Building an Airline Strategy

Abstract

The need for adaptation and development of airlines under the conditions of complex and dynamic environment determines comprehensive strategising on their activities based on identification of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The objective of the study is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of an airline’s activities with the allocation of the main development areas necessary for strategy development. The research was based on the scientific principles of a system approach, while a variety of empirical methods, including statistical analysis tools were applied to comprehensively study different activity areas.

The scheme of building an airline’s strategy includes performance analysis and problem decomposition with subsequent aggregation and ranking of development strategies. The approach to strategising on airline activities based on internal and external factors analysis summary (IFAS / EFAS) and OTSW analysis reveals many new threats. In this case, the main (Maxi-Maxi or Maximax) strategy of the airline development should consider the effective use of existing opportunities and accumulated capacity. OTSW analysis is a method of strategic planning based on a modification of the SWOT analysis. It includes the study of the factors of internal and external environment. To conduct this analysis, an OTSW matrix is created, which allows comparing external opportunities and threats with internal strengths and weaknesses selected based on expert assessments. Following the results of the analysis, it can be concluded that one or another airline has several opportunities and is exposed to potential threats imposed by the impact of economic, political, social and technological factors. The main (Maxi/Maxi) development strategy of an airline should be aimed at using existing opportunities and capacity, providing for revealing, introducing and implementing of most promising strategic trends.