Don your anorak and get technical about airplanes.
#752607 by willd
13 Aug 2010, 22:50
I was not planning on starting such a vague topic as this but news coming out of South America this evening has prompted me to do so.

The last decade or so has seen the expansion of airline alliances, as we well know this is something that VS has avoided. Certain analysts/aviation watchers believe that VS has missed the boat entirely with regards to the alliance game. Suggestions were that VS would always head into *A if they joined an alliance however recent mutterings (especially on a.net) have hinted at a possible Skyteam membership.

However as great as alliances are, I personally think we are about to see a new breed of airline take to the sky. That being the mega carrier (lame name but couldnt think of anything else).

AF-KL have successfully joined forces without eroding either brand. BA/IB are about to do something similar and of course then there is the LH monster of BD/LH/EN/SN/WK/EW/4U/LG/LH Italia/XQ and LX. Over in the States DL and NW have merged and CO and UA are about to do the same. And as of today it seems that the LAN Group and TAM are about to follow the AF/KL model and merge into one company.

If the mega airline is going to be the next decades fad then what are VS going to do? Is it a case of VS will just try to survive as a bit part player, will they themselves think they are large enough to merge with another carrier a la AF/KL style, or will they be absorbed by someone else? Of course with these mega carriers comes less and less slots open to the smaller players (and yes VS is smaller).

Would be interested to hear peoples thoughts.
#752615 by Dubaiification
14 Aug 2010, 09:19
I see Virgin Altantic as a rather niche airline, and believe there will always be room for those. These super-airlines have their own problems, I know a bunch of people who won't travel with any of the airlines you list because of mainly problems due to their size. The fleet is huge which makes standardization of product almost impossible. Whereas with Virgin at the current time you can step on board and be greeted with an UC bed at all times. The roll out of PE and the new roll out of forthcoming UC will see how the recession has effected this ability to adapt quicker but on whole refitting VS is an easier task than say Emirates. The second is customer service and staff training, if the airline is young you seem to have issues with inexperience and lack of product knowledge leading to service failures and if the airline is old there seems to be issues with the dead-weight hanging, dragging the brand down. It also stands to reason that an giant airline are going to leap at cost saving no matter how small as even a tiny cut back will become worthwhile. It also means products such as lounges need to be on a much bigger scale which can remove the exclusivity of them, Emirates T3 is another example of this. It doesn't feel much different to the main terminal apart from stuff is free.

I hope smaller airlines survive, boeing and airbus cut them some slack and continue to offer something a little bit different and the ability to adapt.

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