SPIRIT AIRLINES 6
SpiritAirlines
SpiritAirlines
Headquarteredin Miramar Florida, is n ultra low-cost carrier fromthe US, operating scheduled flights in the US as well as otherdestinations such as Latin America, the Caribbean among others.
What was the process for the idea creation?
Asindicated in the interview, the main idea towards the creation of theairline was to offer low cost flights to passengers just like otherairlines such as Ryanair, Southwest airlines among others (Tuttle,2014).This interview helped to shed light on the operational strategiesemployed by Spirit Air among other issues affecting its activities.
How is Spirit Air positioned? What are its competitors? Which of the seven positioning strategies are used by Spirit Air and its competitors? Create a positioning map.
Thelow cost advantage is the main positioning strategy employed by thecompany to ensure profitability both in the short and long-term asindicated by its CEO Robert Fornaro during the interview (Anh, 2016). Unlike other airlines such as America Airlines which comprises ofhigh capital expenditures as well as high fixed costs of operation, have been able to utilize other strategies aimed atreducing operational costs.
Someof the strategies include high aircraft utilization, high densityconfiguration of seating arrangements and direct-to-customersmarketing strategies among others. Competitors to includeSouthwestAirlinesandJetBlueamong other ULCCcompanies (Elian & Cook, 2013). It is clear that price is themain positioning strategies used by the airline. For instance, duringthe interview, the CEO indicates that a route which cost $400 onother airlines would only cost $99 in . Just lineother ULCC companies like JetBluethe market position for will appear as follows:
Describe in detail the target market for Spirit Air. Use a list or table format, and address all segmenting strategies.
Thetarget market for SA narrowly focus on leisure as well as VFR (L andvisiting friends and relatives), thus the price tailor-made for thisclass of travelers who are extremely sensitive making them ready tosacrifice on product amenities for reduced prices as summarized onthe table below.
Priority | Domestic Flights | International Flights |
1 | Leisure | VRF |
2. | VRF | Leisure |
(Elian& Cook, 2013)
Geographicsegmentation: As indicated on the table, customers are segmented according totheir geographical locations. For instance, international customersare known to use the airline to visit friends.
Demographicsegmentation: the airline targets low income customers who are price sensitive(Tully,2016).
Behaviorsegmentation: The negative attitude towards carriers charging high prices is oneof the segmentation strategy employed by Spirit Air .
Discuss the logo of Spirit Air, taking into consideration the name as well as the color and shape.
Thelogo of the airline speaks a thousand words towards the pricereduction strategy employed by the firm. For instance, the logo seemsto be just a sketch with no any professional execution or refinement,thus significantly differentiating itself from other airlines wherespecial treatment is expected. The color and the way the word‘spirit’ is written support this kind of simplify just like themain headquarter of the airline is just a small room as indicated inthe interview.
What promotional strategy does Spirit Air use?
Thepromotional strategies employed by Spirit Air include webadvertisement accounting for 64.2% of the total sales as well as theuse of third parties such as online travel agents and outsourced callcenters (Elian & Cook, 2013).
6.What is your own opinion of Spirit Air? As a traveler, would you flySpirit Air? Why or why not?
Inmy own opinion, the low cost advantage embraced by the company willgo a long way in ensuring the sustainability of the company. This isbased on the premise that majority of travelers are becoming moreprice sensitive, thus seems not to take much consideration toservices offered onboard. Yes I would fly Spirit Air as the airlinewill go a long way in reducing the cost in incur while visiting myfriends located in various cities in the US.
References
Anh,H. (2016). SpiritAirlines` Low Cost Advantage Positioned for Long-Term Profitability.Available athttp://www.gurufocus.com/news/390552/spirit-airlines-low-cost-advantage-positioned-for-longterm-profitability
Elian,J. & Cook, G. (2013). Spirit Aurlines: Achieving a CompetitiveAdvantage though Ultra-Low Costs. Journalof Aviation/ Aerospace Education & Research.Available at
http://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1602&context=jaaer
Tully,S. (2016). BehindThe Sudden Departure of Spirit Airline’s Wildly Unconventional CEO.Available athttp://fortune.com/2016/01/08/spirit-airlines-ceo-ouster/
Tuttle,B. (2014). "America’sCheapest Airline Looks to Make Flights Even Cheaper". TIME.