Management and Leadership Paper

The airline industry is a hyper-competitive marketplace as many airlines have gone out of business

2. United Airlines likes to use strategic planning to try and stay ahead of the competition but in its history it has not always worked. United Airlines has tried to make mergers without the approval of the union and were not able to complete it when the department of justice said that the merger would not happen because it would bring a loss in competition. One of the things that has helped the business, is that they use a hub and spoke method for their passengers. This allows the company to provide many different air ports and terminals that its customers can use and also helps to stream line flight schedules and saves the company millions of dollars every year. Partnering with these major companies to form a global alliance helps to circumvent national laws, share resources to develop additional routes and global marketing strategies. The major alliances were Star, Oneworld, SkyTeam, and Wings. The agreememnt that these companies made to work together saved all of the millions of dollars and was able to help all of the companies to compete globally.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) maintained a low-cost, low-price and no frills strategy. The small Texas carrier began as a concept, its business plan detailed on a cocktail napkin in 1971 and grew into the nation’s fourth largest airline. Known as an innovator with low operating costs, dominating smaller airports, with a humorous customer service, SWA saw its 40th profitable year in 2013. Like all companies, SWA underwent leadership changes in 2001, and said goodbye to the company’s founder in 2008. Unfortunately, the changes in leadership were not the only changes; the organization proceeded to alter their beliefs and activities.

When we think about what a leader and manager is, most of us will use the same meaning. But in actual fact this is incorrect. We have to look at these two terms differently. What is a manager? A manager is someone who is responsible for directing and controlling the work and staff of a business, or of a department within the organization. So what is a leader? A leader is someone whom people follow, somebody who guides or directs others. Looking at both terms they both are very different. The question is always asked is a manager can be a leader and leader a manager. The true answer is managers are not always leaders, while leaders can be

On October 1st, 1994 when United Airlines introduced their “Shuttle By United” high-frequency, low-fare, minimal amenity, short-haul flight operation, Southwest Airlines was already the industry leader in this market segment. Southwest was the eighth largest airline in the United States based on the number of passenger miles flown

Currently 51.8% of United’s income is generated through its international fleet, and 48.2% is generated within the domestic market.[iv] United Airlines is headquartered in Elk Grove Township, Chicago and operates 3,568 daily departures from 31 countries, which includes 225 domestic and international cities. The firm’s main hubs are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

The objective of United is to make a continuation of growth in the market share simply through offering the lowest rates in terms of fares. Currently, the health of US economy relies heavily on United Airlines. Businesspersons travelling have been seeking participation in meetings for companies through meeting spaces that are vital like the second life by telephone and videoconferencing. Many families have sought out from flying to location of vacations because of the economic downtown in the two previous years and the weak stock market, as well as concerns of job security. However, experts are trying to resolve the case arguing that the economy of United States is recovering. This is

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).

Market structure can be defined as patterns of behaviour by enterprises in an effort to adjust to the markets in which they operate (buy or sell). Pricing strategies and collusive behaviour mergers are a few dimensions of market conduct. It is the industry norm for a legacy carrier to offer service to most popular destinations; Delta reducing routes to a similar schedule as the low-cost airlines is not an option in the multi-billion dollar industry. In order to gain market share from low-cost airlines, Delta must create a value proposition that differentiates itself from its competitors. Many customers will pay a premium if the level of service provided is higher than the low-cost, no-frills

When it comes to airline financial information there is much available. One of the companies with a very long and storied history of financial success has to be United Airlines. This is a company that has been around since 1926 and claims to be the oldest commercial airline in the United States. Any company that has been in existence for 89 years is obviously successful financially but has also weathered through some lean or troublesome times, and United is a gleaming example of this. For this report covering a company with such a long history it would be beneficial to focus in on a specific time in its history, therefore the last 15 years will be discussed.

The United States economy has been able to grow steadily after the 200 recessionand because of this, most businesses have been able to also grow effectively. The airline should therefore invest heavily in refurbishing its aircrafts and also investing in projects that will attract employees. To fully take advantage of this project, the United airline should embrace good marketing startegies and also provide competitive prices to its customers.

The system of governance at United Airlines is a straightforward Bureaucratic control. At the core of their governance are principles that are the foundation for investor and shareholder respect and trust. The principles that are practiced are essential to the reputation of United as a whole and are solely focused on organizational excellence, effective operational performance, and above all, integrity. The Board of Directors and the management teams at United Airlines work collaboratively under this corporate governance and guidelines, and include the policies

Airlines must operate within a low-margin, high-fixed-cost environment, making profitability particularly sensitive to decreases in volume, either from environmental factors (e.g., the September 11,2001 attacks) or from competition. Moreover, the airline business is labor-intensive. Labor costs as a percentage of revenues ranges from a low of about 25 percent for the low-fare airlines to almost 50

Southwest Airlines is often a modeled by other companies for its organizational structure. Organizations that have an effective management team are successful in developing a strong organizational culture, utilizing managerial controls, and leveraging diversity. Effective management teams are developed by cultivating leadership skills in those that supervise the company’s associates. Organizations want managers that can motivate their associates to achieve the goals and vision of the company. Managers that are able to utilize the leadership principles to engage their associates to share the success of the company are considered effective. Leaders are able to develop a strong vision and communicate that

The September 11 attacks left a major impact that the airline industry is yet to recover from. Extended recession and increasing oil prices are the other major factors affecting the growth of the airline industry. At this scenario, the airlines operating with unoccupied seats make huge losses and sometimes the airliner even goes bankrupt; for instance, the kingfisher airlines in India has gone bankrupt due to failure in managing the unoccupied seats and inefficient management in their ticket pricing strategies. Even the recent disappearances of aircrafts from Malaysian airlines have unfavorably affected the global airline industry leaving airlines operating with vacant seats.