and Saturday-night stay discounts under the new fare system.

In 2004, AirAsia’s earnings margin before interest and taxes (16.8), return on capital employed (14.6) and return on equity (37.7) accounting ratios were above the industry average – 14.5 is the industry average for earnings margin, 11.6 for return on capital employed and 21.2 for return on equity. This above average results indicates that the company has been managed well and thus is able to achieve high above-average returns.