AVT 3050 Module 6 Final Project: Marketing Plan for Boardwalk Air Example

Fly From Close to Home: A First-Year Marketing Plan for Boardwalk Air

Student Name

B.S.B.A. in Aviation Management, Thomas Edison State University

AVT-3050: Airline Marketing and Customer Service

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Fly From Close to Home: A First-Year Marketing Plan for Boardwalk Air

Executive Summary

Boardwalk Air is a fictional leisure airline that, in this scenario, will open at Atlantic City International Airport with five leased Airbus A320 aircraft to Florida's Orlando, Fort Myers and Tampa, plus Myrtle Beach and Nashville. Its target customers are South Jersey families on vacation and seasonal residents who winter in Florida, two groups that now drive to Philadelphia or Newark to fly. The airline will position itself as the convenient hometown choice: nonstop flights from close to home, short lines and friendly service at fair fares. In its first year the plan aims for an average load factor of 78 percent, 40,000 Shore Points members and post-trip satisfaction of 80 percent or more, with a marketing budget of $2.4 million.

Situation Analysis

Market

The four-county South Jersey catchment and nearby Philadelphia suburbs contain a large population of families and retirees, many of whom travel to Florida at least once a year. Atlantic City International Airport offers short lines and easy parking but limited service, so many residents fly from larger airports an hour or more away.

Competition

Larger airports nearby offer more destinations and frequent flights, including service from network and low-cost carriers. Some low-fare service has operated from Atlantic City itself. O'Connell and Williams (2005) found that passengers weigh price heavily but also value schedule and reliability, so Boardwalk Air must compete on convenience and dependability as well as fares.

SWOT Summary

Target Markets and Positioning

Teichert et al. (2008) support segmenting by needs rather than trip purpose alone, and the plan does so. The plan targets vacationing families and seasonal residents first, with travelers visiting friends and relatives served on the same flights, and inbound casino and shore visitors added in year two through partners. Business travelers are not a target in year one. Positioning statement: For South Jersey families and seasonal residents, Boardwalk Air is the hometown airline that flies them nonstop from close to home, because it skips the long drive and the long lines.

Product

The product is a bundle: a leisure network, weekend and school-break schedules, one cabin with some extra-legroom rows, quick ground service, simple fares with a free checked bag for children under 12 and a friendly brand. Using the life cycle as a planning guide, as Day (1981) recommends rather than as a forecast, the airline is in introduction and should focus on reliability and awareness. A bundled vacation fare with hotel and attraction partners will launch in year two.

Pricing

Fares will be set below the total cost of driving to a larger airport and parking there, which for a family is a meaningful amount. Launch fares will encourage first trips, but the plan avoids fares so low that customers see the airline as nothing more than a bargain. Fares will follow demand: higher on summer weekends and school breaks, lower in winter except on the days seasonal residents travel. Extra-legroom seats and adult checked bags will carry fees, while one free bag for children supports the family positioning.

Distribution Strategy

Distribution decides how customers find and buy tickets, and it carries real costs. Buhalis (2004) showed how the internet allowed airlines to sell directly to travelers and cut distribution costs, while reshaping their relations with travel agencies. Granados et al. (2008) found that electronic travel distribution changed markets that once depended on intermediaries, giving direct channels and online agencies new roles.

The plan aims for 75 percent of bookings through the website and app by the end of year one. Online agencies give a new airline visibility, so Boardwalk Air will list its fares with them at launch and then encourage repeat customers to book directly through Shore Points bonuses for direct bookings.

Promotion and Communication

The communication plan from Module 3 combines owned, social, paid digital, local and earned media. Search advertising for "Atlantic City to Orlando" and similar routes reaches travelers when they plan, while social ads targeted to the four counties build awareness. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) note that customers now create much of the conversation about a company, so the airline will encourage families to share trip photos and will answer questions on social channels within an hour. Coombs (2007) ties crisis responses to perceived responsibility, so a crisis plan with a named spokesperson, a one-hour first statement and an automatic pause in advertising is ready before the first flight.

Loyalty: Shore Points

Shore Points offers household accounts, small rewards visible after one trip, a joining head start based on the goal gradient described by Kivetz et al. (2006), one winter status level for seasonal residents and local partners for earning between trips. Its success will be judged by whether members fly more than similar non-members, consistent with the finding of Liu (2007) that programs change behavior most among light buyers.

Customer Service Standards

Service standards include a spare aircraft on peak Saturdays, contact answered within ten minutes, delays posted to customers' phones and a recovery matrix that lets front-line staff offer refunds, rebooking, vouchers and credits without a manager. These rules apply the finding by Smith et al. (1999) that customers judge recovery by outcome, procedure and interaction, and they go beyond the federal automatic refund rule.

First-Year Marketing Budget

Measures of Success

Risks and Responses

Three risks stand out. A competitor could add capacity at Atlantic City; the response is to stress the hometown brand and loyalty rather than match every fare. An aircraft problem could ground a fifth of the fleet; the response is the spare aircraft plan and honest communication. And demand could fall in a downturn; the response is to reduce frequency on weaker days and move aircraft to routes that still fill.

Conclusion

Boardwalk Air's plan rests on a simple promise: fly from close to home. Every part of the plan, from targets and product to distribution, promotion, loyalty and service, supports that promise for the families and seasonal residents of South Jersey. Within twelve months the measures will reveal whether customers want to buy that promise.

References

Buhalis, D. (2004). eAirlines: Strategic and tactical use of ICTs in the airline industry. Information & Management, 41(7), 805-825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2003.08.015

Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation Review, 10(3), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049

Day, G. S. (1981). The product life cycle: Analysis and applications issues. Journal of Marketing, 45(4), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224298104500408

Granados, N. F., Kauffman, R. J., & King, B. (2008). How has electronic travel distribution been transformed? A test of the theory of newly vulnerable markets. Journal of Management Information Systems, 25(2), 73-96. https://doi.org/10.2753/MIS0742-1222250204

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003

Kivetz, R., Urminsky, O., & Zheng, Y. (2006). The goal-gradient hypothesis resurrected: Purchase acceleration, illusionary goal progress, and customer retention. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(1), 39-58. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.43.1.39

Liu, Y. (2007). The long-term impact of loyalty programs on consumer purchase behavior and loyalty. Journal of Marketing, 71(4), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.71.4.019

O'Connell, J. F., & Williams, G. (2005). Passengers' perceptions of low cost airlines and full service carriers: A case study involving Ryanair, Aer Lingus, Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines. Journal of Air Transport Management, 11(4), 259-272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2005.01.007

Smith, A. K., Bolton, R. N., & Wagner, J. (1999). A model of customer satisfaction with service encounters involving failure and recovery. Journal of Marketing Research, 36(3), 356-372. https://doi.org/10.2307/3152082

Teichert, T., Shehu, E., & von Wartburg, I. (2008). Customer segmentation revisited: The case of the airline industry. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 42(1), 227-242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2007.08.003