British Airways Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

British Airways - Essay Example However, this report has the limitation of reliance on not so recent data as retrieved from the British Airways official website. Introduction Founded in 1974, British Airways Plc, commonly abbreviated as BA has been recognised as the largest scheduled airline in the UK (Civil Aviation Authority 2013). Apart from scheduled airline, the organisation also operates both domestic and international carriage of mail and freight and associated services (Brownsell 2010). BA flies to over 300 destinations carrying over 33 million passengers in its 238 aircrafts (British Airways 2013, Table 1). From the time of its privatisation in the year 1987, the company has performed better than its competitors and grown worldwide. The entry of its former Chief Executive, Willie Walsh in 2005 saw BA complete Terminal 5 at Heathrow in addition to various other accomplishments. In spite of suffering from the global economic challenges, the airline looks forward to being the most responsible airline globally . As such, the firm commits to the development of strategic plans that would enable it to achieve its objectives, especially in the efforts aimed at developing and sustaining effective marketing. The Marketing Environment With the ever changing marketing environment (Haberberg & Rieple 2007), there arises the need for continuous detailed and structured analysis of important dimensions. With the increase in complexity and frequency of terrorist attacks such as the September 11 New York attacks and the July 2005 London attack, there has been emerging events leading to political instability. As such, firms like BA need systems that enhance quick decisions. The open skies agreement has significantly changed the associated regulations. On legal factors, BA suffers actions by Trade Unions such as the strike actions in 2004 and 2005. Therefore, the firm has to consider various legislations on employee rights, environmental concerns and customer rights. Economically, with demand for air tra vel being highly dependent on income patterns, global economy and air travel demand exhibits a positive relationship. The rising cost of oil due to the political climate in Iraq caused an increase in cost of travel which reduced BA’s business volumes. Finally, the different socio-cultural factors affect BA’s marketing strategy including cultural and demographic factors which determine the needs of customers and the size of prospective markets (Shaw 2007). Pricing as BA’s Marketing Strategy British Airways has priced its products so as to allow its customers to choose the level of service that they want. The airline has set its price to a premium level so as to compete with its rivals such as American and Virgin airlines (Balmer, Stuart & Greyser 2009). Its high pricing has been used as a strategy to reflect high quality. Nonetheless, with the economic turmoil and entry of low cost carriers in the market, BA has been forced to provide low cost solutions so as to remain competitive. But even in these low cost services, the airline still retains its quality image together with good customer service unlike in the low cost rivals where ancillary services have been used as the major source of income, charging extra for priority boarding, food and drinks (Haberberg & Rieple 2007). The introduction of the Executive Club aimed at encouraging loyalty among its customers by rewarding