ign will be based.
The product that NEWCO is developing is a low fare airline serving secondary airports in Asia. This is a relatively new concept for the Asian market, which has been dominated by protected domestic carriers. The low fare airline can also take advantage of new developments in aircraft technology that is emphasizing point-to-point service over the traditional hub and spoke system. The hub and spoke system is common in many parts of the world, including Asia, in part because of geography. For many years, Japan was the only country in Asia that was within reach of the western coast of the United States by aircraft, so it was in Japan that the first hub developed. Passengers flying to Asia flew first to Japan and then onward to their final destinations. As the range of aircraft increased, however, the advantages of point-to-point flying became obvious, particularly for flights into and out of Asia. This can be a long trip for passengers from the United States, for example, and reducing the need for a layover has considerable appeal to these customers. In this way, the point-to-point service that uses smaller long-range aircraft may prove a key selling point even if passengers are using secondary rather than primary airports ("Place" n.p.). Point-to-point service is likely to have appeal to those customers flying within Asia as well, as the hub and spoke system can add significant time to travel when the traveler is merely going from one Asian country to another.
There are thus several product features that translate into consumer benefits that can be used in the marketing communication program. The low fare is an obvious message and the message that will likely have the greatest impact in terms of drawing customers to the new airline. However, NEWCO should not overlook the secondary benefits of convenience--secondary airports are less crowded and are often within range of key metropolitan areas due to the c...