Good Research Paper About Airline Promotional Packages

Airline Promotional Packages

Airline companies from all over the world offer different promotion packages and deal with passengers to offer their services. In this globalised world, when many airline companies compete against each other to get maximum market share, these companies adopt different strategies to differentiate their services from the other. In the international market where services of airline companies are more or less equal, these companies offer different attractive and economical deals to the people to get their attention. There are various purposes to offer these promotional packages. Many new or developing airline companies come up with economical and cheap fare packaging just to give the experience of their services to the passengers. In this way, they get good entry into this competitive industry (Berry, 1992).

A Great Marketing Strategy

The main purpose of offering the airline promotional package is to promote the airline services in the market. Getting the maximum market share is the core purpose of most airline companies. Airline promotional deal is a great marketing tool to get favourable business objections. This strategy is not only used to promote the new or old services but also used to increase the sales volume or market share. Almost every airline company offers different packages to their new and existing customers according to their business policies. Some finds it an effective strategy to enter in a new market (Gilbert, 1996).
Airline companies design their promotion plans in such a way that it generates sales even in their off seasons. Companies offer attractive packages at the time of low sales period. For instance, American Airline gives attractive offers and deals to the passengers in the summer vacations on those cities which are preferred by the people to spend their summer vacations in like San Diego, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City and Honolulu etc. The purpose of these deals is to get maximum market share during peak season (Hunt, 2011). On the other side, when companies see slow sales at the time of off season, family trips are promoted by offering attractive discounts on the flights which helps to generate income for the company.

Some Promotional Packages Offered By Different Airline Companies

Below are the spring vacation packages for different cities of USA offered by various airline companies. Their fares are comparatively less than the normal days. Spring Vacation Packages of Different Airline Companies
(Source: http://www.travelocity.com/g/u/merch-springbreak?rfrr=Homepage.TopDeals.1.1)
It is also observed in the above figure that airline companies offer discounts for limited time offer. This time period is decided after proper analyses of the demand and supply. In off-season when different companies compete against each other to get the maximum market share, companies offer packages and deals to families and friends to get maximum pie out of the market. In normal days, airline companies do not offer any discount or promotional deals and charge full fare from the customers.
Airline companies keep on changing their promotional packages according to the market trend and situation. Fares are discounted to that extent which attracts enough customers that can easily be provided with good services. These deals depend on the business objectives and strategies. Many new and developing companies offers very attractive offers in different events like Christmas, New Year, Spring breaks or summer vacations just to introduce their services in the market to maximum number of passengers. Moreover, many well-established and famous airlines also offer attractive promotional packages to increase the sales volume. Discounts and promotional packages depend upon the nature of event and its preference. For instance, at the time of Christmas and new year vacations, companies offer very attractive airline deals by reducing their fare at maximum level such as in summer vacations, fares are kept a little bit higher than the Christmas or New year and in winter, fares are kept higher than summer trips but lower than normal days.

Analysing Airline Promotion Deals

Airline companies make concise analyses before making promotional deals. Such deals are offered in such a way that it not only attracts the customers to buy the services but company also takes a profit margin in these deals to run a business. In other words, fares cannot be kept lower than the operational costs of the company. Some of the main factors which a company decides before making a package are given below:

Operational costs of the airline

Fares of other companies especially those to whom a company has direct competition
Expected number of people planning to go out for a tour
Place of visits
Period of peak days
New or existing product or service which needs to publicise in the tour
New airline companies like Malaysia airlines, Thai Airlines, Etihad Airlines are some of new companies which are more attended to come up with different promotional packages to introduce its services in the market. Not only new and developing companies but also old airline companies often introduce attractive promotional packages to attract customers and increase the market share.
Companies make a whole marketing plan to publicise these promotional package with its new or existing services which can differentiate it from the other service providers. In ads, these deals or promotional packages are shown in such a way that it is totally beneficial for the customers; however, this cannot be said that these discounted packages are not beneficial for the companies (Aksoy, Atilgan & Akinci, 2003).

Benefits for the Customers

There are different benefits for customer to get these promotional deals. Companies also highlight these benefits in their promotional ads to get attraction of the passengers. Some of these benefits are below:

Financial benefits in getting these offers

Get enjoyable moments with their families or friends
Coming out for outing and trips
In whole trip package, people enjoy not only money discount but also enjoys the whole trip
Benefits for the Airline Companies
Apparently these promotional packages seem to be only beneficial for the people but there are many advantages for these airline companies which appeal them to come up with new and attractive promotional deals at the time of different season. Some of these benefits are given below:

These packages increase the sales of the companies

Keep the company within the competition
New companies promote their services by offering these packages
Increase the number of customers
Retain the sales at the time of competition
Increase the market share and customer satisfaction by offering quality services
Promote or introduce additional services to the passengers during the trips or tour
Get attachment with the customers and increasing the volume of sales in the future
Conclusion
There is no doubt that these airline promotional deals or packages are beneficial for customers in the sense that they enjoy their vacational trips and tours in more economical way as compare to the normal days but companies still make huge profits by offering these discounted packages. Another reason for this promotional deal is to remain competitive in the market especially for those companies who are new in this industry or introducing new services in a given market. There is a very tough market competition in airline industry where companies compete against each other to not only differential their services but also attracts the customer by offering competitive and attractive deals or packages. Services are more or less same in the airline industry but people prefer those companies which come up with economic and competitive packages. In conclusion, airline companies earn huge profits from the market even with these promotional packages.

References

Aksoy, S., Atilgan, E., & Akinci, S. (2003). Airline Services Marketing by Domestic and Foreign Firms: Differences from The Customers’ viewpoint. Journal of Air Transport Management, 9(6), 343-351.
Berry, S. T. (1992). Estimation of a Mofdel of Entry in the Airline Industry. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 889-917.
Gilbert, D. C. (1996). Relationship Marketing and Airline Loyalty Schemes. Tourism Management, 17(8), 575-582.
Hunt, Katrina B. (2011). America's Best Cities for Summer Travel. Travel+Leisure[Online] Available At: <http://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/americas-best-cities-for-summer-travel>