The Inclusion of Technological Advancement in British Airways Management

British Airways is the largest airline and flag carrier of the United Kingdom in relation to the multiple number of destinations covered worldwide and also considering the number of aircrafts the company owns. The main home of the airline is the London Heathrow Airport and subsequently, created a base at Gatwick Airport. The airline’s history began March 31, 1929 when four small airline companies merged to form Imperial Airways, meanwhile three other airlines merged to form British Airways. The birth of British Airways came about in order to take control of two other state-owned airlines; British Overseas Airways Cooperation(BOAC) and British European Airways cooperation (BEA). In November, 1938, the government decided to merge and nationalize Imperial Airways and British Airways. British Airways has the largest fleet of carriers in the world with almost 60 Boeing 747-400 aircrafts and its main objective is to satisfy its key stakeholders that mainly includes employees, customers, government and the British public by providing maximum customer care and ensuring to remain the world’s most responsible airlines. The main activities of the aircraft is the operation of international and domestic scheduled and chartered air services for the transportation of passengers, freight and other services necessary.

History

From 1930-1939 a luxurious aircraft was introduced including the HP42 back then that offered customers a whole new level of luxury aloft. Imperial Airways then introduced and opened services to Empire destinations from Southampton which was served using the Short S23 flying boat, then the Empire Air Mail scheme was then inaugurated. Back then, in 1935, four private airlines were then merged to form British Airways Limited, then, in 1939, a decision was made and announced by the government to merge two airlines together.

In 1940 British Overseas Airways cooperation also known as (BOAC), which was the new state airline was formed which operated wartime services which was under control of the Air Ministry. In 1946, the London Airport was officially opened. British European Airways known as ( BEA) and then British South American Airways( BSAA) were then created to operate commercial services in South America and Europe respectively.

With that being said, the history of British Airways continued from the early 90s to early 2000. Starting from 1990 British Airways unveiled its new corporate identity in June 1997 incorporating all of its aircraft design around the world. The formation of a new global alliance was announced in 1999 known as ‘oneworld’, in which Qantas and American was included. Going back to the late 80s, a corporate identity which was designed by Landor Associates was introduced in December, 1984 and in 1986, British Airways moved its long haul services to the newly built terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport near Hounslow. Then in 1988, British Airways was merged with the Gatwick-based British Caledonian Airways.

To round off B. A.’s history in the early 2000s, The Concord was retired from service back then in 2003. Subsequently, Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 was opened in March 2008 and B. A. announced the order for brand new Airbus A380s and the Dreamliner which is also known as the Boeing 787. The London City Airport to New York long haul route was inaugurated by the Airline as the first long haul route from the Airport which is operated by a special Airbus aircraft and the A318 which is the smallest aircraft in the A320 was also merged into the family.

Fleet

As mentioned earlier, British Airways operates a mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing with the A380 being the largest in the Airbus fleet and the Boeing 747 being the largest in the Boeing fleet among others. With that being said, other airplanes in the BA fleet include the Airbus A320, the Dreamliner, and The Triple Seven, otherwise known as the Boeing 777, are the largest twins jet in the world with more to mention. BA has a total of number of up to 300 fleets with some flying for BA’s subsidiary BA City Flyer which flies from London City Airport, being BA City Flyer’s operating hub, serving many airports within Europe to mention but a few. They operate an Airbus A318 from the airport but it is not among BA City Flyer fleet but the Mainstream BA. They operate the A380 and the B777 for long routes while A320 family for shorter routes. The A318, A319, A320 and A321 are all parts of the A320 family among BA’s fleet.

Pest Aalysis

In this Essay we will look at the PEST and SWOT analysis of British Airways and put out recommendations in my conclusion. PEST stands for political, Economic social, Cultural and Technological factors that affects or influences the business environment.

Political Factors

This basically refers to the effect of the laws and taxes and political decisions on how a business is carried. Brexit is the most discussed in the United Kingdom currently, after the announcement of Brexit by the government, airlines were hit hard financially, the United Kingdom lost approximately 33% of share value. UK airlines operate under the laws of European Union, to be specific ECAA, EASA and ECI regulate the aerospace above Europe. A Brexit with no deal will have a huge impact on British Airways because all airlines registered in the UK will have some of their operations stopped. This will affect the business, in the sense that, majority of customers from EU will not be able to fly frequently with British Airways as their best airline company.

Economic Factors

The UK economy has had a major negative impact because of the Brexit. Majority of passengers were lost, and less people have been taking holidays overseas due to the increase in taxes. This means that airline passenger numbers are low.

Sociocultural Factors

In comparison to other airlines, there is a known fact that the British Airways remains one of the most comfortable airlines to travel with because British Airways flies to all the 6 continents in the world and has the largest fleet of long haul Boeing aircrafts to demonstrate their devotion to this. The Airline has remained in competition with domestic airlines like EasyJet to mention but a few, by charging more for their flights but also giving the most qualitative experience to its customers.

Technological Factors

Technology has helped British Airways in increasing their customer satisfaction leaps. With the help of the self-service check-in machines at Heathrow airport for passengers which saves time and energy by getting their boarding passes without having to queue up. It makes the process of checking-in faster requiring the passengers to only drop off their bags. The airline’s website and call centre aide passengers in booking, canceling or amending air tickets. The website also offers customers and potential clients a lot of opportunities.

SWOT Analysis

Swot stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and there are four characteristics of the business( British Airways) to analyse. The table below will give the perfect analysis of each characteristics.

SWOT Analysis of British Airways

Strengths

In the United Kingdom, British Airways has succeeded in building itself as the third biggest airline with the largest amount of fleet of long haul aircraft in the world. The company has been in the helms of the market for couple of years before EasyJet took over with most passengers in 2008 in the United Kingdom.

British Airways remains generous for its unmatchable comfort and hospitality. The airline has almost 150 international destinations across 6 continents. With their several services like business and first class lounge, loyalty programme and in-flight entertainment, it remains one of the favorite for passengers.

Weakness

With the help of technology other leading airlines have lived up to expectations and in doing so brings intense competition to the Airline industry. This means limited market share for British Airways.

Opportunities.

British Airways has a massive presence in the Heathrow Terminal 5 Airport which remains one of the busiest hubs worldwide. Forming alliances with other leading global airlines can generate a boost in the company’s business.

Threats

In points out the threats in the SWOT Analysis, the following could be problem for British Airways;

1. Brexit.
2. Rising labour cost.
3. The increase in fuel price which can affect the profit margins.

Lastly, the increase in number of competition in the European market can substantially affect the market of British Airways.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in the above SWOT analysis, it is apparent that the advantages of British Airways to continue in the nearest future outweigh the disadvantages that may hinder the airline to continue its operation. Internally, it is clear that strengths outweigh the weaknesses when we consider the size, the strengths, and unmatchable customer care against the technological advancement that may hinder their progress. Because the British Airways can also make good use of the technology advancement to their own advantage. Externally, considering the opportunities in the area of locations in the hubs of big cities in the world, Brexit and other aforementioned threats cannot hinder the continue operation of the British Airways.

Recommendation

In lieu of the analysis above, I strongly recommend that the management of the British Airways should take advantage of technological innovation and advancement to their own advantage by using state of the art equipment in technology to take the company to the next level to ward off competitions from their competitors. And also form a political alliance with some trusted European countries in post Brexit and more so, support any scientific research that may develop new aeroplane that will be using solar energy instead of fuel due to the unstable fuel price in the world market because this can pose a threat to the continue operation of the company.