Fasten Your Seat Belts

Abstract

Thinking outside the box is anathema to the 75-year-old U.S. airline business. This seriously palsied industry will need to rethink strategy if it is going to survive unpunished after the dust settles from recent merger talks and customer service calamities. Essentially all deregulation era airline industry studies indicate that the traditional U.S. air carriers--the American's, Delta's, and United's--cling to life due only to marketing prowess, government protectionism, and airport gate monopolization. Their existence certainly isn't a function of their service product--which grows measurably worse by the day. Indeed, today's airline product borders on garbage, and that reality can cost the carriers terribly. Even a commodity business like air transportation is vulnerable to customer rebellion. The only question is "When?"

Author

• Bender, Alan R Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University