John F. O'Connell

The changing dynamics of the Arab Gulf based airlines and an investigation into the strategies that are making Emirates into a global challenger

Historically the Middle East was reputed for holding the reigns of oil power across the globe, more recently the regions conflicts have changed its international spotlight into being an unstable part of the world. However, the airlines of the Arab Gulf region are leading the world in aircraft orders and have also heavily invested in airport infrastructure. This paper examines the changing dynamics of the regions airlines and researches the core principles, why the Gulf based airlines are outperforming the worlds airlines. The strategies of Emirates core competencies are examined to access their impact of its continued growth and profitability.

Liberalization and Strategic Change in Air Transport: An Examination of Current and Future Variations in Tourist Traffic to and from Egypt Resulting from Policy Changes at EgyptAir

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of changes in EgyptAirs corporate strategy on its role and significance in relation to the Egyptian tourism sector. In-depth open interviews with top-level personnel were combined with a before–after time-series analysis of key market data in order to identify any early effects of EgyptAirs strategic changes on important international markets for inbound and outbound tourism. The studys major finding is that EgyptAir has taken some significant steps to target higher-yielding tourist passengers travelling from Egypt to Europe, Asia and North America and vice versa by fortifying its position at Cairo, improving its overall service offering and joining the worlds largest strategic airline alliance (Star Alliance). Some early gains have been noted in these markets for EgyptAir, while at the same time an avoidance strategy has been noted in relation to lower-yield package holiday-makers who, despite forming a growing share of total demand, are already served by a highly competitive mix of foreign charter and scheduled airlines. Tourist numbers were found to increase after the strategic changes at EgyptAir. This increase was either facilitated directly by EgyptAir or indirectly as other carriers took advantage of the additional opportunities to serve markets that were dominated or neglected by EgyptAir prior to its air policy induced change of strategic direction. The general push towards liberalization in the wider Middle East region also partly led to these strategic changes.

The strategic evolution of Aer Lingus from a full-service airline to a low-cost carrier and finally positioning itself into a value hybrid airline

Aer Lingus has been an unique airline as it transitioned from a full-service airline to a low-cost carrier and is currently positioned as a value hybrid airline. It has coexisted with Ryanair for decades and it encountered three imminent periods where bankruptcy prevailed from 1993 to 2009. The research aims to uncover the various strategies that were applied to structurally re-engineer the carrier in order to adapt to its evolving competitive landscape. The key pillars underpinning Aer Lingus’ turnaround as a value hybrid were as follows: strict adherence to capacity discipline; relentless cost control and value-adding, consumer-driven product differentiation; innovative partnerships including contract flying to alleviate its problematic seasonality issues inherent in Aer Lingus markets; and by re-engineering its Dublin-based hub airport. A visionary master plan for the hub was fabricated to capitalize on Ireland’s geographical positioning which targeted the traffic flows between UK/European and North American destinations through its synchronized connection network at Dublin.

Strategy and competitive rivalry in the original equipment manufacturer single aisle market

The development of new jet aircraft has become the focal point of competition within the commercial aviation industry, pushing product development and positioning strategies to the core of the competitive game. This paper explores the competitive forces of the single aisle aircraft manufacturing market and how the rivalry between competitors affects their respective strategies. A survey was distributed to industry executives, along with interviews with key senior managers, to uncover and critique strategies the respective airframe original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) adopted. It was found that movements in the engine OEM industry were a key determinant in the competitive positioning of airframe OEMs during the period of this study ranging from 2004-2013. The focus OEMs established different strategies, considering the competitive actions of their rivals, to succeed in the single-aisle segment. Bombardier followed a niche strategy, differentiating itself in that niche by developing a clean sheet design aircraft. Airbus and Boeing use their competencies to create a broad cost and differentiation strategy, respectively. Embraer competes with its counterparts by adopting a niche strategy coupled with cost leadership in that niche.

Competition Between Asian Network Airlines and Low-Cost Carriers: Strategic Analysis

Asia Pacific is increasingly at the forefront of world aviation, and low-cost carriers (LCCs) there now have 26% of all seats. This amount rises to 57% in Southeast Asia and 56% in South Asia. Clearly, Asian network airlines are very exposed to LCCs, and there are many consequences, such as lower financial performance from inadequately meeting the expectations of customers, offering insufficient value for money, and customer dissatisfaction. It is crucial that Asian network airlines respond expeditiously and appropriately to LCCs. This paper looks at the strategic capability of 22 Asian network airlines in competing with LCCs on the basis of analyzing questionnaire data from these airlines with respect to the level of importance and difficulty of 37 competitive responses across six response categories. Fundamentally, this paper concerns only their capability in competing with LCCs and does not consider their overall strength. This paper also identifies the importance and difficulty of all 37 responses and how the response categories vary by airline, while linking strategic capability with profit margins. The results show that strategic capability varies widely, with Vietnam Airlines possessing the strongest strategic capability and SilkAir, the weakest. Of airlines that compete heavily with LCCs, Garuda Indonesia has strong capability, while Thai Airways and Philippine Airlines do not. For all 22 Asian network airlines, quickly introducing changes, leveraging brand strength, and increasing aircraft use are the most important responses, and there is a reasonably strong correlation between strategic capability and margin, suggesting that those airlines with strong capabilities should achieve higher margins.