SkyTeam Alliance steps up to counter threat of low-cost carriers

Faced with the emergence of budget airlines, established carriers will focus on enhancing service quality, rather than strive for a market share, and they will intensify cooperation with peers to share the market, said Michael Wisbrun, managing director of SkyTeam Alliance, on November 19.

During the annual meeting of the alliance, attended by executives of its 19 member airlines, Wisburn remarked that the European air market will maintain low growth next year, while the North American market will feature a healthy balance between supply and demand, thanks in part to moderate recovery facilitated by the continuing quantitative easing policy, and Asian airlines will be strained by surging demand, especially during peak seasons such as Chinese Lunar New Year holiday for cross-straits airlines which need to step up their cooperation in deployment.

SkyTeam Alliance boasts major airlines across the strait among its members, including China Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines, with the four having garnered a 32% share in the greater China market.

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, China's leading low-cost carrier, is intensifying its marketing initiatives with the launch of "match-making flights," for three routes, Shanghai to Kunming, Shijiazhuang to Kunming, and Tianjin to Kunming, starting Dec. 1. Participating passengers can bring a friend, who must be single, free of charge to take the flight. A "matchmaking" section will be set aside inside the cabin, so long as 10 or more passengers participate.

The fierce competition between budget airlines, which now account for 15% of the global market share, in terms of flight seats, has prompted established carriers in the US and Europe to merge.

The strong competition has been complicated by soaring operation costs, prompting members of Sky Team alliance to step up, in terms of cost saving and the sharing of resources, such as common ground services, common VIP rooms, joint procurement, and joint training, according to Su Liang, vice managing director of SkyTeam alliance. In addition, passengers can accumulate their mileage record by taking flights with any alliance member.

Source: Want China Times  

from China Travel & Tourism News http://www.chinatraveltourismnews.com/

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