Page 148 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

70 IDENTIFY YOUR
COMPETITORS—AND
LEARN FROM THEM

It’s very easy to lose sight of the real competition when you’re
battling it out for market share. For many years, the airline industry
was dominated by the big national carriers, who maintained a
near monopoly on air travel by the simple expedient of controlling
landing rights at major airports. Governments colluded in this
in order to protect their own carriers: foreign aircraft would only
be allowed landing rights in exchange for landing rights in their
own countries, so that (for example) British Airways would only be
allowed to fly from London to Milan if Alitalia was given rights to fly
from Rome to Manchester.

When deregulation of the air began in the 1970s and early 1980s,
these companies had to compete against one another. However,
focusing on national carriers meant that they almost (but not quite)
failed to notice the advent of low-cost airlines.

The idea

One of the key benefits of low-cost airlines (apart from price) is
that bookings can be made online. This allows people to book their
flights at any time of the day or night, from any location where they
might have internet access. Apart from the lower air fares, this is a
key competitive advantage.

Major carriers could compete by allowing online access, but nine
of the European majors decided to go one step further and set up
a joint online booking service. Opodo thus became a virtual travel

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