Airtran Essays (Examples)

AirTran Continue Successful to Be Successful in This Highly Competitive Industry?
The objective of this study is to answer the question of whether AirTran will continue to be successful in this highly competitive industry.

According to Rouse (n.d.) in her work on AirTran Holdings, Inc., the ability of AirTran Airways to grow in the worst environment for the airlines in a long time and stated to be an unexpected turnaround. The stated strategy of AirTran is the development of a brand identity that is innovative in nature and that distinguishes it from other low-fare and full-service airlines. Two segments are reported to be targeted by AirTran: (1) price-sensitive travelers; and (2) leisure travelers, in the eastern U.S. (Rouse, 2005) AirTran also has a business class product reported to be equal to the first class service of its competitors.

Primary Services and Elements

Products of AirTran include: (1) a frequent flier…

Taken together, all these economic factors are making the turn-around of the losses AirTran is experiencing extremely difficult. The reductions in employees will not fix the more systemic and more strategic issues the company faces; it will however buy them time to get their fundamental business reorganized and downsized to a point where they can operate profitably given the severe constraints on their business today. It is a very tough time to run an airline today as is shown in the article.
The greatest challenge internally is to keep the existing employees motivated and focused on working productively while 480 job cuts were announced for September of this year. Everyone is literally wondering if they will be let go, and in this type of environment, not much work is going to get down. The article states that "the announcement comes less than a week after AirTran said it would seek…

Overall, AirTran Airways has successfully achieved high profits, which are consistently growing on an annual basis. This growth is due in great part to the effective marketing and promotional activities developed and executed by the company. Whether it be promotional campaigns aimed at specific target markets, such as youth or business travelers, or through sales campaigns aimed at attracting customer of all types through the promotion of low fares, AirTran has been able to effectively balance the "four P's" of the marketing mix, in order to attract customers while still earning profits and keeping costs low. The growth and development of the marketing and promotional strategies utilized by AirTran Airways could serve as a positive model for other airlines, as well as other business within the hospitality and customer service industries.

eferences

No Author Given (2007). The Marketing Mix: The 4 P's of Marketing. NetMBA, retrieved 6/17/2007 at http://www.netmba.com/marketing/mix/.

Barrett,…

Another is high labor productivity, yet another is high asset utilization. The net result is that AirTran has one of the lowest levels of cost per ASM in the industry.
In terms of weaknesses, one major weakness is that AirTran has no discernable source of sustainable competitive advantage. Its success to date has been based on its ability to combine many small sources of advantage into a single airline. Yet, none of these sources can be considered sustainable in the long run. The industry is highly competitive. Competition comes from all manner of airlines both domestic and international. Any or all of these competitors and potential competitors, including new entrants, could replicate AirTran's success factors.

AirTran also has a high level of debt, the bulk of which derives from debt and lease obligations on their fleet. They presently hold over $800 million in debt on their balance sheet. The debt-to-equity…

Another issue is the legal/political power that Southwest has (or does not have, in relation to its rivals). Ultimately, the company has suffered as the result of the right Amendment, and it needs to leverage its current size to fight back against American Airlines over this legislation. Not only should Southwest fight for the amendment to be repealed in its entirety and immediately, but it should fight for punitive action against American Airlines and DF airport. A civil suit against these parties for the financial harm caused to Southwest could prevent them from undertaking such illegal and unethical actions in the future and could help Southwest to put AA out of its misery. Lastly, Southwest has had problems with its maintenance. The company spends a lot less than any of its rivals on maintenance, and while its accident in Chicago was ruled the result of pilot error, concerns over the…

Business Studies
Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has been a highly successful airline, it has been one of the most successful airlines in U.S. history with the low cost carrier model created by Southwest emulated successfully by many other airlines across the world. Today it is the largest domestic carrier in the U.S. And has a history of consistent profits, with on a few quarters in the recent recession showing losses (Southwest Airlines, 2013). There are numerous reasons behind the success, the main reason are the leadership and the way that the firms ability to gain and maintain effective competitive advantages. These will provide a good basis from which to consider the future of the firm.

Effectiveness of Leadership

Southwest Airlines was founded by ollin King and Herb Kelleher, having seen successful interstate airline operating out of California it was believed that Texas could also support an interstate airline (Barratt, 2008).…

While luggage fees produced nearly $1.7 billion for the industry, Southwest drew the line. It made its Bags Fly Free strategy the focus of its promotion and advertising campaign (Mouawad, 2010).
Southwest's principal challenge going forward is going to be merging with AirTran and continuing to realize growth. The attainment of AirTran Airways by Southwest Airlines will join together two huge corporations and generate one even grander low cost transporter. The joint carrier will profit from superior markets of degree and the incorporation of processes will be supported by large fleet unity. The consequence is a carrier that is more ready to meet the confrontations of a more and more competitive carrier surroundings and take benefit of tactical occasions better than ever before. This arrangement will benefit all shareholders by way of a growth of low prices for patrons, chances for workers of both corporations and for providers and sellers,…

Southwest is a strong performer in the U.S. airline industry. There are a number of reasons for this success, based on the strengths that the company has cultivated over the years. Southwest's strengths include its organizational culture, which is a source of sustainable competitive advantage and supports virtually every other strength that the company has. The other strengths are its management team and leadership; its financial situation and its operational excellence. These strengths are counterbalanced by weaknesses such as poor political relations, maintenance and safety issues and ongoing issues with the integration of AirTran into the company. Overall, however, Southwest's strengths are both intense and permanent, while the weaknesses are not particularly intense in nature, and are for the most part transient.
Introduction

Southwest Airlines is one of the market leaders in the U.S. airline industry, and one of its best performers financially. The company trails Delta and United Continental…

Lehigh Southwest
Why Southwest Should Come to Lehigh

Lehigh Valley International Airport is located in the heart of Pennsylvania's third largest metropolitan area, after Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and is far and away the most convenient regular scheduled-service airport for millions of Pennsylvanians (DOT, 2012). In addition, the airport is located in the proximity of many attractions as well as business destinations, making it an important hub for travel even for those that are not residents of the areas (DOT, 2012). Service increases to the airport through the entrance of new airlines and/or the expansion of existing airlines that include the Lehigh Valley International Airport in their routes would further increase the convenience and the usefulness of this airport for travelers, and this increase in airport traffic would be good for a number of businesses located in and within the vicinity of the airport (DOT, 2012; Zanki, 2010).

Southwest Airlines has…

Southwest Airlines Analysis Case Study
Vision and Mission Statement Development

Southwest Airlines stands out amongst its competitors in the travel industry for many reasons. One of those reasons is the company's ability to change with the times and adopt current strategies that reflect the market trends of today which can affect the profitability of the future for the company.

The recent expiration of the Wright Amendment suggests that Southwest Airlines adopts a more relevant approach to their business model that reflects this current policy change which will allow the company to expand its services to many new markets and essentially deregulating many of the past agreements relevant to the airline industry. DeVoss (2014) agreed with this idea and saw an opportunity for Southwest to grow by maximizing the deregulation efforts. He wrote "The main beneficiary of the Wright Amendment's demise is Southwest Airlines. It has spent the past decade fighting…

Business
An Examination of Southwest Airlines

Globalization and Technology

Improving eturns

Application of the I/O Model

Application of the BV Model

Mission and Vision Statement

Stakeholder Influences

Southwest Airlines has been one of the aviation industry's success stories; founded in 1967 the airline pioneered the low cost carrier model, and grew organically leveraging a first mover advantage (Morrison, 2001). The airline now operates approximately 3,600 flights every day, employees 45,009 staff and with the acquisition of AirTran in 2011 it became the largest domestic U.S. carrier (Southwest Airlines, 2014). The airline has grown, but in recent years the airline industry has seen significant constraints on growth due to the maturity of the industry in the U.S. along with the economic influences constraining growth (IATA, 2014). However, this does not mean there is not room for growth; to assess ways in which the firm may improve and understand the position of…

Low Cost
Differentiation

Preemptive

trengths

ervice (Porter's value chain):

Best low-fare carrier

(a) High capacity usage (few unfilled seats), and is, therefore, one of the most profitable airlines, while many other airlines are unprofitable. (b) It can maintain focus on cutting frills.

Best low-fare carrier by standardization of fleet

(a) Few unfilled seats. WA has only one basic type of aircraft. This reduces training times (b) it can continue this direction.

Price and great staff relationship

(a) Employees work very well as a team (b) Employees are encouraged to have and show their sense of humor. This should continue though within bounds

Flexible as well as unionized.

tep 4: (a) Maintains very good relationships with its unions (b) may need to set conditions with its flexibility

Weaknesses

Operations (Porter's value chain):

Mainly operates its own booking service

tep 4: (a) Booking flights is not available except directly through outhwest Airlines…

External Analysis of Southwest Airlines
External Analysis Southwest Airlines

Will Southwest Airline's strategic plan continue to bring success in the new airline industry landscape? This paper sought to answer this question by examining the external increasingly consolidated environment in which Southwest competes. The review was conducted through application of Porter's Five Forces, a PEAT analysis, and a SWOT analysis.

The report concludes that Southwest has gained ground and maintained stability, changing only as much as it needed in order to remain the friendly domestic budget airline it started out as, and to compete effectively but with fidelity to its vision and values.

This paper will present a brief analysis of the competitive landscape for Southwest Airlines based in order to assess the airline's future capabilities in an environment in which other airlines are increasingly co-opting Southwest's successful and innovative strategies. This deductive exploration of the landscape will continue at the…

This savings on fuel has also given Southwest more funds to invest in programs to reduce turn-around time of their jets between flights .
Southwest Airline's Internal Weaknesses

As with any company the size of Southwest, they have several weaknesses, with the most significant being their heavy dependence only on passenger traffic as their primary source of revenue. Despite efforts to move into logistics and supply chain services, the company is still struggling to gain significant success in more profitable business services markets (Kumar, Johnson, Lai, 2009).

Despite having an employee base that has the lowest turnover and highest levels of morale, Southwest also has one of the most rapidly declining sales-per-employee revenue levels for U.S.-based airlines (Kumar, Johnson, Lai, 2009). One of the factors that contribute to this is the fact that Southwest has more ground crew members than other airlines, an investment the company makes to attain the…

Southwest Airlines
Strengths:

Southwest has the lowest prices per seat of any other airline. Moreover their pricing structure is simple and relatively transparent to passengers, with few classes of fares and few ticket reservations. They are able to do this due to providing frequent point-to-point service between secondary airports that are on average only 515 miles apart. They offer more direct, non-stop flights than the traditional hub and spoke system, and have quick turn around times (of 25 minutes compared to an hour or more for most major airlines). It ranks high on-time performance, baggage handling, and least customer complaints.

Weaknesses

They do not offer meals, only peanuts and drinks. They have no major frills. Huge competition.

Opportunities

Major airlines have pared down flight schedules, and deferred or cancelled new aircraft deliveries, whilst some have also retired approximately 5% of their older planes. This leaves greater opportunity for low-cost startups…

Port Everglades is a predominantly industrial area, with a container port and cruise ship port. Overall, however, noise levels at FLL for all airlines are below the federal standards.
The effort to manage noise pollution at FLL is ongoing. The airport authorities have submitted Noise Mitigation Principles to the FAA and are awaiting feedback on a preferred alternative for noise mitigation. The Broward County Board of County Commissioners also has a consultant to implement the noise mitigation program forthcoming.

Recommendations

The growth of FLL has mirrored growth in the region. The population of South Florida is expected to grow a further 25% by 2020. This will increase the strain on FLL. The lands adjacent to the airport are all developed, so there is little room for expansion. The 9R/27L runway, for example, cannot be expanded to accommodate jet traffic because of the course of I-95. Therefore, flights on the 9L/27R…

In addition, there are also numerous vehicles that are required for running the airport facilities such as baggage transportation, fuels transportation and maintenance and upkeep of the runways and surrounding lands require trucks and utility vehicles. The airport has switched, wherever possible, to natural gas or electricity run vehicles.
Economic Impact

There are, currently, 32 passenger airlines and 19 cargo airlines that use the Hartsfield-Jackson airport. The 2006 statistics as posted by the airport authorities on the official website offer the following details.

Passengers Cargo in Metro Tons

Freight/Express/Mail Aircraft Operations

Landings and Takeoffs

Domestic

International

Transit

The airport is the largest employer in the State of Georgia, with a payroll of $2.4 billion. Approximately 56,000 individuals are employed by the airport either directly or through contracts agencies. It is estimated that the direct and indirect impact of the airport is $5.6 billion. In turn, "the annual, regional economic impact…

Instead, the EDC focused its efforts on attracting new businesses to the area and helping the businesses that were already operating in the area to at least sustain their present production.
The success of the Bloomington economy in the face of a struggling national economic situation must be partially, at least, attributed to the fact that the area enjoyed a population increase. hether the population increase was the result of good economic conditions or that the population increase caused the good economic conditions is an interesting question but it is likely that there was a correlation.

For a community the size of Bloomington the success and aggressiveness of its privately funded Economic Development Council is a wonderful blessing. The Council has worked tirelessly to promote the area and these efforts must be at least partially credited with allowing the area to prosper in difficult times.

The City of Bloomington still…

Classic Airlines has the reputation of being the world's fifth largest airline, which commands a fleet of more than 375 jets that serve 240 cities with over 2,300 daily flights. Classic, around for more than 25 years, employs more than 23,000 employees and the year before this report earned $10 million on $8.7 billion in sales.
Classic also has a glorious reputation for its integrity with Labor Unions due to the fact that it accords fair wages to employees and pilots -- ranging on the high-end of the spectrum -- and catering to comfort of employees.

Unfortunately, whilst employees are content, consumers are not. The disaster of the recession coupled with terrorist scares has caused reduction in consumers flying the airlines with increasingly more of their former passengers selecting other flights.

Their top competitors are airlines such as United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and British Airways who, although facing general threats…

Negotiation
for Delta Airlines

The situation in the airline industry was already in trouble long before September 11, 2001. Major airlines like Delta was pursuing bankruptcy as an option to fight off organizational collapse caused by reduced traffic, skyrocketing expenses and potential pilot strikes for both the wholly owned subsidiary Comair and Delta's own pilots. Since deregulation, one of the only alternatives for the major airlines was bankruptcy. The terrorist hijackings on 9/11/2001, was simply added salt in Delta's wounds. This research paper is about a real-life negotiation for Delta Airlines and Comair. The report will do the following:

Identify the parties involved in the negotiation

Identify the central and secondary issues of the negotiation

Identify the interests of each party and why they care

Identify the opening positions of the parties and how they presented themselves

Identify the final position of the parties and how they evolved.

Identify key…

start an analysis of Southwest Airlines and its success story is the company's mission statement. According to the company's website, the company's mission is "dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit"
If we take a brief look at this mission statement, we may find that, differently from many of today's companies, Southwest's mission is not profit maximization, but achieving customer satisfaction through the quality of the services provided. Additionally, the mission statement refers to the joint collaboration and mixture of Company Service and Company Spirit, in the sense that one cannot truly operate and exist without the other. A friendly and efficient working environment is, in Southwest's opinion, a key towards achieving the highest level of customer satisfaction.

The generic strategy for Southwest relies on several important pillars, some of them deriving from the mission statement. The…

Description of high/low marketing strategy

The marketing strategy of choice, however, is simply to accentuate low costs by cutting frills and eliminating hub-based systems in favor of short nonstop hops for even the largest national carriers. This is the model followed by such successful low-cost carriers as Jet lue and Southwest Airlines.

These airlines are able to go up against giants like United and American by slashing fares, marketing their no-frills image and flying short distances and choosing cheaper, slightly out of the way airports.

For instance, Jet lue flies not to Miami but to Ft. Lauderdale and even though Delta might fly to Miami, Jet lue will still get the fare because of its lower price and no-frills marketing strategy.

Airlines have to realize that this is a price-sensitive market and only spend marketing dollars on advertising low-cost fares and the fact that fliers are not being charged for…

Sirius and XM Satellite Radio
Satellite radio has emerged in the past few years as the hot new trend in broadcasting. Operating similar to DirecTV, satellite radio companies bounce their signals off satellites to beam high-quality digital service coast-to-coast, offering exclusive ad-free programming. Satellite radio offers listeners the opportunity to hear any show anywhere in the United States, combining the benefits of premium quality sound and convenience when traveling on the road. Research indicates that similar to the way FM radio grew against dominant AM radio, satellite radio is becoming known for "edgier" alternative programming (McCarthy, at http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-10-6-radio-compare_x.htm). The entire satellite radio industry is currently made up only two companies, XM Radio, which started broadcasting in 2001 and has 2.5 million customers, and Sirius, with 600,000 subscribers since going live in 2002. This paper will offer a comparative analysis of the two companies and a general overview of the satellite…

Macroeconomic Impact on Business Operations
Monetary and fiscal tools are used by the government to control economic conditions in the country. Monetary policy usually targets money supply in the market in order to control inflation. In some countries such as ussia and Brazil, governments may often force the mints to print extra currency to meet various expenses. This results in higher flow of money in the market which is unsubstantiated by gold reserves of that country. That leads to inflation and causes several problems due to macroeconomic instability.

However when inflation is kept in check, prices stay within consumer's reach, money market remains stable and other areas such as employment, interest rates etc. However while monetary policy is more dependent on market forces and consumer behavior, fiscal policies include governmental spending, taxation and interest rates. We must understand that fiscal measures are normally utilized in capitalist countries when economic conditions…

Sometime the debtor is able to successfully reduce its liability and returns to profitability but quite often it returns to seek the court's protection again and sometime the end result is liquidation.
Under Chapter 11 protections, the debtor gets an automatic protection from all creditors. The unsecured creditors cannot lay a claim on assets and secured creditors are also prevented from foreclosing on their collateral. A Chapter-11 company also gets the advantage of discarding or renegotiating union agreements, ability to freeze or cut wages and benefits and restructures its staffing requirement. Retirement and pension plans can also be reviewed or the company can transfer its pension obligations to the Federal Pension enefit Guaranty Corporation.

The reorganization is carried out by the bankruptcy and the court appointed trustee. The trustee appoints committee(s) to represent the creditor's interests and work out a plan for reorganization of the company. The reorganization plan must…

External Analysis Southwest Airlines
One of United States' most successful airlines in the business is Southwest airlines. The company has been one of the most successful businesses in the economy with no case of worker layoff or strike being recorded in the organization. The company has dedicated its commitment to ensuring it provides a favorable environment for its workers. The company's corporate culture has played a significant role in the success of the company as it recognizes the workers emotions. Positive attitude is influential in the workplace as the workers become more productive. The air transport business is in an industry where profit maximization is a challenge to many players. The struggling economy and the increased number of players in the company make the industry unfavorable for business. The industry is also affected by the increased price of fuel which increases the cost of transportation. The paper conducts environmental analysis…

Employee Stock Ownership on Employees in the Airlines Industry since September 11th.
Review current materials on the issue.

Airline industry ESOPs tend to be very volatile.

This paper will examine the effects of the September 11th tragedy on employees' employee stock ownership plans in the airlines industry. The following generic information is provided for background before examining the main issue for this paper.

In the United States, the main vehicle for employee ownership in a company is the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) which first became a recognized plan in 1974. There are between 17 and 20 million U.S. employees participating in large ESOPs or other contribution plans holding stock. Employees may own stock directly in their companies through stock purchase programs or be members of work cooperatives.

Studies find the employee ownership has a positive impact on performance even in adverse times. September 11th adversely affected the majority of…

Business
Aircraft Fleet Management

The fleet planning of an airline deals with the way airlines decide which type of aircraft to acquire and then utilize their aircraft on different routes. The main aim of fleet planning is usually to add value to the airlines operations by increasing efficiency. For example, operating a large wide bodied jet on a short route with only a few passengers would be highly inefficient, due to the higher overhead costs than a smaller, lighter jet. Likewise, if only smaller aircraft are available for the most popular route the airline may not be maximizing their potential to generate revenues and profit due to limited capacity (Clark, 2007). This demonstrates that fleet planning requires forward thinking and can be a strategic element of airlines ongoing operations.

Different strategies may be adopted by airlines. Southwest Airlines, known as the first low cost carrier, adopted a strategy which saw…

Business Studies
Southwest Airlines with Porters Five Forces Analysis

Southwest Airlines is a major competitor in the U.S. air industry. The founders; ollin King and Herb Kelleher, developed the idea of a low cost carrier and the airline airlines gained the first mover advantage when the inaugural flight took place in 1971. The airline has been very successful and following the acquisition of AirTran in 2011, the company is now the largest domestic carrier and the world's largest low cost carrier (Southwest Airlines, 2014). The firm has 45,000 employees and flies to 96 different destinations with its fleet of 680 Boeing aircraft (Southwest Airlines, 2014). Competing in the airline industry the company has a number of challenges which can be examined through Porters Five Forces Model.

Threat of New Entrants

The airline industry has a number of barriers to entry and exit which may constrain the potential for new competition.…

FedEx Express Airlines (Case Study)
In this case study, we will be looking at FedEx Express's hub airports. The airports will include Memphis International Airport (MEM) and Indianapolis International Airport. The focus will be mainly on capacity, traffic, and what is planned for the future of these airports.

FedEx Corporation is one of the largest companies in the courier industry. The company is renowned not just nationally in the United States, but internationally. FedEx Corporation belongs to the parcel service industry segment. The size of the industry segment is quite large in the sense that in the past fifteen years or so, consumers in America have spent beyond fifty billion dollars in shipping packages, parcels and also letters. Also referred to as Federal Express, the company is a big player in the segment and is positioned as one of the trailblazers in the industry segment (FedEx Corporation, 2014). The following…

And many have got successful too in earning the market share. The emerging competition by new companies is a growing threat for the company and it should be tackled properly to avoid any future disturbances.
In order to further describe the competition Southwest Airlines is facing a Competitive Profile Matrix is designed. The following Competitive Profile Matrix tells about the tough competitors which are in a good position to have an edge over Southwest Airlines. It tells about the strengths and weaknesses of other competitors in contrast with Southwest Airlines.

Factors Weight Southwest Airlines United Airlines Delta Airlines Ratings Score

Ratings

Score 1. Low fares.15 4.60 3.50 4.60 2. Customer Service.15 2.30 4.60 3.50 3. Employee Relations.15 4.60 3.50 3.50 4. Rate of Expansion.10 2.20. 4.50 4.50 5. Marketing.15 4.60 4.50 4.50 6. Finance Structure.15 4.40 4.40 4.40 7. Management Policies.15 4.60 4.60 2.20

EXTERNAL FACTOR EVALUATION MATRIX

The external…

Physician Assistant Program Narrative
Personal Statement: My Motivation towards Becoming a PA

We all have dreams and aspirations. As a young child, my dream was to become a chef. When asked why I wanted to become a chef, my answer was always consistent; "I wanted to delight people by preparing them delicious dishes." As I grew up, I became more informed and my view of the world became clearer -- and it was then that I realized that deep inside, I wanted to end up in a profession that impacted positively on the lives of others. A profession that brought delight to those I interacted with. Then, something happened that completely convinced me that I would most comfortably serve in any of the helping professions. A couple of months after my 10th birthday, my younger brother got bitten by a dog in his face -- right below his left eye.…