If you were to create an airline, what would you do to make it stand out? What would be your business model? So many have been eaten up by large airlines; the current economic climate makes it almost impossible to stand alone in the airline industry.

An African ULCC. Being Namibian, I would love it to be a southern African ULCC, connecting South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, and maybe Madagascar and Mauritius.

I would start a long haul ULCC. There are a couple of long haul LCCs already, but no ULCCs so far.

Of course there would be an in-flight entertainment system, which mostly displays commercials but can be used for the buy-on-board program and (for a fee) movies and games. Meals have to be booked in advance and are being charged for. I'd mostly fly out of cheaper secondary airports and avoid the expensive big ones. I'd be making long haul travel affordable for everyone.

Good idea PatrickZ80, but in today's market, a long haul ULCC would certainly be an ULM(Ultra Loss Maker).

isgx wrote:

Good idea PatrickZ80, but in today's market, a long haul ULCC would certainly be an ULM(Ultra Loss Maker).

I'm not sure about that. There's a good number of long haul LCCs already, but none of them are as extreme as my proposed airline. I've flown Norwegian long haul and I've seen a good number of things that can be done cheaper, so I will do them cheaper. Besides that, there's the fact that Norwegian is suffering from bad management which will not be the case with my airline. I'll do everything to keep the costs down and ancillary revenues up in order to keep the fares as low as possible. Since no other long haul airline goes that far, I think I'll have a pretty good chance.

33-34 inches of legroom. something reasonable.

emphasis on quick bag delivery at the baggage claim after one lands.

team up with Ikea to develop a food/snack menu.

pretty damn quick coffee/juice/water service once in in the air.

early morning/middle of the night flights in select markets to keep aircraft/employee utilization up to speed.

cross training of employees to be able to help solve/fix issues, assist passengers anywhere, anytime.

reservation cancellation/change policy similar to Southwest.

Some good points there.
I would add make my airline the travel industry's favourite to deal with. Look after the hand that feeds you.

TC957 wrote:

Some good points there.
I would add make my airline the travel industry's favourite to deal with. Look after the hand that feeds you.

Another good point. Be very media friendly, social-media forward.

No economy section. First and economy plus - that's it. Various airlines have tried to go premium-only, but AFAIK they've done it only with business and first. I'd make an airline that I could market as a premium airline but that would still be affordable for average people. Every seat would have 36" of legroom minimum, free alcohol on domestic flights, and hot meals on long flights. Fares would be commensurately higher, but not appreciably higher than current economy plus offerings.

Basically I feel like the race to the bottom among most airlines has created a marketing opportunity that hasn't been properly exploited yet. I mean the ad campaign practically writes itself - "Make Flying Civilized Again", "A Premium Airline at Middle Class Prices" or some such. It doesn't really matter that most other airlines *have* economy plus these days; the start would just be to compare the minimum standards on my airline vs. the minimum standards on every other. It's about setting the entire airline apart, and creating an image. The challenge would be to hammer home the fact that it's both premium *and* affordable.

I know that most people choose airlines based on fare, and that's fine - there will still be a lot of other airlines to cater to those bottom-feeders. But in order to stand out, to market the airline effectively and to make the most money, I think replacing economy with economy plus would attract enough people to be profitable. We wouldn't call it "economy plus", of course, we'd call it, I dunno, "ClassE" or something and give it a few more little touches that look expensive but aren't to make it feel like a step up from other economy plus offerings. Like higher-end cabin decorations, for example, that are a one-time cost and don't really cost all that much anyway. And maybe everybody gets a welcome drink. So people wouldn't think of it as "economy plus", they'd think of it almost like getting domestic business class for a lot less money. The trick is to make it seem like a really good value for the money, even though it wouldn't be the cheapest.

To start I'd have a cheating line on the livery because I think it's proper. FAs would be well paid so they could perform their duties with a sincere smile. I'd provide a small and fine First, a great Business, Economy plus and Super Super Economy cheap enough to compete with any ULCC, of course such estrategy would need bigger planes but I'd opt for less frequencies to compensate. I'd never have 737s because I personally dislike them and they don't fit my insane model anyway. I'd also have one L-1011 in the fleet and it would be fitted with a replica of a vintage interior, I'm sure a.netters would buy all the tickets. If business go well I might also add a 707 to the fleet...

...it would go bust eventually. Just sayin'. I'm no businessman.

Not even eventually, I dare say it would go bust immediately. First and business require a high frequency, these people need to fly at a time that suits them otherwise they're off to the competitor. How does that rhime with super cheap economy to compete with ULCC, which operates best at a low frequency? It's either one or the other, you can't have them both.

Adding those very outdated types may look cool to an aviation nutter, but most people aren't and keep in mind those planes are very expensive to operate. Those are costs that can be avoided by operating more modern types, costs that other airlines don't have and you do so that gives the competition the advantage. No, you wouldn't make it.

I'd start an ULCC in Canada with a handful of 737s. I'd base the airline in YHM and fly to YEG, YXX, YWG and YHZ

Simple. I would copy WN's business model but offer assigned seating and a small first class or business section, or at the very least turn the first few rows into economy plus seats with additional legroom. In other words, I would create an airline that addresses what I believe are the two biggest flaws with WN.

I would call it "Lose Money Airlines for Avgeeks"

It would fly everything except the most common types of aircraft. No 737, A320, A330, 767-300ER, 777-200ER/300ER and 787.

Want to fly a DC-10? We can do that.
Love the A340-500? Yup!
Want a patched up Iran Air 747SP? Pending export issues, we'll have them.
Tiny 4-engine planes your thing? The Avro RJ awaits.
Still lamenting the closure of the 757 assembly line? You can pretend like it's 1991 all over again with us

Where would it go? Who knows? Somewhere with low standards for age of aircraft and cheap fuel, probably.
How would the cabins be outfitted? Just like the last owner who had them before we pulled them out of the desert! It'll be vintage.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Not even eventually, I dare say it would go bust immediately. First and business require a high frequency, these people need to fly at a time that suits them otherwise they're off to the competitor. How does that rhime with super cheap economy to compete with ULCC, which operates best at a low frequency? It's either one or the other, you can't have them both.

Adding those very outdated types may look cool to an aviation nutter, but most people aren't and keep in mind those planes are very expensive to operate. Those are costs that can be avoided by operating more modern types, costs that other airlines don't have and you do so that gives the competition the advantage. No, you wouldn't make it.

I'm sure I wouldn't make it but...I can dream, innit?

wave46 wrote:

I would call it "Lose Money Airlines for Avgeeks"

It would fly everything except the most common types of aircraft. No 737, A320, A330, 767-300ER, 777-200ER/300ER and 787.

Want to fly a DC-10? We can do that.
Love the A340-500? Yup!
Want a patched up Iran Air 747SP? Pending export issues, we'll have them.
Tiny 4-engine planes your thing? The Avro RJ awaits.
Still lamenting the closure of the 757 assembly line? You can pretend like it's 1991 all over again with us

Where would it go? Who knows? Somewhere with low standards for age of aircraft and cheap fuel, probably.
How would the cabins be outfitted? Just like the last owner who had them before we pulled them out of the desert! It'll be vintage.

I would fly it, specially if you have a 747-100 with an upper deck lounge, oh boy, you'd have to drag me out of the plane at the end of the flight...