Virgin Unveils New Strategy

Virgin CEO, John Borghetti revealed a brand new strategy at the annual general meeting of the company. The new strategy will literally change the face of the airline major, which is comprised of Polynesian Blue, Pacific Blue, Virgin Blue, and V Australia. Virgin also has aggressive plans to increase its market share in corporate travel section by 100%. In fact, major developments are taking place within Virgin. For instance, the new Creative Director is none other than Mr Hans Hulsbosch, the brand and identity manager for the widely acclaimed Woolworths logo and the Qantas flying Kangaroo livery.

Media sources quoted Mr John Borghetti as saying ‘Hans is overseeing the Virgin Blue brand identity work with our commercial team to change, reposition and create an identity that can stretch across both the Leisure and Corporate sectors’. Mr Borghetti further said ‘Together with our new agency (Clemenger) you will see re-energised approach to marketing’. Mr Borghetti went on to say that Virgin’s re-branding efforts will be evident as early as this week at the Brisbane Airport.  All these developments may just also spell as an increase in the number of cheap flights to Australia.

Virgin is already a very well-known name in the aviation sector and offers plenty of flights to Australia and other destinations. For instance, someone looking for flights to Brisbane usually considers Virgin Blue as the airline is based in Brisbane and there are fair chances of netting cheap flights.

Speaking about the key segments, Mr Borghetti expressed ‘Our business has been primarily focused on the leisure and SME end of the market. And although we have and will continue to have a strong position in these segments, we are over reliant on them’.

He also observed that ‘Meanwhile the corporate and business end of the market is effectively controlled by one player with a significantly higher cost base’. ‘It is therefore logical for us to diversify our revenue base, reduce our exposure at the lower end of the market and use our cost base as an advantage’.

Qantas Offers Next Generation Check-In

Qantas has officially launched its Next Generation check-in for passengers at the Sydney and Perth Airport. With this step, the premier airline hopes to slash waiting time for domestic travellers.

Keeping the domestic market in focus, Qantas also announced the launch of a new food and wine program for domestic travellers. The offerings in business class on domestic flights will now be almost as good as international business class. That means flights to Sydney from Perth will now feature food and wine that will be aligned to flights to Australia from United Kingdom.

Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO, believes that different enhancements across the domestic network will surpass customers’ expectations.

“Next Generation Check-in has now opened in Sydney and Perth and is already dramatically reducing domestic check-in times for customers allowing them to move through the check-in area with increased speed and ease,” Mr Joyce was quoted in the company’s press release.

“In addition to Next Generation Check-in, Qantas has made changes across the entire domestic experience with the most significant changes to the Business Class offering, both in flight and on the ground,” observed Mr Joyce in the company’s news release.

“Qantas invented Business Class travel in 1974. We have set standards both nationally and internationally and we’re now raising the bar once again,” added Alan Joyce.

Qantas is one of the world’s leading long distance airlines. Qantas is also recognised as one of the biggest brands in the Australian market. The airline, along with its code share partners, operates elite as well as cheap flights to more than 180 destinations in nearly 45 countries. Qantas additionally has a large domestic network that operates cheap flights throughout Australia.

Australia should recreate Dubai, claims expert

Australia could consider developing an attraction similar to Dubai's Atlantis Palm resort to help attract more overseas visitors, claims a conference speaker. Speaking ahead of the Australian Tourism Directions Conference, Professor Ian Harper explained that more investment needs to be made to ensure that holidaymakers continue to be tempted to take flights to Australia.

In particular, he called for the creation of new ambitious projects and infrastructure developments to ensure the country continues to compete with emerging holiday destinations. "We need to be imaginative and think very laterally," explained Professor Harper.

He added: "If we were to keep our share constant we would have to build a whole bunch of new hotels and rebuild our tourism structure."

News Source

Southwest Airlines to Take Over AirTran

Southwest Airlines announced plans to take over AirTran for a consideration of about $1.42 billion. The transaction would bring together two of the largest carriers known for their cheap tickets across the USA. The acquisition would increase Southwest’s market penetration into as many as 37 new cities. The largest in the circuit is Atlanta. In fact, the Hartsfield-Jackson International airport of Atlanta is the busiest in the country and a major business travel hub. In addition, Southwest would get a bigger market share of cities like New York, Boston, Key East Coast – the areas where the airliner has been on an expansion spree.

Passenger Benefits

Besides getting the combined benefits of both the airlines, passengers can look forward to further attractions. For instance, Southwest does not plan to retain AirTran’s bag fees. AirTran charges $20 and $25 for the first and second checked bags of passengers. Charges for the same service by big carriers like American Airlines and United Airlines is about $25 and $35. For Southwest, it translates as the possibility of adding customers of such airlines to its own portfolio. Furthermore, the new airline would be serving more than a 100 airports offering a slew of flights to over a 100 million passengers. The deal also has the potential to further boost the tourism sector as visitors booking flights to USA in the future would get the full advantage of this transaction. In fact, similar path breaking developments in the hotel industry coupled with such major decisions in the aviation sector constantly add value to the US holiday market.

Time frame of the Deal

The takeover requires regulatory as well as shareholder approval and is expected to be over within the first two quarters of 2011. The complete merging of services is expected to take place in 2012