AIRLINE MARKETS AND THEIR CHANGEABLE NATURE
Man has always been obsessed with flight and since the 1800’s has sought ways to develop this obsession into a thriving business concern. Today, airlines in their hundreds offer air travel services, services that range from large intercontinental passenger planes to small local cargo services. The diagram below shows the existing airline markets and how they are subdivided.
FNSC
A full service network carrier or FNSC is a major airline, which provides the ‘classic’ airline services such as airport check in and luggage services, onboard meals and entertainment. They offer different classes including ‘business’, ‘club’ and ‘first’ to suit different types of market. Connecting flights are available and connections are guaranteed by the airline. Many operate a hub-and-spoke system meaning they have a main base airport (hub) and several routes (spokes) to destination airports. FNSC airlines are strong in the field of International long haul flights where passengers request and require better services.
Examples: British airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Emirates
Fractional Ownership
A typical example of this is Netjets where ‘owners’ share ownership of a private jet. Owners are guaranteed exclusive use of their plane, or a similar plane in the fleet, for an agreed time slot, this could be a number of days per year or hours per day. The private jet company may require that owners pay a monthly maintenance fee and/or an hourly operating fee.
The company will also usually offer access to the full fleet available so that an owner may use another owner’s plane if, for example, they require a model with more seating.
Regional Carriers
Regional airlines serve the smaller local airports, usually offering only internal flights, i.e. to destinations within a country’s boundary, and can be operated as:
‘A feeder airline’ for a major airline and operating under their brand name
Or
Operating under their own...