Strategic Analysis of Airasia

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.

However, some of the clients argue that low cost airlines are able to deliver good quality services as ordinary airlines do. (Snyder, 2014) Besides, many low cost airlines are always willing to find ways to show to their customers that it offers low prices but not low quality. (Snyder, 2014) Customers are expecting better services at low fee and other low cost airlines are trying to enhance service quality without raising their price. As a result, there is a substantial challenge for Jetstar. If Jetstar is not able to improve its service quality to meet the customers’ want, it may result in customer dissatisfaction, which may affect its reputation and market share

Overall, the five forces model suggests that the overall intensity of competition in the airline industry is likely to be severe. Back in the early 1980 's competition was very intense. During the late 1980 's the monopolization of major routes by a few major carriers, the limited availability of free landing spots at major hubs and the emergence of limited brand loyalty and tacit price agreements have all helped reduce the intensity of competition. However, as already mentioned, slumping demand in the early 1990 's plunged the industry once more into a severe price war. Airline travel is a commodity-type product, with limited potential for differentiation.

Air Asia is the founder of low cost airlines in the Asia region since the advent of deregulation by Malaysian Government in late 90’s which in itself is a very important economic factor, without deregulation a low cost Airline cannot enter the market. For the reason that of Air Asia’s lower price, the factors affected are the

AirAsia is a strong company with several unique strengths that offer itself could not be defeated by others competitor companies.

AirAsia is a strong company with several unique strengths that offer itself could not be defeated by others competitor companies.

In 2001, AirAsia was founded by Tony Fernandes. After six years, Fernandes realized the company should create a airline separated from AirAsia to focus on the low cost long-haul market which he called AirAsia X. Azran Osman-Rani was appointed to the become the CEO of the newly established company. The company had an initial success by being the first mover. However, there were some problems that they had to face along the way as they were in a completely new market using an untried business model. One of the main challenges for the company is the protectionist measures taken by the Malaysian government to protect the national airline, Malaysia Airlines (MAS). The other major problem is the limitations on the general

• Provide background on the global industry • Present a regional analysis • Discuss current and future evolvement of the industry (trends) • Discuss challenges and strategies impacting the industry • Discuss the new breed of airlines • Discuss why airlines fail and how to achieve success

1. There are a few trends in the US airline industry. One is consolidation, wherein existing players merge in an attempt to lower their costs and generate operating synergies. The most recent major merger was the United Continental merger, which is still an ongoing affair, but has created the largest airline in the United States by market share (Martin, 2012). Another trend is towards low-cost carriers. In the US, Southwest has been a long-running success and JetBlue a strong new competitor, but in other countries this business model has proven exceptionally successful. The third major trend is the upward trend in jet fuel prices, and the increasing importance that this puts on hedging fuel prices and capacity management (Hinton, 2011).

Today’s aviation industry is considered to be more robust then ever before. On most days, upwards of 100,000 flights across the world depart, delivering goods and servicing for travel. Passengers worldwide are finding air travel to be fast, reliable, safe and relatively inexpensive. While flight in itself remains the same, aircraft manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to improve such factors. Unfortunately, in today’s worldwide climate, there are several items which have a direct impact on ticket pricing. These items include taxes and fees, fuel cost, and ticket sell‘s. Furthermore with the increased sophistication of aircrafts today, cost to purchase, maintain, and operate such aircraft are significantly more than years past. However,

The airline industry has always been a fiercely competitive sector. Since the invention of low-cost carriers, also known as no-frills or

There have been few inventions to change how people live and experience the world considerably as the creation of the airplane. Today, traveling by air has become the norm and it would be difficult to imagine life without it. Air travel has improved the way people are able to conduct business by shortening travel time and changing their thought of distance. The companies within the airline industry exist in a very competitive market. One of those companies, Southwest Airlines, features low-fare, no-frills air service with frequent flights of mostly short routes. Costs are kept down by the exclusive use of Boeing 737 aircraft, which allows for low maintenance costs and quicker turnaround times for flights, and by an emphasis on ticketless travel (Encyclopedia Britannica). This paper will address two segments of the general environment and how they affect Southwest and the airline industry; evaluate how Southwest has addressed two forces of competition; predict what Southwest might do to improve its ability to addresses these forces; assess the external threats affecting Southwest; discuss Southwest’s greatest strengths and most significant weaknesses; determine Southwest’s resources, capabilities, and core competencies; and analyze their value chain.

The Airline Industry is in an interesting situation. Simply adding a low cost alternative is not enough in the industry. The Internet has made the power of buyers grow with the transparency of ticket prices. This is not something that will change any time soon. Because of this profitability is predominately reserved for low-cost yet distinctive carriers. No consumer wants to ride what they consider a “lesser” airline. Airlines need a way to distinguish themselves from one another while also acknowledging the increased power of buyers.

Based on Porter 5 Forces(1980) diagram to build four prominent business strategy, cost leadership, differentiation which can be combined to build the competitive strategy.

The focused low cost strategy purposed to create a price advantage for the company. Usually, a company that use this kind of strategy more focus on a specific market niche, offering products to a narrow market segment instead of a broad one. The company then aims to be the cheapest supplier in the particular niche but not necessarily in the overall market.