British Airways in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

? British Airways British Airways BA is a United Kingdom based airline company specializing in both passengerand cargo transportation. British Airways was formed in 1974 after a merger that saw four airline careers coming together. Key among the merged companies includes British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), British European Airways (BEA), Cambrian Airways and Northeast Airlines (“History and heritage”). The airline is renowned for its large fleet size, several international destinations and passenger numbers (Punzel, 2011:p3). It is noteworthy that the company has remained competitive in both domestic and international markets owing to continuous improvement on customer services and processes. The British airways has done a lot over the resent past to enhance its competitiveness however much is still needed to improve its processes and key among them include but not limited to consulting customers, training its personnel on customer care, increasing comfort by redesigning its cabin, and improving its meal services. British airways offer its customers a wide range in-services based on its travel classes. It travel classes include Economy, Premium economy, Business also known as Club World and the First class (“Travel classes”). Offering a wide range of travel classes was a strategic move by BA to cater for the needs of different classes of travellers based on their financial capabilities. For instance, the Business class offers exclusive comfort and style as the customers have access to lounge just like First class passengers, delicious meals and drinks as well as fully flat beds on al long haul flights (“Travel classes”). The economy class has been designed with the intention of catering for the needs of low spenders though it comes with a number of best value in-flight services, which include but not limited to online check in, allocate seats, complimentary drinks, snacks and meals, in addition to a generous baggage allowances. The range of travel classes offered BA is a clear indication that the company caters for the needs all the passengers irrespective of their social status. Unlike its major competitor in both domestic and international destinations Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet, British Airways still boast of a wide range of travel classes with excellent services. This claim can be justified by the fact that EasyJet offers its customers only a single travel class while Virgin Atlantic offers only three travel classes namely Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class. The first and major order winner for British airways is its luxuries quality services at no extra cost. BA is a market leader in offering classy in-flight services to passengers in various travel routes. British Airways unlike its competitors such as Easyjet and Ryanair has been categories under luxury travel based on the wide range of exotic in-flight services that the company offers its passengers (Mawer, 2011). BA is also recognised for offering a number of its flight services at no extra cost unlike its competitors such as Easyjet and Ryanair. For instance both the no frills airlines- Easyjet and Ryanair put extra charges on administration/Booking fee paid with debit cards, Airport check-in, breakfast, snacks, wines/beer/spirit and other meals (Mawer, 2011). These two competitors of BA do not offer their passengers the luxury of baggage allowance considering that BA offers an allowance up to 23Kg checked bag. It is noteworthy that BA has significant higher rating compared to its competitors Easyjet according to Smart rating and Skytrax’s. This is a clear indication that BA is still a market leader in different areas of the airline’s products and services. In other words British Airways competitive edge lies in providing world class airline products and services at no extra cost. Other lucrative in flight services offered by BA are evident in airline’s leg room taking into consideration that the company offers its passengers luxury of comfort through an extra seat pitch, and preferred seating options such as seat upgrades, exiting row, and extra legroom (Mawer, 2011). Additionally BA also transports special baggage at an affordable fee and free pet cabin. Strong and highly responsive workforce has been identified as the core order qualifiers of BA. British Airways is prone for utilizing job production taking into consideration that the company changed from a unified service approach to an individualised service approach. The service delivery process in BA revolves around transporting passengers and cargo to and from its over 160 destinations around the globe (Pycraft, 2000:p348). The London Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport are the main British Airways hubs. Key in-flight services in BA revolve around meals and comfort. There is no doubt that customers especially long-distance travellers value comfort a lot while onboard (Cowling & Lundy 1996:P353). By the late 1990s, BA realized that it was losing big on its first and business class passengers to its rivals and this translated to reduction in company profits and company stock prices owing to increased competition in its prime routes. According to Cowling and Lundy (1996:p353) most clients wanted to avoid BA at all cost. Increased competition did hit BA hard but fortunately, the company transformed gradually from a loss making company and lowly regarded company to an excellent profitable airline company (Pycraft, 2000:p349). According to Hill (2000:P561) Putting People First initiative launched in 1983 was the launching pad for transforming the company into one of the major airline brands not only the UK but across the globe. In order to identify systems and processes that require urgent change in the company with respect to service delivery the company staff had to consult the clients to identify key areas they would like to be improved. After getting suggestions from the passengers, BA embarked on major initiative that saw an adoption of new and different approach towards in-flight services. For instance, the company sought to redesign its cabins and much important one being redesigning of passenger service offerings. BA shifted for providing uniform services to a highly sensitive approach that seek to attend to the personalized needs of the passengers (Syrett, 2008:p45). Customer focus was at the centre of changes that BA embarked on. Despite the fact that most of the clients thought of the service offering as being acceptable, comfortable but predictable the management felt that there was need for change in service delivery (Hill, 2000:P560). The first step taken by the management to improve service delivery was to increase comfort for the passengers by redesigning the environment. BA focus was on redesigning the seating arrangement to provide maximum possible comfort by providing full body support. Key considerations made on the seating arrangement included but not limited to adjustable lumbar supports, wider footplate, adjustable leg rest extension that could adjust based on client’s height and a headrest with wings that could support a passenger’s head while sleeping. The changes in cabin were not only made in Club World but also in the services of first class. For instance, the designers reduced the number of seats on the 747s to fourteen from eighteen. Apart from the physical designs, BA also made significant changes on the manner of service delivery. The company focused on plan to providing customers with more personalized services considering that the services had been found to be highly predictable. BA Club World began by letting the passengers decide their own services (Hill, 2000P561). For instance, passengers on a nightlong transatlantic journey were allowed to have as much sleep and rest as they wished. The passengers were offered blankets and sheets as the crew wanted the passengers to feel much more accommodated as if they were at home. Clients were offered a mug of coffee when they woke up with other breakfast foods availed to the passengers. BA wanted to shift from routine breakfast timetable that would inconvenience passengers sleeping habit as the goal was to allow the passengers wake up in similar fashion they are used to while at home. Significant changes were also made on services relating to lunch and dinner, as they were made more flexible to allow passengers who feel hungry between the meals to ask for food (Hill, 2000P561). For instance, Passengers on short flights who felt hungry were offered a wide range of foods, which include but not limited to fruits, chocolate, biscuits and cheese while those on longer flights were offered foods that range from sandwiches, pies, and assortment of snacks. BA also replaced the scaled-down cutlery with full-sized knives and forks. BA was forced to put its entire staff under training on customer care in order to ensure effective service delivery (1996:p356). There is no doubt, that the change approach taken by British Airways which involved putting the client in control and redesigning the physical environment was a major boost towards the company success. It is noteworthy that British airways is successful, because of the fundamental steps it undertook to transform it services from a unified approach to a personalised approach, redesigning of its cabin, wide range of travel classes. By personalised approach, it means that British Airways did put their passengers in control of everything from meals to other in-flight services. For instance, BA offers flexible and complimentary delicious meals and rinks on board both to short and long-range travellers. The physical design of the cabins is another major boost towards the success of British Airways. BA undertook a major project of redesigning its cabins to provide its customers with different range of travel classes. Key among the available travel classes includes the Economy, Premium economy, Business/club World and First class. Each of these travel classes comes with different range of complementary services during check-in and flight. For instance, First Class travellers enjoys a wide range of services which include but not limited to dedicated services, luxurious lounge, onboard fine dining, as well as exceptional comfort (“Travel classes”). British Airways undertook to train their staff on customer service courses towards ensuring that their workforce personally indentified with varied needs of the customers in order to improve customer satisfaction. Curving its market niche to luxury travels alone has been an important competitive strategy for British Airways considering that most clients appreciate when they travel in style and are always valued. In other words focus on luxury travel alone is another major reason why BA has been successful as it has managed to compete effectively with major budget airlines on various destinations through this strategy. References Cowling, A & Lundy, O 1996, Strategic Human Resource Management, London, Routledge. Hill, T 2000, Operations Management Strategic Context and Managerial Analysis, 2nd Ed. Basingstoke, Palgrave. History and heritage, British Airways, Retrieved November 28 2012 from http://www.britishairways.com/travel/history-and-heritage/public/en_ke Mawer, F 2011,The Crafty Traveller: Battle of the cheap air fares in a BA vs budget face-off in the skies, Retrieved November 28 2012 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2063604/Travel-advice-Cheap-air-fares-BA-versus-budget-airlines-battle.html Punzel, T 2011, Risks and Decision Making: Using the Example of British Airways, GRIN Verlag. Pycraft, M 2000, Operations management. [Cape Town], Pearson Education South Africa. Syrett, M 2008, Successful Strategy Execution How to Keep Your Business Goals on Target, London, Profile Books Ltd. Travel classes, British Airways, Retrieved November 28 2012 from http://www.britishairways.com/travel/classes/public/en_ke?source=MNVINF1travel_classes&link=main_nav So KANU has ganged Up again against NARC (minus late Prof Saitoti, Kibaki n late Wamalwa). Uhuru project of 2002 hehehehehe. Sasa niki sema miti na nyani ni wale wale wanasema niko na sasia na sio siasa. Y shud i vote kama hawa watu wote wamekuwa kwa power but have not done anything significant to Kenyans. kenya is still ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world, people are still living in less than $1, Baragoi and Tana river massacre, IDPs, poor medical facilities + NHIF scandal, education still unaffordable to majority, Maize scandal, impunity and many more Read More