People Express Airlines
People Express Airlines represented
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People Express Airlines represented a new way of doing business, a new way of running an airline, and a new challenge to entrenched and large corporations. Begun in the early 1980s, after the federal government deregulated the airline industry, the company became a highly successful and profitable organization quickly, then fell into hard times and eventually was sold to one of its competitors. The entire episode took less than seven years. Its former employees are generally still loyal to the charismatic founder, Donald Burr, but the changes that the company brought to the industry have been largely left behind. This research examines the company's structure and environment and seeks to determine why it was unable to sustain long-term success.When People Express began operations in 1981, the airline industry had only recently been deregulated. It was in a state of upheaval with many new entrants, most of whom would not survive their first year of operation, and giants such as United and American jockeying for domination. Airline travel at this point was essentially a commodity, with price being the overwhelming determining factor as to which carrier customers selected. In addition to price, travelers were interested in ontime service and convenience (based on the destination cities served by an airline). There were several types of service available on board most flights, including first class, where passengers received free al
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t and providing the highest level of customer service possible. Recognizing that he was attempting to build a new market niche, Burr told his employees that their personal interaction with customers should make any flight the most pleasant that the customer had ever had. This, in turn, would result in increased word of mouth advertising and repeat business.
External Environment
Initially, People Express faced competition only from other local carriers. These carriers did not have the same low cost structure that Burr enjoyed, with the result that they could not match People Express in terms of price. People Express used its early success in the marketplace to purchase airlines, gaining access to additional aircraft and additional cities. The company stayed away from markets where American and United competed, and continued to emphasize price as its main selling point.
There were distinct limitations to the growth that the company could generate, however. It was not able to gain gate access to Los Angeles, for example, and adding to its fleet of aircraft was not an inexpensive proposition.
The 1980s also saw a decrease in the number of airlines that operated, and an increase in the size of airlines. There were a number o
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Approximate Word count = 2908
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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