Ryanair Analyses

The sector employs more than 3 million people. Prior to the 1990’s, the air transport industry in Europe had been traditionally highly regulated and dominated by national carriers and state owned airports. Since then a single market for aviation has been created. The single market has seen the removal of all commercial restrictions for airlines flying within Europe. These include restrictions on routes, number of flights and the setting of prices.

The opening of new markets within the EU exposed many national carriers to strong competition. This trend has been furthered by the continuous liberalization of the global aviation industry and specifically the recent OpenSkies agreement between EU and the US which allows the national carriers to arrange the Atlantic flights from the airports that are not airlines’ ports of origin. (BATA, 2010).

Significant developments have occurred in the field of air transport. A large number of countries made remarkable progress in liberalizing international air transport regulations, and became involved in full market-access arrangements. At the same time, the airline industry underwent a major shift and saw the forging alliances and mergers between companies in order to consolidate their presence in a market environment characterized by strong competition. (Icao.int, 2013)

Europe’s system of regulation soon came under pressure. A late-1950s attempt to unify the flag carriers of France, West Germany, Belgium, and Italy collapsed under the weight of disparate national interests. By 1960, the Economist magazine bemoaned the state of the heavily regulated, fragmented airline industry. “The basic trouble,” it concluded, “remains that the world has too many airlines, most of them inefficient, undercapitalised and unprofitable.”4

The Airline industry is a large and constantly growing industry. It facilitates economic growth, international investment and world trade and is therefore central to other industries as well for globalisation. There are various forces which lead to globalisation in airline industry. Key drivers of change are forces likely to affect the structure of an industry; sector or market. (1).

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

The airline business is an industry that is competitive and unique, focussing on consumer choice and the responsiveness of airlines to changes in the external business environment. For any airline, this environment can be very complex as it is ‘hard for them to fully understand and impossible for them to fully control’ (The Times, n.d. p1). Virgin Atlantic is an international airline that is based in the UK. It was started by the entrepreneur Richard Branson in 1982 and now flies to 30 destinations around the world (Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, 2011). By looking at

The airline industry has seen a fair amount of turmoil over its relatively brief existence, perhaps as the result of its youth or perhaps, as others have contended, due to mismanagement and failures of regulation to maintain stability in the industry. Regardless of the reason, however, it is a fact that many major airlines have demonstrated a consistent problem in generating profits and keeping their business aloft, as it were. The recent bankruptcy of American Airlines, one of the nation's oldest and largest carriers, is just the most recent event in a long trajectory of failures and instabilities that have plagued the industry almost since its inception, and in extreme way since deregulation in the late 1970s.

The airline industry operates in a highly regulated political environment where passengers are favored over the airlines. This is due to the fact that passenger safety is paramount and the political establishment have been made weary of the airlines and resorted towards strict regulations for their operations, due to their earlier inclinations towards monopolistic behavior. Furthermore, with there being more competition in the industry and regulations in demand, passengers are in a position where they can push for lower prices and

A drop in fares has been the best result of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. It has been the impetus for the increase in the number of flights, which in turn has spurred a drive for greater safety in airlines. But with the current airline market, this development has given us one negative. Since ticket prices have dropped to new lows, the realities of an industry which operates on such economies of scale dictates that only a few competitors have the capacity to operate within the market. This is not the desired effect of either political side on this issue, but it is an economic necessity with the environment that has been created, very similar to that of public utilities and phone companies.

The sweeping changes which have occurred within the airline industry have meant that airlines, more than ever before, are trying to control their costs in order to improve their financial position in an ever increasing competitive and deregulated environment. At the same time, carriers have been facing unprecedented increases in the price of fuel over which they have had very little control. All this is having an impact on the aeronautical policies of

Research paradigms are ‘the entire constellation of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by members of a given community’ (Kuhn, 1970, p.175). The three most common paradigms are positivism, constructivism or interpretivism and pragmatism. Each of these can be categorised further by examining their: ontology, epistemology and methodology. Fundamentally, ontology is the nature of reality, epistemology describes the relationship the investigator has with their version of reality, and methodology is the various techniques and tools used to analysis their research.

Section four, will be an overview of post-deregulation strategies and its success. Section five, will address the present day oligopolistic domestic airline market and explain how it is hurting social welfare. Section six, will present methods such as “mergers” or “alliances” which are being utilized to prevent competition. Section seven, will outline the major historic event of 9/11 and the impact it had on the airline industries, as it strongly called for government involvement. Lastly, I will conclude with few remarks.

Aviation Industry plays an important role in the economic growth of anation. It not only promotes international trade but also provides an effective and fastest means of transportation across the globe. Today, in the world of globalization and cut throat competition the value of time has become more precious.

Operations in international and/or foreign countries will create significant operational challenges. Differences in governing laws and regulations for the airlines industry, business, and employee relations will become challenging. Interpretation and intent for various laws can and will provide ambiguity that must be dealt with. Research shows that various international airlines continue to be plagued by high costs and poor service (Ramamurti & Sarathy, 2007).