Operations Marketing and American Airlines [5 of 6]

A New B2B


This recommendation would require significant research on Americans part and would necessarily result in an out of industry strategic alliance, or network of the same. There is a significant well-established niche sub-industry within the education industry, made up of workshops, seminars, conferences and trainings that may or may not yield professional credits (yet are nonetheless significant events in their own right).

So far, the airlines have been a feeder for this phenomenon. With such detachment comes freedom of responsibility. Yet, what could come of taking some responsibility? This much of the idea only has the carrier collaborating more closely in networks it picks and chooses. American Airlines would suddenly have a voice as to location, time of year and the like. While there is no illusion that American could call such shots in a vacuum, at this level alone they have lower operation costs (by choosing optimal times and locales) and increased consumption by a prized demographic (professionals, further enticed by packages of accommodation, auto rental etc.). Partnerships with certain accrediting bodies may also prove lucrative as relationships develop (“the official airline of Notre Dame, Duke, Villanova, etc.”). There may be many moving parts to this idea, and yet it seems that every moving part is an opportunity.



The Child Agenda

The essential idea here is to bring to bear subject matter expertise on making flight child friendly. This necessarily includes matters of developmental appropriateness on one spectrum end and sourcing the lowest cost amusements at the other. The most radical suggestion here, however, is sacrificing the back row, cordoning it off as a space for newborns and toddlers (with parents and guardians, of course). This would include an unobstructed view and audio/video monitoring for the staff (and security), and would be made to be as comfortable and sound proof as possible (stocked with a variety of necessities as well as niceties).

The seat or two (or three) that may be lost may be offset by raising the ticket price of the child somewhat (for the privilege of specialized accommodations) and slightly on all else (justified by way of the assurance that the flight will be unmarred by screaming children). Such benevolence in the ad campaigns that follow would show AA as accommodating and caring beyond its competitors.



Conclusion

Given the relative thoroughness of the review of the Marketing Operations for American Airlines in particular, its industry and industries generally, it is the opinion of this writer that said operations are muscular and well attended as they are.

The only concern is that the DNA might be too conservative to seek chance taking. There is no talk of blithely actuating anything with naïveté. AMR has both a regional as well as commuter line through which to pilot projects. Heck, it now has a NY affiliation with JetBlue (where it might leverage piloting through them somehow). There is ample resource to gather data and run numbers. However, at this level the tendency is to let others pioneer. The payoff is tried and true, it never costs them much to let others do the innovating (or so it seems). Still, what if the payoff is significant and lasting, then it has cost them that, and they remain undifferentiated.

In addition, one understands that during this economic downturn, it may be prudent to put such an effort off until better times, a rationale that makes sense.

Nonetheless, between fuel being a diminishing resource (with no clear answer yet in sight) and the industry being as unstable as it is, differentiation could be huge. Each year sees mergers and acquisitions, (not to mention the dozens of carriers that come and go each year), being relatively undifferentiated from Continental, the only other legitimate legacy airline in the US, may eventually prove a fight to the finish. Positioning for a win in advance may prove very wise indeed.