Understanding Customers and Competitors - Essay Example

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 along with economic slowdown, the Iraq war and SARS, the aviation industry has suffered a deep slump, particularly in flag airlines. Yet it raises opportunities for the low-fare carrier segment, such as Ryanair that is a rising star in the skies of Europe, having been performing well post 9/11. The aim of this report is to analyse the overall performance of Ryanair in the fast-changing environment, and then few recommendations will be provided.

Conclusions will be drawn at the end of this report. Irish-owned Ryanair, founded in 1985, began to introduce a low cost operating model in the early 1990s. The company primarily serves short-haul, point-to-point routes that target business commuters and leisure travellers by offering low, multi-tier fare pricing and sngle-classs air transportation. Having overtaken EasyJet, Ryanair is now the largest low-cost carrier in Europe In January 2000. (Doganis, 2001) The company offers approximately 475 scheduled flights per day serving 84 locations in 14 EU countries.

The worldwide commercial aviation has suffered from terrorist attacks of 9/11. The tragedy dramatically decreases the number of passengers and pushed Airline industry facing deterioration in their financial positions. Similarly, impact of SARS and Iraq War reduce willingness of people to travel outside their countries. (Graeme, 2005, Siobhan, 2004) Since 1997, the European market has been completely deregulated. For example, any airlines holding a valid Air Operators Certificate in the EU have right to operate on any route within the European Union, including flights wholly operating within another country.

On May 1st 2004, ten new members joined the EU as part of EU enlargement. The era of single European sky related to Open-Sky Treaty, allowing point-to-point service between any EU countries is approaching and airline companies will benefit from consolidation; on the other hand, they