Looking Beyond the Runway

Airlines Innovating with Best Practices while Facing Realities

The global airline industry, facing significant changes and discontinuity is prompted and forced to deal with a "new normal." Who would have imagined a few years ago that: - a significant percentage of consumers in the US now prefer to fly low-cost airlines instead of full-service airlines because they perceive the product to be better, - airlines would generate up to a third of their total income from non-ticket revenue, - many low-cost airlines would add complexity to their original simple business models through the development of code-share agreements, the use of global distribution systems, and travel agents to distribute their seats, - Jetstar, a low-cost subsidiary of Qantas, would grow faster and be more profitable than its parent, - a survey carried out by Ryanair would show that 42 percent of passengers would be willing to stand on short (one hour) flights if they could pay 50 percent less than seated passengers, - passengers could pay as little as US$2,000 for a transatlantic Business Class ticket on top-brand airlines, - Lufthansa would have ownership in airlines based in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and the US, and that it would continue to pursue equity ownership in airlines based in Poland and Scandinavia, or - the Japanese and Canadian governments would struggle to find different ways to bail out their heretofore flag carriers? To deal with this upcoming "new normal", airlines have to go beyond their short-term circumstantial strategies - they need strategic renewal of their ageing business model. In this candidly-written book, Nawal Taneja explains what will separate the winners from the losers. He maintains the leaders will be the airlines that: (1) exploit this crisis-driven change to their best advantage, (2) learn to work around the airline-inherent constraints that prevent them from running their businesses just like other businesses, (3) learn from successes and failures of other global enterprises, (4) sharpen their business intelligence, analytics, and strategic agility, and (5) proactively explore the "pockets of growth" in this emerging-markets century. To help airline executives become informed of new competitive games, the author analyzes numerous business sectors such as auto, hospitality, retail, technology, and entertainment. For example, relevant lessons can be learned from the strategic mistakes made by the US automakers. Likewise, emergent and compelling insights can be gained in superior customer experience from Ritz Carlton and Zappos, and in value-creating innovation from Cirque du Soleil and Zipcar. The book also features a multitiude of forewords from airlines and related businesses to provide readers with multiple perspectives on the changing landscape in the global airline industry. Nawal Taneja is a career analyst of the global airline industry with wide-ranging experience in the aviation industry, academia, and public policy. Encouraged by industry executives, he has written five other books for practitioners in the global airline industry, including FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT: The Passenger is Flying the Plane and Flying Ahead of the Airplane.