THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY PROFILE
Industry Overview
The airline industry exists in an intensely competitive market. In recent years, there has been an industry-wide shakedown, which will have far-reaching effects on the industry's trend towards expanding domestic and international services. In the past, the airline industry was at least partly government owned. This is still true in many countries, but in the U.S. all major airlines have come to be privately held.
The airline industry can be separated into four categories by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT):
✓ International - 130+ seat planes that have the ability to take passengers just about anywhere in the world.
✓ National - Usually these airlines seat 100-150 people
✓ Regional - Companies with revenues less than $100 million that focus on short-haul flights.
✓ Cargo - These are airlines generally transport goods.
Size of US AIRLINE business by market segment and projected growth.
Worldwide, IATA, International Air Transport Association, forecasts international air travel to grow by an average 6.6% a year to the end of the decade and over 5% a year from 2000 to 2010. In Europe and North America, where the air travel market is already highly developed, slower growth of 4%-6% is expected. The most dynamic growth is centered on the Asia/Pacific region because of fast-growing trade and investment and rising domestic prosperity. Air travel for the region has been rising by up to 9% a year and is forecast to continue to grow rapidly.BUT IN 2008 DUE TO ECONOMIC DISASTER , AIRLINE INDUSTRY DID GET A SET BACK
REGIONAL AIRLINES INDUTRY – AIRLINES CUT USE OF REGIONAL JETS AS FUEL PRICE SOAR . the number of small RJs in service has begun to drop as the big airlines under whose brands most regional flights are sold recoil from jet-fuel spot market prices now averaging $3.79 a gallon.
There were 1,333 such planes flying in the USA on April 1, down from the peak of more than...