Marketing Strategies for the Development of Wind Jet : Investments on Intercontinental Routes

Abstract

The principal aim of this paper is to individuate a strategy for a promising Low Cost Carrier LCC) to compete with international prominent airlines and to gain a better position in the market. The thesis also addresses questions regarding which the most valid national competitor in the LCC Italian market is and its current position towards the best-practice competitors. In the conclusion, the individuation of strength and weakness points of the strategy as well as estimations on its practical use are described in detail. The work begins by focussing on the Low Cost Airlines (LCAs) market, and develops from a general overview to regional specificities. In particular, the situation of the European and Italian areas is important as a basis to form further strategies. Concerning the Italian situation, a key role is taken by Wind Jet plc, a recently launched airline, which is ranked as third national Low Cost Carrier. The position of the company towards the competitors is revealed by a benchmarking analysis, supported by the consulting of three relevant web portal (Airlinequality.com1, Qviaggi.it2, Ciao3!.it): a specific table points out the features of Wind Jet compared to the best practice examples. As a result of this, Wind Jet obtains a firm leadership among the national LCCs companies, but is still far from competing with the major international Low Cost Airlines. The benchmarking table introduces a SWOT analysis, which translates into strategies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Wind Jet plc. As a result of the SWOT, a particular strategy has been determined for a further development of the airline: the establishing of intercontinental low cost routes. This opportunity is broken down in order to individuate the positive (strengths) and negative (weaknesses) implications and group them in a SW analysis. At the same time, key choices and options for the company will be explained with a thorough description of the decisional steps for the realization of the strategy. The workability of the innovative Intercontinental strategy has been evaluated through flights portals as Expedia.com4 and Kayak.com5, and singled out in a three-days schedule plan from the Pisa San Giusto and Turin Caselle airports to New York – Newark and Toronto Person.