Finding Success in the Airline Industry

Career

Operating a successful airline requires a lot of risk taking, ingenuity, and flexible planning. It is an industry where you have to be extremely nimble and dynamic- expect to be put on your tows over and over again. Long term planning for a local airline is about 60 days, so you can expect to be making decisions with an inherent element of risk. You are an entrepreneur, and many of the decisions that you will routinely make will reflect that.

You want to be as close to your customers as possible. At no point will you ever want a third-party intermediary to come between you and your clients. No matter how good they are, they will never be a suitable substitute for personable, friendly service.

To ensure that the service that you are providing is projecting your brand image, make sure that your employees understand the mindset required for consistent service. Your customers will always respond better to friendly service as opposed to discounted rates. Better customer service should be something any business should strive for.

As a carrier, avoid heavily discounting your prices. In this field, discounted rates will kill your revenue, and it may even work against you by creating a negative brand image among consumers. Your reputation will make or break you, and tarnishing it is the last thing that you will want to do.

To project your brand, you must first personalize it so that your customers can identify it. This is especially true of any staff, such as flight attendants, who will be taking care of your passengers. Your staff will be the face of your business, and the image that they project will be noticed by your customers.

An example of this is the “Singapore Girl”, an icon of Singapore Airlines brand. This image is so strong, in fact, that Madame Tassaud’s Wax Museum in London now displays a “Singapore Girl”- the first commercial figure, ever.

Singapore Girl

Your staff must be rigorously trained in all levels of safety and service. Your staff should project a feeling of competence and safety. This, along with a few other factors, will establish your credibility.

Owning a fleet of newer aircraft will do more than simply establish your credibility: it will also lower your fuel costs. Seeing as how nearly 20% of the costs of running an airline comes from fuel, this will only serve to benefit you in the long run. You may also benefit from signing a fuel contract for a few years to avoid volatility in price.

With any luck, your airline should be thriving and profitable. The most important thing that you can do, after all of the success and the resulting increase in cash flow, is stay true to your roots and never forget where you came from. Even though you’re in the business of flying, you’ll always want to stay “grounded”.

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9 thoughts on “Finding Success in the Airline Industry

  1. Look at them, they serve good food… I remember times when airlines were serving full meal for the same price… And now they only give you snacks…

  2. wow,running a airline company?!
    is it a dream for someone to become another Richard Branson?

  3. I believe that you could randomly choose six middle-aged men or woken and replace the CEOs of our six biggest arioines and the there wouild be a significant imrpovement in the management.
    Airline CEOs should be required to travwl six round-trip flights per month as economy passengers on their own airlines. When they became the victims of their own incompetence, they would understand the miserable state of the industry.

  4. I think setting appropriate expectations of customers is key. Your service doesn’t need to rival Singapore Airlines if people aren’t expecting that and feel that they’re getting a good value for their money.

  5. Haha running an airline company?? To me that seems a little out of my league lol but we can all dream

  6. I agree. Singapore Airlines is just a great airline. Their service is superior. They’re quick, friendly, and clean.

    1. i haven’t try Singapore Airlines,
      but the girl model seems not my cup of tea,
      anyway,she is pretty and sweet.

  7. Here in Brasil. All airline companies are with trouble. Almost all flights have delays. Some flights are cancelled everyday.

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