1.0 Introduction
British Airways (BA) is the UK’s largest international scheduled airline, operating international and domestic scheduled and charter air services for the carriage of passengers, freight and mail and the provision of ancillary services. The airline flies to over 550 destinations globally and is considered to be a leader in the industry.
In order to profitably satisfy customer needs, an organisation must understand its external and internal situation including the customer, the market and its own capabilities. Furthermore, it needs to understand and adapt to the dynamic and uncontrollable factors of the environment in which it operates.
2005 saw a new Chief Executive being appointed in BA; Willie Walsh, former head of
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In response, the cost of fuel surcharges is always at risk (appendix 2). BA is in the business of transporting people to and from worldwide destinations for both business and pleasure. If the international economy slows down, business trades less and fewer business people will use planes. Equally, people may choose less 'exciting' holidays.
2.2.3 Social Factors
The social and cultural influences on business vary from country to country however it is important that such factors are considered and include demographic and cultural aspects. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Demographic changes have resulted in the development of the ‘grey’ market who are spending more on leisure and travelling. Lifestyles, tastes and fashions are all changing; customers require opportunities to visit new and interesting, often long-haul, and destinations.
2.2.4 Technological Factors
Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalisation. A key issue will be the extent to which technological advancements can offset upward pressures on prices and costs. Online sales are regarded highly important by BA and they are placing considerable faith in its website presence to boost online-sales which will reduce customer traffic via BA’s call centres. E-Tickets are now the standard ticket format used by BA, making flight ticketing more straightforward, flexible and secure
At the present time, the airline industry faces many cost pressures. The industry has made remarkable achievements in improving its efficiency. But cost pressures continue, from record high fuel prices to unjustified increases in charges from monopolistic airports, to further taxes imposed by governments (industryspotlight.org.uk). Higher costs inevitably lead to higher prices for airline passengers. Aviation is vital part of the United Kingdom. It is not only crucial in sponsoring almost 1 million jobs and £50 billion of GDP, providing around £8.7 billion in taxes to the Treasury of the country, but aviation is also fundamental to the success of economic benefits from air transport in the United Kingdom (Roberts-Hughes, 2014). Aviation supports exports, services, manufacturing, foreign direct investment and of course tourism. This sector gives us opportunity for the holidays and visits of family and friend in different parts of a country and also around the world.
Airlines are now able to expand their outreach directly to consumers through e-commerce. For example, airlines like Qantas are able to introduce ticketless travel through the use of technology (Thompson and Gamble, 2012).
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. It is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations and second largest measured by passengers carried, behind easyJet.
According to Williams (2014), this project plans to ensure consistency in enlistment for both outside and inside candidates where it also considers adaptable working choices before retirement and ensure progression arranging is age-nonpartisan. This demonstrates that these programmes also encourage age differing qualities in all zones by difficult presumptions and generalisations connected to age. This means, somewhere around 2011 and 2012 there was no huge move in British airways age profile.
British airways plc. Being the largest and one of the most leading airline in the world and the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. Based in waterside
The viability and profitability of an association had dependably been of extraordinary concern to all business associations and administrators. Numerous variables in hierarchical structure and framework had been distinguished to assess the proficiency and adequacy of administration frameworks in associations.
Everyone working with BA feel responsibility, loyalty towards it to keep it growing up, keep quality high and everyone give their best to the firm, that appear clearly in the worker reaction toward the economic crises since 7,000 British Airways employees have volunteered for schemes in support of the airline’s cost reduction programme. Their actions will save the company up to £10 million as BA website and several media sources said (1)
British Airways is the one of the largest airline companies, and the passengers carry overall in the fifth largest in the world. Most of plans are stay in Heathrow Airport which is the highest of main international airport. The British Airways has a long history and airlines cover 133 countries; include 373 airplanes. The BA Company includes 50,086 workers to be in the service, which is one of the largest employers and employees in the United Kingdom.
In 2006, British Airways CitiExpress was renamed as BA Connect and the same year, they sold 14.6% stake in an Indian based business services Provider VVNS Holdings. British Airways also sold its Travel Clinic business to MASTA (Medical Advisory Services for Travellers Abroad).Meanwhile British Airways came to an agreement with Maley Hungarian Airlines for code sharing on each other's flights. They also started a flight from London to Calgary, Canada. At the same time they acquired American Airline's Stake in Iberia Airlines.
Profitability in business and many other enterprises has a big leaning on the management of the entire firm. In one way or another decision made come back to haunt the management either in a good way or a bad one. When it comes to satisfying customer needs, one has to offer a keen ear to them such that all their feedback is put into account (Mary, 2014). We talk of an awesome customer care management and customer relationship management as crucial in ensuring that the firm goes an extra mile into
Along with the passenger flights British Airways engaged in the operation of domestic and international carriage of mail and shipment. Regardless of the global economic downturn, British Airways’ future seems promising. According to latest yearly report (British Airways, 2008) which stated that British Airways’ objective is to become world’s most dependable airline.
Another major point is internal. The internal of British Airways is divided by two parts, called resources and core competences. The company runs 245 aircrafts covering over 550 destinations. In addition the Heathrow Terminal 5 is a huge
There are 7 board of directors in the airline. Etihad Airways is governed by a board of directors.As of 2016,the chairman of the board is known as Mohammad Mubarak Bin Fadil Al Mazroui (Etihad,n.d). The Board consists of seven independent non-executive members.It also has two sub-committees, which is known as Audit Committee and the Executive committee.These two committes have each their own charter and chairman.Currentky,there are no women who are appointed as the board members. The board members are as follows: H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak ,H.E. Hamad Abdulla Al Shamsi,H.E. Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, H.E. Mohamed Hareb Sultan Al Yousef ,H.E. Ahmed Ali Matar Al Romaithi and H.E. Khalifa Sultan Al Suwaidi (Etihad,n.d.) As the airline is wholly
Several key factors that impact the airline industry are related to the national and global economy. Fuel prices, customer demand for air travel, cost of goods related to air travel, etc. are all dependent on the current economy. When fuel prices were abnormally high two years ago it affected the industry’s profitability and each air carrier responded differently. Some carriers
In order to outlast the harsh economic atmosphere, in September of 1981 John King, chairman of BA, and Roy Watts, chief executive at BA, developed a unique strategy which they believed would save the company. Both top executives were mightily concerned and knew that they needed to implement a serious action plan that would change the direction of the organization. Therefore, the survival plan produced involved “tough, unpalatable and immediate measures” that would ultimately save the organization from peril. The survival plan included sweeping actions such as reducing staff by 20% in nine months, freezing pay increases for a year, and closing parts of the business. Further, a year later, King and Watts made more moves