5 Forces Model on Qatar Airways Introduction Qatar Airways is a company owned by the Qatar state. The airline operates its services across Europe, Africa, Far East, Central Asia, North America, South Asia, Oceania, South America and Middle East. Moreover, Qatar airways is among the few airlines globally that has been ranked by Skytrax as a five star airline. Skytrax is a liberated aviation monitoring organization. In addition, this monitoring organization named the cabin crew of Qatar Airways as the greatest in the Middle East. The cabin crew has also being rated as the fifth best worldwide (Tower, 2007).
Qatar airways flies to 119 terminuses and travellers can connect from Doha to terminuses such as Bangkok, Maldives, Nairobi, Dubai, Cape Town, Colombo, Seychelles and Dar es Salaam. The airline controls 110 aircrafts including cargo aircrafts. It has various subsidiary companies including: United Media International, Doha International Airport, Qatar Aviation Catering Company and Qatar Aviation Services. Qatar Airways has employed more than 20,000 individuals (Tower, 2007).
Porter’s Five Forces
Barriers to Entry: High
The airline has a high capital expenditure. This is because the costs of leasing and buying aircrafts are very high. Also, manpower, customer service, security and safety measures costs are very high. Moreover, there are other airlines that exist and have high consumer dependability and brand value (Tower, 2007).
Threat of Substitutes: High
The airline faces a lot of threats from other airlines that are well established. These airlines include. Etihad, British, Lufthansa, KLM and Emirate Airways among others.
Buyer Power: High
High competition viewed in the airline industry gives consumers a lot of options. This allows the consumers to have power over these airline companies.
Rivalry: High
There is a lot of competition as every airline wants to tap into new terminuses, provide different services like better menues and increasing in-flight channels (Tower, 2007). Also, many airlines are utilizing the use of extensive marketing.
Supplier Power: High
The airline industry can be affected by the suppliers through their capabilities of reducing the quality of purchased goods and services or raising prices. Globally, the airline industry has limited suppliers, namely Airbus and Boeing. Thus the suppliers’ power is very high due to the limited suppliers having a control on the market. This is because the products manufactured by these suppliers have a huge demand (Tower, 2007).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Qatar airways has high performance standards, including customer service, security and safety. The airline has broad marketing strategies in building a strong brand. It also provides unique services, provides different customer oriented services concerning luxury and convenience (Tower, 2007).
Weaknesses
The airline relies greatly on International Onward Moving traffic. It also has partial market share growth and little Domestic Traffic.
Opportunities
Qatar airways has a hub that is developing properly and has brand new aircrafts in improving the confidence of their customers. Marketing and brand building can make Qatar airways to increase its brand (Tower, 2007).
Threats
The airline faces an increased competition from other airline companies in Middle East. There are scenarios that are not favorable because of government regulations and policies (Tower, 2007). Another threat is increased fuel prices that would affect Qatar airways operations.
Conclusion
Qatar airways is a company that focuses on their customers more. It provides hospitality and genuine services that are personalized to the needs of their passengers. High standard security and safety measures have been put by this airline. Moreover, the staff employed by Qatar airways is fully trained and dedicated to provide better services.
Reference
Tower, Q. A. (2007). Qatar Airways Company QCSC. .International Directory of Company Histories, 404.