Since 2001, the airline industry has combatted several adverse marketing environments and has come out on top through strong marketing efforts. Subjects of interest in this article consist of competition, macroeconomic factors, and the natural environment. Competition in the airline industry was robust and consisted on a large number of corporations fighting for market share. Macroeconomic factors include the Great Recession that occurred in 2008-2009 which made consumers more budget conscious. The natural environment has been adversely affected by global terrorism and the events that occurred on September 11th, 2001. These three factors will be further discussed in subsequent paragraphs.
In the years following 2001 there has been a lot of consolidation in the airline industry which has allowed for reduced competition and more advantageous pricing power. This power has allowed airlines to build more profitable customer relationships and marketing teams have utilized this to its full potential. Over the past decade there have been five major mergers in the airline industry. …show more content…
After such an event occurs there is public skepticism as to the safety of air travel due to the multiple planes that were highjacked that occurred. Not only did marketers need to figure out how to change public opinion on the safety of air travel, but so did the United States government. As new safety measures were put into place there needed to be a way to pay for them. As an airline such as Southwest uses airports they are required to pay a fee for such access. Increased cost of operations pushed increased fees onto company’s whose planes operated from them. Marketers also encountered the issues of having to raise fares in response and maintain customer’s opinion on the value of the service they
In the years following 2001 there has been a lot of consolidation in the airline industry which has allowed for reduced competition and more advantageous pricing power. This power has allowed airlines to build more profitable customer relationships and marketing teams have utilized this to its full potential. Over the past decade there have been five major mergers in the airline industry. …show more content…
After such an event occurs there is public skepticism as to the safety of air travel due to the multiple planes that were highjacked that occurred. Not only did marketers need to figure out how to change public opinion on the safety of air travel, but so did the United States government. As new safety measures were put into place there needed to be a way to pay for them. As an airline such as Southwest uses airports they are required to pay a fee for such access. Increased cost of operations pushed increased fees onto company’s whose planes operated from them. Marketers also encountered the issues of having to raise fares in response and maintain customer’s opinion on the value of the service they