Case Analysis Of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

The United States carries over one third of the globe’s total traffic, where Over 1.5 billion passengers fly annually. Over the past 20 years, air travel has grown at an average of about 5% per year, the reason for annual change is usually differences in economic growth, and of course other environmental factors, such as the current war. As a rule, the annual growth in air travel has been about twice the annual growth in GDP. Deregulation, liberalization, and competition have essentially altered the management strategies and practices of airlines. Productivity improvements and cost management have been two of the greatest concerns for US airlines for the past twenty years. As a whole, the airline industry must continue to improve their specialization in terms of fleet utilization, pricing and revenue management, and schedule optimization.

The airline industry has long attempted to segment the air travel market in order to effectively target its constituents. The classic airline model consists of First Class, Business Class and Economy, and the demographics that make up the classes have both similarities and differences to the other classes. For instance there may be similarities between business class travellers on a particular flight, but they will not all be travelling for the same reason. An almost-universal characteristic of air travel is that customers do not fly for the sake of flying; the destination is the important element and the travel is a by-product, a means-to-an-end that involves the necessity of an aircraft that gets the customer from point A to point B.

The customer segment of Jet Airways includes business and tourist travellers. The business travellers look for on time schedules and loyalty depends upon

A target market denotes a section of customers that a business aims at selling its products and services to. Markets can be segmented on basis of geogrphical area, the demographic factors, the psychographic factors, and the behavioral factors of the target population. Demographic market segmentation is determined on factors such as age, sex, occupation, religion, the level of education, and generation it determines the perceived benefits of the product. Based on the demographic features, Harkins Theatres majorly targets parents and children.

For example, If you are selling a product that is a normal good with a high rate of competition in the market, raising the price could have negative effects on overall profits because users will simply find another substitute somewhere. Charles stated that market separation may come into play when firms realize there are differing elasticity curves for different consumers of the same product. Firms can maximize profits by evaluating consumer segments within a single market. If the firm notices different demand elasticity for different segments it may opt to engage in price discrimination to maximize profits. Charles gave Microsoft Office as an example; the same software is offered to students, casual users and business users at different price

1. Is the air taxi industry poised for take-off? What customer segments are most likely to lead to success?

A marketing strategy provides a big picture of what a firm can do in a specific market. When creating a marketing strategy, a firm must identify a target market and a related marketing mix. A target market is "a group of similar customers to whom a firm wishes to appeal," and a marketing mix is "the controllable variables the company puts together to satisfy this target group." (Perrault and McCarthy 36) Focusing on specific target customers can help a firm develop a marketing mix that satisfies those customers ' specific needs better than another firm, making a firm less likely to face direct competitors.

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.

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

Airlines Industry is large and growing, it is also the most fiercely competitive sector. It facilitates international trade, world economy growth, tourism and international investment. The airline industry has over time with the use of modern technology been able to take advantage of the short haul, high frequency and gained a competitive advantage over other forms of travel, such as buses and railroad travel. Additionally, the airline industry still holds the market for global travel at a low cost and convenient way to travel. The aviation industry gives a good contribution to the GDP which includes the following: airline services, general aviation, civil airport operations, aircraft manufacturing, and

3,4- The Airline industry and the market The airline industry is large, specially in the United States, mainly due to the “ Deregulation” of the industry. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board was created to control the growth of the air transportation industry. This board had the authority to control entry, exit, prices and methods of competition. In the late 1970 this structure was found inefficient and in 1978 deregulation took place. Due to the deregulation of the industry competition intensified, prices dropped, and the number of people travelling increased. Many new companies emerged and regional airlines saw deregulation as an opportunity to expand. Due to the rise in competition, by 1986 mergers started to take place and in 1987 64.8% of the market was controlled by the four largest airlines. The demand for air travel is determined mainly by price, studies revealed that half of the leisure travellers and on quarter of business travellers did not have a preference for a particular airline, which means that prices determined the

Since the airline industry is a direct product of market conditions, it is greatly affected by all externalities. Many people noticed a decline in travel after the September 11th tragedy occurred due to safety concerns. When there is a huge increase in fares that definitely interferes with the demand for travel; it causes the price of tickets to continue to rise since a clear correlation between supply and demand exists. When the economy is doing well in terms of the employment rate, and when the dollar is strong people have the tendency to travel more (Jerram,1998).

In the past decade, air travel has become more and more popular and has a growing increase of 7% per year (The Airline Industry). Travel for both business and leisure purposes grew strongly worldwide. Scheduled airlines carried 1.5 billion passengers last year (The Airline Industry). In the recreational

these segments thus giving marketers an added leverage so as to market their product more

The industry analysis can be performed by evaluating the ability of all firms to operate profitably within the airline industry. Porter’s five forces of competition model is a perfect tool to perform such analysis. The threat of new entrants is moderately high since President Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, removing U.S Federal Government control over fares, routes and market entry. Therefore, the industry has become less regulated and allowed many new firms to enter the market. Thus, the airline industry requires a lot of capital investments which can disinterest some investors. The bargaining power of buyers rests in the hands of the customers by reducing the price or by asking greater levels of service. It is highly powerful because customers can easily switch to another airline or even another transportation method. They also have the option to deal with a travel agencies that will recommend the best airline according to their needs. The bargaining power of suppliers is high because it is dominated by few large companies. Airbus and Boeing are two manufacturers that have both created a duopoly for the past 15 years in the supply of aircraft (business insider, 2017). The threat of substitute is very high, especially in short haul. There are many alternatives to air travel such as driving, taking the train or the bus. The intensity of rivalry among competitors is also high because there are numerous competitors selling a