Introduction Company profile Marketing strategy Analysis of data Research methodology Questionnaire Suggestion Conclusion Limitation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PREFACE I feel great pleasure in doing my project Flight to Harare with British Airways. The whole hearted support of the executives of the British airline has enabled me to complete this project. This project is all about the British Airways new Service to Harare with a rapidly changing technological, social, economic, political-legal and the trend towards globalization of business and industry, emerging of various private airlines; effective marketing management has become a very challenging job. In this project I have analyzed the different promotional fares implemented by British Airways and have given feedback regarding their effectiveness and whether they should be continued or discontinued on different sectors. INTRODUCTION The Airline industry is one of the forces of globalization processes in the world economy and it is hard to imagine todays life without business and tourist trips, as well as transportation of goods by planes in the short term. World trade, rapid growth of international investments and tourism has increased the significance of the airline industry for business and world economy on the whole. On the other hand, it is possible to say that the invention of the airplane sped up the development of these processes.

At the same time, the airline industry exists in an intensely competitive market and it is extremely sensitive to costs, such as fuel, labour costs and airport taxes. Thus, recent changes

in oil prices, new conditions of economic integration concerning governmental subsidies for airline companies and other changes have significant influence on the situation of the airline industry: mergers and acquisitions take place simultaneously with the entry of new competitors such as discounters in the market. Therefore, the future for airlines holds many challenges, and the companys success depends on how effective the company will earn the profit and will grow smoothly. The current millennium has unfolded new business rules most the significant of them being that company has to constantly look into minds of the customer. Customer loyalty plays a significant role and today securing that loyalty requires quality right price and of course last but not the least i.e. creating awareness about their service. COMPANY PROFILE British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations. BA's UK passengers originating at non-London airports must connect via London after British Airways discontinued all direct overseas flights from UK airports outside London following the sale of BA Connect to British regional carrier Flybe in 2007. The British Airways Board was established in 1971 to control the two nationalised airline corporations, BOAC and BEA, and two smaller, regional airlines, Cambrian Airways, from Cardiff, and Northeast Airlines, from Newcastle upon Tyne. On 31 March 1974, all four companies were merged to form British Airways. After almost thirteen years as a state company, that was sold in February 1987 as part of a privatisation plan by the Conservative Government. The carrier soon expanded with the acquisition of British Caledonian in 1987 and Dan-Air, Gatwick-based carrier, in 1992. A long-time Boeing customer, British Airways ordered fifty-nine Airbus A320 family aircraft in August 1998. In 2007, it purchased twelve Airbus A380s and twenty-four Boeing 787 Dream liner, marking the start of its long-haul fleet replacement. The centrepiece of the airline's longhaul fleet is the Boeing 747-400; with 57 examples in service, British Airways is the largest operator of this type in the world.

British Airways is a founding member of the One world airline alliance, along with American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and the now defunct Canadian Airlines. The alliance has since grown to become the third largest, after Sky Team and Star Alliance. British Airways' parent company, International Airlines Group, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the FTSE 100 Index. On 12 November 2009, British Airways confirmed that it had reached a preliminary agreement to merge with Iberia. The merger between the two carriers will create the world's third-largest airline in terms of annual revenue and the second largest airline group in Europe. The merger was confirmed on 8 April 2010, and on 14 July 2010, the European Commission approved the merger under Competition law and also allowed American Airlines to co-operate with the merged entity on transatlantic routes to the United States of America. The British Airways merger with Iberia was finally completed on 21 January 2011, formally creating the International Airlines Group, IAG.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE PROJECT

My new concept is on service of British Airways Flight to Harare which will help for the British Airways to conquer its main competitor in the market and will become financially more strong for direct route to Zimbabwe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE TOPIC AREA

The main purpose of my research is to introduce a new route for British Airways to Zimbabwe. No doubt British always been best airline and always provided good services its passenger in all over the world. BA is one of the largest and most modern fleets airlines especially after some acquisition and opening subsidiaries this will lead it to be the lead one of the top leader in the world capturing a huge market. Thus, being 1st largest international airline of course dedication to deliver world class service, whether in business class or economy and lastly will be the highest in financial growth, either for profit or stockholder equity. BA is the UKs largest scheduled airline flying to around 550 destinations on over 130 countries worldwide. Their main operating

base is at London Heathrow but other important flight hubs are at London Gatwick and Manchester. Their route network reaches far and wide and covers most destinations with a huge choice of long haul world flights, but BA does not operate to Zimbabwe. In UK large number of Zimbabwean people live here and of course they travel to their home country now and then. Large number of Passengers travels in Easter, summer vacations and in Christmas and in New Year holidays. Everyone looks for cheap tickets and good direct service. Air Zimbabwe which is flag carrier of Zimbabwe was being operated in past from many years, did not progress well and always disappointed to customers. Its ranking in airline industry was always 0 but Zimbabwean people always used to take this and always liked this due to direct. Every costumer likes direct flight due to avoid long journey and stopovers and many of them afraid that time when plane takes off and lands. Unfortunately Air Zim did not become good airline as this airline was getting monopoly in the market and did not pay good attention to improve quality. Air Zim became bank corrupt last year Feb and had no regular flight schedule at the moment. In this all scenario BA has good chance to start new service London to Harare. This new route will help BA become more financially strong and can make good reputation among Zimbabwean community. I will try my best to prove through my hypothesis valid, applicable, credible, cost effective and human resource.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

I strongly believe in my concept and will hope to prove this in terms of cost effectiveness, marketability, human resource issues and quality control, benefits for the International Traveling Industry. I hope to present my research finding British Airways with aim of implementation. In an incredibly though trading enjoinment British Airways can immediate come out in crisis if it is facing. I believe that starting this service coming years for British Airways will be good in the scene of financially. This service would be long term and would be profitable. At last it is Worlds Leading global premium airline. To identify the services offered by British airways To study and analyze the customer perception and preference about British airways

Finally to draw the various conclusion and recommendation on the basis of study conducted.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Managers need information in order to introduce products and services that create value in the mind of the customer. But the perception of value is a subjective one, and what customers value this year may be quite different from what they value next year. As such, the attributes that create value cannot simply be deduced from common knowledge. Rather, data (information) must be collected and analyzed. The goal of Marketing Research (analysis) is to provide the facts and direction that managers need to make their more important marketing decisions. The analysis involves the following steps: Define the problem. Determine research design. Identify data types and sources. Determine sample plan and size. Collect the data. Analyze and interpret the data. Prepare the research report. For the purpose of study, data from the in-house survey conducted by the marketing department (secondary data) has been used and also for coming out with the recommendation. It was also felt that mere secondary data would not provide in-depth information for the analysis, hence it was decided that interactive discussions with the managers and the head of every department would help in an in-depth and true understanding of challenges faced by the department. The methodology adopted was to gather relevant information from the appropriate department, correlate the information obtained and to present the information in a logical and systematic manner.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF BRITISH AIRWAYS

STRENGTH WEAKNESS Strong brand recognition High level customer experience Low cost base and lower costs than other airlines Customer loyalty Part of One world Alliance one of the leading world cargo Lost Luggage Delayed & Cancelled Flights Reliance on established revenue sources Poor communication within the company Regular Strikes High Cost For Extra Luggage

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Increasing demand for transatlantic flights Acquire failing airlines or their assets Decreasing costs as industry expectations decline Innovative new ways of seating Able to join the "Mile High Club" for a fixed fee Fuel costs Strong competition Virgin Atlantic Terror Attacks Loosing Goodwill

PESTEL ANALYSIS Political and Legal Factors The start of the millennium is turning out to be some of the most difficult times that the airline industry has ever faced. The events of terrorism attacks in September 11, 2001 in New York and July 7, 2005 in London along with the wars in Iraq have no doubt caused an unprecedented crisis and political instability. The events have caused the introduction of new security regulations from the EU & US and a fall in customer travelling confidence. Governments have controlled where airlines can fly, and aspects of their product planning and pricing policies. In recent years, substantial regulatory reform has taken place, giving carriers more opportunity and increasing the market competition. Deregulated companies like BA require systems that enable decisions to be made quickly. Open skies is an agreement which changes the regulatory landscapes significantly. A significant legal factor affecting BA is the power of trade Unions. BA has suffered many strike actions and is aware of the implications that the trade unions can cause. Legal regulations on employee rights, customer rights and an upsurge in environmental and ecological issues are more factors that BA must consider.

Economic Factors New regulations from the US and the EU mean airlines have to provide details such as where a passenger is staying on the first night of their visit, their place of birth and their home address, up to 72 hours before departure. BA has already started to react to this by collecting required information on the manage my booking section of its website. It may be necessary to change the specification of a product quickly, if a competitor offers customers better value-for-money. The demand for air travel is characterised by very high

income elasticity. Therefore, as the world economy grows, so the demand for air travel can be expected to increase too. The political situation in Iraq has helped to drive oil prices to a record high and for BA, the oil price rise might add 100 million to their costs. In response, the cost of fuel surcharges is always at risk. BA is in the business of transporting people to and from worldwide destinations for both business and pleasure. If the international economy slows down, business trades less STRENGTHS Large fleet. Experienced staff. Dedicated departure terminal at Heathrow Connectivity with the reservation centres and agents is good. Adequate infrastructure and large network. People are loyal towards the national carrier. Government Backing. British Airways has a modern and complete in-house training facility.

WEAKNESSES High overheads and huge workforce resulting in lower output. Preconceived image of PSUs. Attitude of the staff. Ageing fleet. Inaccessibility of the staff over phone. Political/Bureaucratic interference. On the spot decision making flexibility not there. Ageing workforce (cabin crew). British Airways has its socio-economic responsibility of catering to the inaccessibility areas at subsidized rate affecting operational expenses.

Being a dedicated terminal all services rendered at the airport is presumed by passengers to be done by Indian Airlines. Job security too high.

OPPORTUNITIES Tourism industry is gaining momentum. Induction of new aircrafts on lease. Response to some of the promotional fares (schemes) is encouraging. Corporates are showing interest in British Airways. Economic scenario is showing an upturn. THREATS Perception of the better product in comparison to that of the competitor. Recent world events hitting the tourism industry badly. Expectation of people from British Airways is high, even some of them are unrealistic. Increase in the capacity of various airlines.

FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL Detail

Financially, this is a very difficult time for our business. Operationally however, we are achieving levels of excellence today never seen before in this airline. Group revenue for 2008/09 was 8,992 million, compared with 8,758 million (restated) in the previous year. Group loss before tax for 2008/09 was 401 million, compared with a profit before tax of 922 million (restated) in the previous year. Group operating loss for 2008/09 was 220 million, compared with a profit of 878 million (restated) in the previous year. Group loss per share for 2008/09 was 32.6 pence, compared with earnings per share of 61.9 pence (restated) in the previous year. Network-wide Ready to Go performance of 53 per cent, compared with 34 per cent in the previous year.

Per 1,000 passengers at Heathrow Short landed baggage at Heathrow in March 2009 was 19.2 bags per 1,000 passengers, 72.3 per cent better than March 2008.

TURN AROUND STRATEGY: On 1st March 1997 British Airways became a Public Limited Company. Till now IA had only emphasized on distribution, with marketing as a non-issue. Since the company was faced with increasing competition, lack of resources and mounting losses, it had to formulate and implement a Turn Around Strategy. To find its place in the sun again, IA has unleashed an aggressive marketing & advertising exercise backed by service up gradation & customer friendly overturns. The new plan consisted, of the following: 1. HRD Initiatives As the first step free and frank discussions with a cross section of the employees were held. Top management undertook extensive tours of all stations to communicate the details and vision

behind all major policy initiatives and to get their response to them. Focus on training of personnel was enhanced to increase effectiveness. A greater transparency was built into recruitment and transfer policies with a view to boosting their trust and confidence. In interactions with unions and Associations a firm but fair attitude was taken. Productivity Lined Agreements, where the inflows exceed the outflows despite the fact that market wages were being given, were entered into.

2. Increased Utilization of Aircraft With a view to increasing aircraft utilization, pilots needed to be made to put in more flying hours and steps had to be taken to increase the number of Commanders. Productivity of Engineers also had to be linked to the daily availability of aircraft. i. Enhanced Productivity and Availability of Pilots The agreement signed with ICPA in 1996 resulted in the increase in monthly utilization of Pilots from 50 to 63 hour. With the promotion of 80 Pilots into the executive cadre monthly utilization went up further to 75 hours. Certain rationalization and changes in training patterns of Commanders, due to signing of a landmark agreement with pilots Association resulted in increased out-turn of Commanders. ii. Increased Productivity of Engineers Productivity of Engineers has also significantly increased as a result of other productivity-linked agreement thereby increasing daily availability of aircraft as follows: A-300 7-8 aircraft per day from 4-5 A-320 25-26 aircraft per day from 20

3. Increased International Operations (a) British Airways went in for increasing the number of destinations to neighboring countries. In 1997 British Airways operated 12 international stations, which went up to 17 stations in 1999. The new stations added are Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Bahrain and Yangon. (b) On the domestic front IA is planning to start Shuttle type flights on major metro routes like MumbaiBangalore, MumbaiChennai, and Delhi-Bangalore. It has already started launching shuttles on the heavy MumbaiDelhi routes. 4. Creation of Profit Centers While on one hand, Indian Airlines size is strength, it is also a major disadvantage when it comes to operating in a fast changing and competitive environment. It is not possible to take decisions specific to small groups of employees without reference to the 22003 strong work forces. The organization is unable to be as nimble as it ought to be in terms of decision making, customer service and employees motivation. Consequently, an integral part of turn around strategy was to hive off certain activities into separate profit centers, to make them more focused, flexible and accountable. Also a more direct

linkage between productivity and emoluments has been created, thereby reducing problems of industrial relations. The first of such profit centers was the state-of-the-art Jet Engine Overhaul Shop at Delhi. Similarly the Central Training Establishment at Hyderabad was also converted into a Profit Centre. On conversion as Profit Centre the earnings of CTE from outside party jobs after fully meeting the requirement of Indian Airlines, increased from Rs. 30 lakhs in 1997- 95 to Rs. 390 lakhs in 1999-97.

Recently the Auxiliary Power Repair Unit at Calcutta, the Ground Support Department and the Cargo Department has also been declared a Profit Centre. British Airways has also set up a subsidiary airline, Alliance Air. This airline has helped in increased utilization of the Boeing aircraft by inducting Commanders from the open market and focusing on regional routes. It has also enabled the Commanders in British Airways to be utilized more optimally on A-300 and A-320 fleet. 5. Marketing Initiatives British Airways took a number of economic initiatives and brought about significant improvements in its product. Sustained and meaningful campaign was launched to disseminate information about these improvements. The marketing initiatives taken were: I. PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT 1999-00 EXTRA SEAT-PITCH: Extra seat-pitch in B-737 and Economy Class of Airbus A-300. WIDER SEATS: Wider seats provided in Executive Class of Airbus A-320 aircraft. CHOICE OF MEALS: Introduction of a choice of meals, bread/fruit baskets, soups, damask linen tablecloth and napkins, hot and cold towels. FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAMME: IA has further strengthened its frequent flyers programme (FFP), by entering into a reciprocal arrangement with Air France and launching Joint Promotions with American Express, Hertz Rent a car and the Welcome group. It also launched a major drive to enroll more members to its FFP program, with lucky draws for a luxury car, for which passengers who had flown at least five times between mid- December 2000 and mid-March 2001, tried their luck.

SENIOR CITIZEN DISCOUNT: Persons who have attained the age of 65 years on the date of travel land who are resident citizens of India are entitled to 50% discount on the normal rupee Adult Fare. WAIVING OF CANCELLATION CHARGES: 2000-01 British Airways has waived of cancellation charges, provided the reservation is cancelled one hour before the scheduled departure of the flight. There will be a nominal refund fee of Rs. 100/only in case the ticket is refunded /reissued. CHECK-IN PLUS: Assistance for minors, elderly and handicapped passengers. BAGGAGE PLUS: Baggage Allowance on all domestic flights enhanced by 10 kilograms. Infants also allowed 10 kilograms of free Baggage Allowance. DIET SPECIAL: Light, low fat, easily digestible recipes made by new cooking methods and mediums, sugar, salt, and fat free diet meals and mineral water. MEAL SPECIAL: Better presented meals with weekly changes.

TRANSIT SPECIAL: Special Transit Desks, through check-in of baggage and meals during transit waiting time. FESTIVAL FOODS:

Passengers were served special sweets on Diwali, Bengali food on Durga Puja, Avadhi food on Holi and Plum Cake on Xmas. DIAL-A-CANCELLATION: Passengers and Travel Agents can now effect cancellation on telephone or through fax message. REPORTING TIME: Reporting Time reduced from 75 minutes to 60 minutes at all the airports except Delhi, Srinagar, Leh and Jammu. II. RESERVATION FACILITIES To facilitate reservation between any two stations of Indian

Airlines network, the instant reservation facility has been extended to a total number of 69 stations. Of the 53 domestic stations where British Airways flights are

being operated presently, 52 stations are equipped with computerized reservation facility.

CHOICE Positioning of a service can be done either through promotional schemes or through the level of service provided. PROMOTIONAL SCHEMESPromotional decisions are those related to communicating and selling to potential consumers. While coming out with the promotional schemes it is worthwhile to note the profile of customers served. PROMOTIONAL FARESDifferent types of promotional fares are introduced to attract more and more passengers to travel in specific airlines to promote sales. With the implementation of promotional fares the motive is

to increase the number of airline loyal passengers and of course revenue. British Airways follows dual fare policy for its domestic service. The two types of fares are as follows: 1) USD FAREA. USD fare is applicable for all sales made abroad for domestic travel within India. B. USD fare is also applicable for all sales made in India for domestic travel within India for following categories of

passengers: i. Foreign nationals. ii. Indian nationals residing permanently outside India. C. Unless and until specified otherwise, USD fare is applicable for all sales made worldwide including India for domestic travel within India against the following documents: i. Sale against document of interlines patrons. ii. Sale against IA international MCOs/PTAs. iii. Sale against international credit cards and UATP card. 2) INR FAREINR fare is applicable for all sales in India for domestic transportation wholly within India for the following category of PAX: A. Indian nationals permanently residing in India. B. India, Nepal, Bhutanese, Tibetan refugees residing in India, Nepal and Bhutan. C. Foreign national studying in India and holding a resident permit. D. Foreign nationals studying in India and who are otherwise eligible for student discount under IA rules.

VALIDITY OF TICKETSIA domestic tickets, issued on normal fare, are valid for one year from the date of issue. International tickets are valid for one year from the date of travel on the first leg of journey. Validity of tickets issued on concessional and special fares may be different as governed by the rules applicable to that particular concession. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PROMOTIONAL FARESDifferent types of promotional fares are introduced to attract more and more customers to travel in a specific airline. The promotional fares on which I had worked are as follows: Promotional One -Way Fare (POW) - Promotional one-way-fare is for travel introduced in one-way on a specific sector. Eg: - Delhi-Mumbai sector. Following table shows the number of passengers that traveled in POW promotional fare scheme out of the total number of passengers in the year 2003-2004 (April 2003March 2004) in few sectors:

Round Trip Promotional Fare/Return Fare (RTP) Round trip promotional fare is for travel to & fro on a specific sector. Eg: - Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi sector. Following table shows the number of passengers that traveled in RTP promotional fare scheme out of the total number of passengers in the year 2003-2004 (April 2003March 2004) in

few sectors: Flight Specific Fare (FS) Flight specific fare is introduced on that particular flight only. Eg: - The Flight Specific Fare on IC-801. Following table shows the number of passengers that traveled in FS promotional fare scheme out of the total number of passengers in the year 2003-2004 (April 2003March 2004) in few sectors:

This shows that people who are aware of the airline are not just verbally aware but also prefer to travel by that airline. This depicts that the effect of advertisement of is directly proportional to the uses to the airlines. Besides the high percentage of British Airways travelers can be attributed to the fact that for the government officials it is mandatory to travel by IA. Customer grievance and prompt redressal should also be rated as top priority as this will not only provide the necessary input and the feedback but also would go a long way in improving the image of Indian Airlines.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to constraint of time, a larger sample size could not be chosen. The respondents may not have divulged their true feelings. Marketing strategy of a company is indeed a closely guarded secret especially in the face of stiff competition as in the case of the airlines sector in India. Therefore, to extract information on the marketing strategy was a difficult task. Minor errors may have been introduced due to fatigue, etc.

This shows that people who are aware of the airline are not just verbally aware but also prefer to travel by that airline. This depicts that the effect of advertisement of is directly proportional to the uses to the airlines. Besides the high percentage of British Airways travelers can be attributed to the fact that for the government officials it is mandatory to travel by IA. Customer grievance and prompt redressal should also be rated as top priority as this will not only provide the necessary input and the feedback but also would go a long way in improving the image of Indian Airlines.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to constraint of time, a larger sample size could not be chosen. The respondents may not have divulged their true feelings. Marketing strategy of a company is indeed a closely guarded secret especially in the face of stiff competition as in the case of the airlines sector in India. Therefore, to extract information on the marketing strategy was a difficult task. Minor errors may have been introduced due to fatigue, etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCES www.indianairlines.com www.indianairlines.net www.indian-airlines.com www.indian-airlines.nic.in www.indianairlines.indiatimes.com www.jetairways.com

www.airsahara.com www.airliners.com www.airsahara.net

This shows that people who are aware of the airline are not just verbally aware but also prefer to travel by that airline. This depicts that the effect of advertisement of is directly proportional to the uses to the airlines.

Besides the high percentage of British Airways travelers can be attributed to the fact that for the government officials it is mandatory to travel by IA.

Customer grievance and prompt redressal should also be rated as top priority as this will not only provide the necessary input and the feedback but also would go a long way in improving the image of Indian Airlines.

63 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to constraint of time, a larger sample size could not be chosen. The respondents may not have divulged their true feelings. Marketing strategy of a company is indeed a closely guarded secret especially in the face of stiff competition as in the case of the airlines sector in India. Therefore, to extract information on the marketing strategy was a difficult task.

Minor errors may have been introduced due to fatigue, etc.