Strengths And Weaknesses Of Sabre

Singapore Airlines have a dual strategy that balances purposes that are traditionally viewed as incompatible opposites. The Harvard Business Review describes this as being “a premium service provider and a cost leader”, (Heracleous & Wirtz, 2010). Combining product differentiation through uncompromising customer focus which “includes everything that would enhance the travel experience for the customer” (Phong, 2014) and cost leadership “product leadership does not mean ever-more complex offerings or throwing money at a problem”. In general, Singapore Airlines strategy is about organic growth and enhancement of partnerships with other airlines. However, Singapore is investing its healthy profits in other airlines, such as SilkAir and Virgin Australia both to establish presence in those markets, and to build partners for codeshare arrangements. Singapore Airways maintains low operational costs through outsourcing of support functions, such

6.2.2 Increase competition. The complexity of the US airline industry and loss of market share to low cost carriers and other competitors. The airline industry is becoming highly competitive with new and emerging airlines penetrating the market as low cost carriers. The low-cost carrier competitors are steadily increasing in the airline industry and are probing the market with low fares to capture valued customers from major airlines like American, Delta and Southwest Airlines, reducing their overall market share and planned revenue in the industry. According to American Airlines President Robert Isom "American Airlines now has something to offer every customer, from those who want simple, low-price travel to those who want an ultra-premium experience via First Class"; to alleviate such issues the airlines can implement new measures and prices to equalize or eliminate the competition, thereby reducing financial risks.

Degree of vertical integration: mixed; some have low cost reservation systems, alliances with regional and international airlines as well as hotels. Hedged fuel costs. Sabre Holdings and Galileo International connect airlines with travel agents. No

The “ Battle Of The Air” has been used to describe current situation in the airline industry. The emergence of “ No Frills “ discount carriers such as Air Asia, Mahlindo, Firefly have threatened the survival of the traditional giants such as MAS, SIA, Thai Airways in the APAC regions and even the Big Boys across the continents such as United, Delta, Continental, Luftansa, Emirates and US Airway ( Myron J.Smith, 2012 ) face competition

Since the deregulation of the airline industry in 1987, the freedom to enter and exit any market, to charge any price and to offer any services has immeasurably altered the way airlines operate. (http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp329-e.htm) In addition, Innovation in technology has also helped the airline industry to be successful. Guests can now book their tickets online, check their flight status, check-in online and receive various kinds of help through the online portal. WestJet chose to be partner with SabreSonic CSS in the year 2009. SabreSonic was founded in 1960 and is world's leading provider of integrated solutions and services for airlines and airports. Sabre Airline Solutions has helped companies generate more revenue by optimizing performance in 14 key areas of airline operations. More than 300 leading carriers

Five major passenger airlines dominate their industry by size (Grant, 2013, p. 479). But their size, legacy costs and hub and spoke business model created significant exit barriers (Grahm & Vowles, 2006, p. 108). New competitors not only started with no entry barriers but also few if any exit barriers. Legacy carriers had to identify new innovative strategies to augment their core business models to profitably compete.

For instances, there is a sever growth of Middle Eastern airlines which includes Etihad and Emirates. This is considerably the biggest threats according to Bloomberg Business week, as they adopt the similar business models and positioning strategies as Singapore Airlines. This shows that Singapore Airlines have to continuously seek for opportunities to stay one step ahead of its competitors and finding a unique competitive advantage. Another threats is that European carriers has also been utilizing the similar cabin products as of SIA’s, where it used to be one of SIA’s competitive

| Competition from low cost airlinesGovernment regulationsPrice volatility in petroleum marketIncreasing security and safety concerns

The company can create strategic alliances and promote growth in the airline industry by leveraging code share agreement with other airlines. Codeshare arrangement between airlines has been a developing strategy on the rise within the airline industry, where one flight operated by an airline is jointly marketed as a flight for two or more airlines. This approach has been a key feature in promoting major alliances between airlines. It offers the airlines the opportunity to broaden its services in unfamiliar, new markets and destinations as well as assist in reduce operational cost, since the airline would sacrifice its capacity to the operating code sharing partner who bares the operational cost. Code sharing creates opportunity for airlines to establish connections beyond their own network and boost sales across the industry.

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).

The domestic airline industry transports 711 million souls a year. That translates into a staggering $709 billion a year revenue flow (statista.com). One firm, named Southwest Airlines, accounts for 18.3 percent of that market. That 18.3 percent market share places Southwest at the number two spot, behind American Airlines. How does Southwest Airlines successfully compete and thrive in this environment? How do they differentiate themselves from the hoards of legacy carriers? Southwest Airlines encapsulates its strategy in a simple statement: “Meet customers’ short-haul travel needs at fares competitive with the cost of automobile travel (Grant, p.23). As a pioneer in low cost air travel, Southwest has successfully brought down airfares through its short route point-to-point business model, “no-frills” service, single flight strategy, and highly productive employees (Cederholm, 2014). In the following analysis we will investigate Southwest Airlines standing within the industry as a whole and their differentiation models driving success. We will also identify the firm’s competitive advantages as they relate to similar firms in the industry.

U.S. airline industry rivalry is extremely fierce, driven by changes that have increased buyer power and the threat of new entrants. While the threat of substitutes is low and the power of suppliers has remained largely unchanged, these forces have been offset to changes in buyer power

The domestic flights market can be considered as an oligopoly. The 3 main companies that have the most market share are Virgin Australia, Jetstar and Tiger Airways Australia.

The threat of new entrants in the airline industry is very low for Virgin Atlantic, this is because the barrier for both high entry and exit barrier is very high. These barriers can stop new airlines not to enter into the industry. The entry and exit can be difficult for Virgin because there are a number of regulatory factors. For new airlines to enter, there must be large capital investment human resources that are skilled

In the airline markets, SIA has strong competition from not only Asia areas, airlines but also many international brand airlines such as United Airlines and American airlines (best airlines in American for 2012). Although SIA has a great brand reputation with global markets, but it also continually develops the new equipment in the busy airline industry to provide the new attractive point for increasing the customer satisfaction.